Six months ago, on a snowy mountain ridge in a faraway land, Eric W. Stebner of Ellendale saw a life flash before his eyes.

It wasn't his. But it felt like it could have been.

In a heap on the snow, 10,000 feet up a mountain called Takur Ghar in eastern Afghanistan, lay the body of his best friend. Sgt. Bradley S. Crose, 22, had been shot by al-Qaida gunmen from a bunker on the mountain, one of seven American soldiers to die there March 4.

Sgt. Stebner had no more than an instant to look down at his friend. He also was taking fire. As the team leader for a group of U.S. Army Rangers, he had to find cover.

By now it was mid-morning, and events of one of the most notorious battles in the War on Terrorism were becoming clear.

At 3 a.m., the gunmen had attacked Navy SEALs as their helicopter landed on the mountain during a reconnaissance mission. As the helicopter took off, one of the SEALs, Navy Petty Officer First Class Neil C. Roberts, fell out. When they returned to rescue him, they were ambushed again and lost another man.

Three hours later, at 6:15 a.m., two helicopters carrying Army Rangers closed in on the site of the downed SEALs. They were there to rescue the Navy soldiers. Just then, Stebner's helicopter lost radio contact with the other helicopter, which Crose was on.

The al-Qaida gunmen had opened fire on Crose's helicopter. It crashed on a ridgetop. Crose and three others were killed by the gunfire.

By the time Stebner's unit landed on Takur Ghar, their mission - part of Operation Anaconda - had changed. They now had to rescue the SEALs and the other half of their Ranger unit. Carrying 80 pounds of gear and breaking trail through three feet of snow, Stebner's group moved uphill for the rescue. Two hours later, when he got to his best friend's body, Stebner's mind had been made up.

"I was not going to let anymore of that happen," he said. "The thought going through my head was it was going to be either me or them, and I wasn't going to let it be me."

Stebner, on frost-bitten toes, led his four-man team on an assault of the bunkers. He took a lot of fire, most of it while moving casualties.

"You could see the smoke trails of the (rocket-powered grenades) coming right at you," Stebner said. "You think they fire in a straight line, but they don't. Those things have been drug around the mountains for years. They come at you, skipping off rocks or whatever, and you're wondering, 'Is this thing gonna hit me?'"

Stebner's Rangers completed their mission. When the soldiers had been evacuated to the nearby town of Gardez, the count was seven dead and four seriously wounded. It was the most American soldiers to die in combat in a single day since 18 Rangers and other Special Operations soldiers had been killed in 1993 in Mogadishu, Somalia - the basis for the movie "Black Hawk Down."

Stebner returned to Savannah, Ga., last April. His girlfriend, Wendy Allen, called Stebner's father, Dennis, in Ellendale. She told him what had happened in Afghanistan.

"She was crying so hard he could hardly understand her," Stebner's sister, Lynnette, said. "(Eric) was feeling guilty in a sense, I think, because he wasn't there on the first helicopter with Bradley."

Stebner and Crose became close during Ranger training and at camp in Savannah. Crose, a religious man, had driven with Stebner to Ellendale for Christmas in 2000.

"The family really liked Bradley," Lynnette Stebner said. "He was really nice and polite. He would sit all day with the little kids and play with them."

At a memorial service for the lost Rangers back in Savannah, Stebner broke down while eulogizing his best friend.

"Every time I've spoken it doesn't seem like it was perfect enough for Brad," Stebner told the Savannah Morning News.

Stebner credits Wendy and her 6-year-old daughter, Natalie, with helping him through some really tough times.

"She sent packages and letters all the time I was over there," Stebner said. "It's nice to get those, it makes you feel really good."

For his heroics on Takur Ghar, Stebner was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge. The man who was "a little brat" growing up in Pingree and Ellendale, according to his sister, also was nominated for the Silver Star - the fourth-highest honor in the U.S. Army.

Today, as America commemorates the anniversary of a tragedy, we must understand there are others out there who are fighting for us, who have witnessed other tragedies, Stebner said.

"A lot of people can't understand why we do what we do," Stebner said of the Rangers. "They go to bed at night and don't realize everything that's going on. I hope people appreciate it more now."

(Reach Tony Spilde at 250-8260 or tspilde@ndonline.com.)