On March 4, 2002, as daylight was replacing darkness, Air Force combat controller John Chapman was fighting for his life. He was fighting alone on a snow-covered mountain in Afghanistan called Takur Ghar. The SEAL team he was attached to (codenamed MAKO 30), commanded by Senior Chief Britt Slabinski, had left him for dead. But Chapman wasn’t dead. After battling alone for the better part of an hour in the bitter cold, Chapman was almost out of ammunition. A Chinook (Razor 01) with a QRF of Rangers was 45 seconds from landing. Firing in three directions, Chapman was still killing Al Qaeda and laying down suppressing fire when he slipped his mortal coil. An Al Qaeda fighter took his life with a bullet to the heart. That final, fatal wound was his 16th battle wound. Chapman had fought to the last second of his life. Had he not, it is likely Razor 01 and the men aboard could have suffered the same fate as Chapman. As it was, three QRF soldiers were gunned down as the loaded Chinook settled into knee-deep snow. 

Thirteen hours later, it was over. Operation Anaconda had failed. Miserably. It was bound for failure. Multiple command decisions before and during the operation cost the lives of seven men.   

After the battle, DEVGRU SEALs universally praised Chapman’s heroism. He was one of them, they said. Today, Chapman’s name is the only non-SEAL on the Navy SEALs wall of honor in Virginia Beach. In after-action statements, SEALs praised Chapman. Chapman was put in for the Air Force Cross (the equivalency of the Navy Cross). That medal was quickly approved. Britt Slabinski, the man who had left Chapman for dead but had never checked Chapman's body for signs of life, received the Navy Cross.   

Fourteen years later, with new evidence proving that John Chapman hadn’t died in the first few minutes of the fight and had, in fact, battled alone for almost an hour, Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James wondered if Chapman might have been overlooked for the Medal of Honor. The process of looking at “new” evidence began. Naval Special Warfare Command (NSWC), under the command of Tim Szymanski, seemed to mount a stealth campaign to keep Chapman from receiving an upgrade to the Medal of Honor. SEALs who had authored statements praising Chapman in 2002 refused to sign official statements with the same language. There may have been an obvious reason. Szymanski had been the SEAL in charge of the disastrous Operation Anaconda. He had made blunders that should have been career-ending. Instead, he was promoted.  

Nonetheless, Chapman’s package for the Medal of Honor was submitted. His heroism was on video. Although NSWC has denied it, Chapman’s Medal was being slow-walked because of NSWC interference. After efforts to quash it failed, Navy brass and retired Marine General James Mattis (SecDef at the time) demanded that Britt Slabinski, the man who had left Chapman for dead, would also receive the Medal of Honor. Slabinski’s package for a Medal of Honor had been denied three times prior — but the fourth go-at-it was being tethered to Chapman’s. If the Air Force wanted their Medal of Honor recipient, fine. but the Navy gets another one. Slabinski’s package was approved.  

Chapman’s family was disgusted that Slabinski’s Navy Cross was upgraded to the Medal of Honor. It was Slabinski who had left Chapman for dead. And Slabinski’s MoH citation seems to imply that enemy combatants killed by Chapman were dispatched by Slabinski. Additionally, soldiers involved in Operation Anaconda and those who knew what happened on Takur Ghar were disgusted.   

An Army special operator who took part in the operation was aghast. "You kicked me in the nuts when you told me that," he says. Mike, a former Air Force targeting analyst who monitored the Predator feed of the Takur Ghar fight in real time and re-watched it twice last year at the Air Force's request, was similarly taken aback. "I'm completely shocked that the Navy is putting a package up."  

The grumbling of injustice grew louder. So, it was time to “protect the brand.” NSWC circled the wagons. The Navy trotted out other SEALs to defend Slabinski — but those defenses seemed contrived. Scripted. Orchestrated. Most defended Slabinski’s “reputation” but generally avoided what happened on Takur Ghar. 

The Navy claimed for over a decade that Chapman died from the initial two rounds to his chest. Why else would Slabinski leave Chapman, they said. But according to Dan Schilling, the author of Alone at Dawn, forensic pathology has proved that Chapman’s wounds were already in the process of “healing.”  What does that mean? That tells us that Chapman wasn’t dead when Slabinski left him. The Navy floated a new and absurd theory that the gunfight seen on the Predator video minutes before Razor 01 touched down wasn’t Chapman killing bad guys and laying suppression fire; it was Al Quada shooting at themselves.  

From the moment that Chapman and five SEALs exited their Chinook, what happened next was videoed by an overwatch Predator. Yes, the 22-year-old video is grainy, but we know what Chapman and the SEALs were doing. The six-man team took fire immediately and divided into two-man groups in bounding movements. Chapman started the charge toward the enemy bunkers to gain the critical high ground. Slabinski followed. It was Chapman leading the charge up the steep mountainside in knee-deep snow. Chapman killed two Al Qaeda and then he was shot twice in the chest. It’s on video.   

For over a decade, the public didn’t see the Predator video. The public access wasn’t via a FOIA request. It wasn’t given to Chapman’s family, nor did the Pentagon produce it voluntarily. It was leaked to the public, likely because someone did not want Chapman’s desperate fight alone to be whitewashed. 

Both Slabinski and Chapman were approved for Medals of Honor. And both were approved at the same time. However, the ceremony for Chapman was held up. Why? Slabinski was to go first. SEALs go first. Slabinski’s ceremony was held in May 2018. Chapman’s family had to wait until August 2018.  

