An honour guard from the 1st Special Forces Group transports the flag draped coffin of Sgt. 1st Class Nathan R. Chapman at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in 2002. [public domain]
Well, after 13 years the CIA has finally admitted that Chapman was working for them. While he was technically a member of the 1st Special Forces Group, Chapman had been detailed to work with a CIA team in the very early days of the Afghan war.
Chapman’s story came to light after the CIA dedicated a star to him on their memorial wall last year. While the stars are frequently anonymous, The Washington Post was able to get the story behind the honour.
Chapman was assigned to Team Hotel for the invasion of Afghanistan. It was comprised of six men: three Special Forces soldiers, two CIA paramilitary officers and a CIA contractor. The CIA had several of these teams spread across the country, spearheading the fight against the Taliban. In the final days of 2001, Chapman and his team flew to Khost in the far east of Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan.
Their mission was to “plant the flag” for the CIA and see if they could find any members of al-Qaida
to kill.
On Jan. 4, 2002, Chapman was riding in the back of a truck alongside a CIA contractor from the Special Activities Division when they began taking fire. One of the bullets severed Chapman’s femoral artery and the bleeding could not be controlled. He died before his teammates could get him to a hospital.
The contractor was shot multiple times, but survived.
Chapman was 31. He left a wife and two kids, aged 1 and 2 at the time of his death.
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