Romesha knew it would be a hard fight for Hardt. He talked to him about finding a good position for the truck to fire from.

Hardt and the soldiers ran for the truck. Once inside, he radioed Gallegos to let him know of their plan as Romesha listened.

"This isn't a good spot. You can't do a lot. Stay away. Stay away," Gallegos told Hardt.

But the sergeant pressed on ... until an RPG exploded near the Humvee.

Now the Humvee was stuck, and the militants were targeting them with more grenades.

Hardt ordered Pvt. Chris Griffin and Pvt. Ed Faulker Jr. to make a run for it.

Griffin got out and was killed immediately. An RPG hit the Humvee, spraying Faulkner's left side with shrapnel.

Hardt and Faulkner knew they had to get out of the Humvee. Faulkner got out first, and Hardt was to follow.

Faulkner ran for the aid station.

Then Romesha heard Hardt on the radio: "I have an RPG pointed right at me."

That was the last time he heard his voice.

Romesha needed to know how many of Bravo Troop's soldiers were dead or wounded.

He grabbed a Russian-made rifle left by an Afghan soldier and walked outside.

There, Romesha saw three Taliban militants walk by the base's entrance "like they thought they'd already won."

"It threw me for a second. It was one of those 'are you serious' moments," he said.

Romesha watched as less than 100 yards away the militants took up position by one of the Humvees.

He leveled the rifle at the three militants, focusing on the one in the middle.

"This is a give me. This is a freebie," he told himself just before he pulled the trigger and "dropped the guy in the middle."

The situation was dire: At least five Americans had been killed, the soldiers in the mortar pit were cut off, militants had breached the base and nobody had heard from Gallegos, Larson or the others trapped in the Humvee.

"We couldn't just sit there and take it. It was time to be aggressive," Romesha said.

Audacious plan

By any standard, it was an audacious plan.

Outnumbered, outgunned, Romesha and the lieutenant devised a plan with Sgt. 1st Class Jonathon Hill from Blue Platoon.

The soldiers were getting air support now, Apache gunships and a bomber.

The plan called for Romesha to run up the north side of the outpost with a small team, first securing the ammunition supply depot.