Meanwhile, another sergeant would push a separate group of U.S. troops to the south side of the base.

Romesha's team would then regain control of the entrance gate, save the men stuck in the Humvee and get to the mortar pit.

"It seemed pretty simple to me at the time," he said.

"You know it was time to find our guys. We had the tools. We had the training. We had the spirit. We had the support of each other. It was the time."

To succeed, Romesha needed his soldiers to follow him. He asked for volunteers.

"I said 'we'll take this bitch back,'" he said.

Rasmussen, Jones and two others volunteered without hesitation.

"There were few people I would follow to hell and back, and Romesha is one of them," Jones said.

The soldiers made a daring dash across the base, firing in every direction.

It was during this time one of the soldiers with Romesha was shot in the shoulder. Over the radio, the lieutenant told Romesha to hold his position.

But the staff sergeant felt there was no time to lose. He ignored the call, pretending his radio was broken.

They got to the ammunition supply depot. The soldiers had no idea if the militants who had gotten inside the base had also gotten inside the depot, so they stormed the building.

Romesha and another soldier swept inside with machine guns after Rasmussen fired a grenade.

There were no militants. But the discarded AK-47s in the room were a sign they had been there.

Romesha and his soldiers were back in the fight, and now they were in control of a building that gave them a better view of where the Taliban militants were located.

The soldiers began calling in airstrikes.

Surprising news

It had been hours since Romesha heard from any of the soldiers in the trapped Humvee.

The last radio transmission anyone remembered hearing was Gallegos warning Hardt off an attempted rescue.

But suddenly, there was news on the radio: Larson and two others were alive, but Gallegos was dead.