In a remarkable display of military precision, Operation Absolute Resolve unfolded with success. During the early hours of January 3, U.S. forces executed a covert operation, descending into Venezuela by air. Their mission culminated in the capture of Nicolás Maduro, the nation’s authoritarian leader. Now facing justice, Maduro has been transported to New York City, where he awaits proceedings in the U.S. legal system.

The operation was executed without any loss of American lives or compromise of military assets, a testament to its strategic planning and execution.

However, the mission was not without casualties on the Venezuelan side, including their Cuban allies. Additionally, the American forces did encounter injuries. Notably, the mission’s leader, also one of its key strategists, sustained three gunshot wounds while piloting a helicopter.

Despite these challenges, he persevered, as numerous reports highlight:

BREAKING: Trump Declares Capture of Venezuelan Leader Nicolas Maduro and Spouse Post ‘Major’ US Operation

In the early hours of Saturday morning, U.S. Army helicopters skimmed 100 feet above the sea and then over Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, racing toward their target. Their stealthy pathway had been cleared by an American cyberattack that darkened the city, and by radar-evading U.S. fighter jets that pounded Venezuela’s Russian-built air defenses.

Initially, the helicopters, carrying dozens of Army Delta Force commandos, flew undetected.

But as they approached Mr. Maduro’s lair, the aircraft came under fire and shot back. The first helicopter in the assault, a giant twin-rotor MH-47 Chinook, was hit but remained flyable. The flight leader, who also planned the mission and was piloting the Chinook, was struck three times in the leg, said current and former U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Operation Absolute Resolve. pic.twitter.com/KOtW0C0V1O

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 3, 2026

TAKEN DOWN:  Trump Announces Venezuelan Leader Nicolas Maduro and His Wife Captured Following ‘Large Scale’ US Strike

Casualty Toll in Venezuela Shows What President Trump Meant When He Said ‘Very Violent’ 

Although the pilot survived the shots, the drama was far from over:

As the damaged helicopter struggled to stay aloft and deliver its troops to their target, the success of the entire operation, called Absolute Resolve, involving more than 150 aircraft launched from 20 different land and sea bases in the region, hung in the balance.

The entire operation was in jeopardy:

Would these operators from the Army’s elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment adjust and prevail, as members of the SEAL Team 6 raid to capture Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011 did after one of their helicopters clipped a wall and crashed?

Or would the Chinook plummet into a hostile city and become a deadly echo of the Black Hawk helicopter that was shot down in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993 and ignited a fierce battle in which 18 U.S. troops died and 73 were wounded, at the time the deadliest single engagement for American troops since the Vietnam War?

Footage which appears to show U.S. Army CH-47G “Chinook” Special Operations Helicopters, likely with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), over the Venezuelan capital of Caracas. pic.twitter.com/60DCRoTeFQ

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) January 3, 2026

Spoiler alert: the helicopter did not crash, we didn’t witness the second coming of Black Hawk Down, the brave pilot was able to disgorge the soldiers on his craft to go capture Maduro, and he was able to later get the chopper back to the warship Iwo Jima. Although he was seriously injured, he is being treated at a Texas hospital along with another soldier.

“The most sophisticated, most complicated, and most successful joint special operations raid of all time.”

— @SecWar pic.twitter.com/Xj4VRkR1ea

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 4, 2026

And that, my friends, is yet another reason why the U.S. military is feared and respected. In this operation, as in so many others throughout our history, they didn’t come to play games.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s leadership, the warrior ethos is coming back to America’s military.