Erik S. Kristensen was a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy SEALs who was killed in action during.
Background
Kristensen was born into a military family of partial Danish and Norwegian ancestry. His father, Edward Kristensen, is a career officer in the United States Navy who rose to the rank of Rear Admiral. As his father was in the military, Erik traveled widely with his family as a child, living in such places as Japan, Guam and Washington, District of Columbia, among others
Education
Erik Kristensen graduated from Gonzaga College High School in Washington, District of Columbia He attended the Graduate Institute at Saint John"s College in Annapolis, Maryland, while he taught English at the United States. Naval Academy.
Career
He and several other SEALs set off as part of a search and rescue mission, hoping to assist a four-man Sea, Air, Land team that was engaged in a firefight with Taliban fighters. in 1990, and continued his education at Phillips Academy (Andover, Massachusetts) before moving on to the United States Naval Academy where he majored in English. After graduation in 1995, he was commissioned an Ensign and served in the engineering, and Combat Systems department of the United States Ship Chandler in Everett, Washington. He left both his graduate studies and teaching at the Academy to pursue Navy Sea, Air, Land training.
At age 27, one of the oldest in his class, "his dream of becoming a Navy Sea, Air, Land was realized.
The Sea, Air, Land team was made up of Matthew Axelson, Danny Dietz, Marcus Luttrell, and Michael P. Murphy. Luttrell and Axelson were the team"s snipers.
Dietz was the communications officer and Murphy the team leader. The four SEALs engaged local Taliban forces, they were engaged in an intense gun battle against a force of approximately 30-40 enemy fighters.
Murphy risked his life to get off an emergency message to his command.
Of the four-man team, only Luttrell would survive. Upon hearing the distress call a Microbiology and Botany-47 Chinook helicopter was dispatched with a force consisting of SEALs including Kristensen and 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment "Nightstalkers" to rescue the team, but the helicopter was shot down by an RPG. All 16 men on board the Chinook including Kristensen were killed.
The battle was later called "the worst single day loss of life for Naval Special Warfare personnel since World World War World War II" In interviews Ahmad Shah maintained that his forces had set a trap for the American forces: "We certainly know that when the American army comes under pressure and they get hit, they will try to help their friends. lieutenant is the law of the battlefield." Kristensen"s funeral mass (Mass of Christian Burial) was performed on July 19, 2005.
He is interred at the United States. Naval Academy Cemetery.
A charity, the Lieutenant Commander Kristensen "90, United States Navy, Memorial Scholarship Fund, was created in Kristensen"s honor after his death. The fund seeks to assist a Gonzaga College High School student whose family serves in the United States. armed forces. The is held annually to raise money for the scholarship fund.
In the 2013 film Lone Survivor, Kristensen is portrayed by actor Eric Bana.