William Carlson came to Delta Force in the mid-1990s. Everyone called him “Chief,” as he was a Siksika warrior from the Blackfeet tribe of Montana.

Geo Hand wrote a wonderful memorial to Chief here. He tells of how, while driving home one night, Chief saw a naked soldier running alongside the road being followed by some much slower MPs. Yeah, weird shit happens on and near Army Bases.

Chief stopped his car, began a foot pursuit, and tackled the naked goober, subsequently handing him over to the Military Police.  The really funny part is that the slippery nude dude got away from the MPs and took to running by the side of the road again, where our hero, Chief Carlson, yet again stopped his car, got out, and chased down the guy, this time making sure the MPs had a really good grip on him.

William Carlson in Afghanistan
Chief Carlson in Afghanistan

Unfortunately, Chief’s story does not have a happy ending.

As Geo tells it:

…Chief would die in an ambush in Shikin, Afghanistan, with CIA Ground Branch during a Taliban ambush. He was driving the lead car in a convoy when he was mortally struck by rounds from a burst of machine gunfire. Chief’s last official act was to gun his vehicle’s engine and bring the convoy forward and out of the kill zone, allowing his teammates to recover and maneuver. Chief carried the rifle ahead. That being accomplished, William “Chief” Carlson promptly bled out and died.

May he rest in peace.

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Check out this video of Delta capturing an Al-Qaeda suspect in Afghanistan.