The Chapman family wasn’t happy with what they perceived as an intentional slight. That John was taking another “back seat” to Slabinski while the Navy sucked all the air out of the room hurt. But John’s sister Lori Longfritz had an ace up her sleeve. After years of trying to get John’s story published in a book, she and her co-author, Dan Schilling, were months away from publishing “Alone at Dawn.” The facts and evidence about the battle on “Roberts Ridge” would be public soon. Alone at Dawn provided Lori and the family some comfort.  

Lori told me that the slight hurt, but at least John was finally getting recognition for what he did. And, regardless of what the Navy had done, John had a Medal of Honor — the first Airman since legendary Vietnam pilot and POW Bud Day. The family had the Medal and, soon, a book to tell John’s story. The anger would be assuaged. 

Six years passed. Lori had been in contact with curators of the new national museum called the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Texas. Her first contacts were very positive. She visited the museum. “It’s gorgeous,” she told me. Staff had assured her that John would have a full exhibit when the museum opened. The family was ecstatic. An exhibit for Chapman made perfect sense. He was the first Airman in 50 years to receive the Medal of Honor and Chapman’s heroism was all on video.    

Months passed. Silence. Lori hadn’t heard from the museum staff about John’s exhibit. She contacted the staff to find out what they needed. What she got was a kick in the gut. The museum wouldn’t have John Chapman's heroism as a featured exhibit. Below is one email exchange between Lori and the museum.  

Lori was told Britt Slabinski’s story would be a featured exhibit. John's would not. The museum has a large number of people on its Board of Directors. Britt Slabinski is one of them. The museum’s decision to not feature John Chapman and to, instead, feature board member Britt Slabinski was, at best, terrible optics and, at worst, smelled of corporate cronyism and reeked of collusion. Lori was incensed. That was in early January.  

In the span of just a few weeks, podcasters discussed this ill-founded decision to feature Slabinski and to, again, put John in the back seat. Those podcasters and guests also discussed the “hows and whys” of Tukar Ghar, opening old wounds. None of those discussions cast Slabinski in a favorable light. 

Veteran and podcaster Dave Parke started a Change.org petition in the hopes of getting 10,000 supporters. The petition asked that the museum change its stance and feature John Chapman's story. The petition was shut down. Why? There were complaints that the petition was "false." Below is an email excerpt sent to Mr. Parke.

We wanted you to know that we have received user complaints about your petition. These complaints allege that the following substantiation you have used for your petition is false and provide us with this URL to substantiate their complaint

None of the unseemly third-party efforts sat well with Parke or dozens of men and women in the military community. Outkick's David Hookstead has also championed the cause. Fortunately, Change.org worked with Parke, and the Petition was back on track. The hot breath of veteran wrath and the bite of facts can be seen on the petition's comments page. Now, it has over 20,000 signatures and counting. You can find the petition here. 

I spoke with Matt Cubbler. Matt served four years in the Army and is a veteran of the Gulf War. Matt has been working with Lori Longfritz in an attempt to right this continuing wrong. Matt is also a retired police investigator. Cubbler, like so many others, sees injustice and feels compelled to try to fix it, or at least shine a light on it. He told me that as an investigator, he's puzzled how NSWC (and, by extension, Slabinski) could still hold to their version of what happened – principally that Slabinski checked to see if Chapman was alive before leaving him. Cubbler told me, “He never went near Chapman – just watch the video.”   

And now a member of Congress is activated and angry.  

Even with enormous public pressure to change its exhibit list and feature Chapman, it appears the museum is set on its list. The museum is circling the wagons. "Why" doesn't seem to be a mystery to me. The Museum's "Director, Medal of Honor Recipient Relations" is Christina Valentine. Although she doesn't advertise her relationship on LinkedIn, her last name is Slabinski. She is Britt Slabinski's wife. Although Dave Parke sent this screenshot to me, I couldn't find it on the MoH Museum's X page. It had been scrubbed to remove her last name.  

Below is what is appearing now. The social media from almost three years ago was apparently altered to remove "Slabinski."

What hasn't been scrubbed from X is the below post. This post appears nine times. Nine. Britt Slabinski appears in various posts 16 times on the Museum's X page. But the museum claims that there isn't any collusion, interference, ill-intent, ill-gotten influence or any reason for Chapman's exclusion from the exhibit list. Just a coincidence that Slabinski will be exhibited and Chapman will not.   

If you aren't seeing a pattern, you aren't paying attention. Is there a reason? Absolutely.

Featuring both exhibits at the same time might generate too much inquiry. People might look at both Chapman and Slabinski’s exhibits and say, “Something is wrong — this doesn’t add up.”  

I read “Alone at Dawn” years ago. The deeper I read, the more disheartened I became. My son was a SEAL, and I was invested in the “brand.” The book's narrative sets the brand on fire and points its ire principally at two SEALs. Commander Tim Szymanski and Senior Chief Britt Slabinski. It is no wonder the museum is trying to keep "Alone at Dawn" out of its bookstore. Is the museum set on protecting one board member and its ill-founded decision to puff up Britt Slabinski at the expense of John Chapman? It seems so.  

A movie version of "Alone at Dawn" starring Jake Gyllenhaal was in pre-production. It had a target release of 2023. That year has come and gone. I’d love to read the script. I am curious how a movie will portray both men. I hope and pray that Chapman and his family won't get another “kick in the gut.”  

On the museum’s website, it says the following: 

America exists because of those who have devoted their lives to freedom. Some of these stories are well known. Too many are not. And all deserved to be told. 

Indeed. Tell it all.