RESTREPO to Air: 29 Nov @ 9pm on NatGeo

[Stonewall]

I know this isn't CAP specific so lock it if you please.  But I think this is worthy of posting as it is a piece of history and perfect illustration of what the troops on the front experience in Afghanistan.

I saw this and it was superbly done.  Highly recommend it to any and all of you.

RESTREPO is a feature-length documentary that chronicles the deployment of a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. The movie focuses on a remote 15-man outpost, "Restrepo," named after a platoon medic who was killed in action. It was considered one of the most dangerous postings in the U.S. military. This is an entirely experiential film: the cameras never leave the soldiers; there are no interviews with generals or diplomats. The only goal is to make viewers feel as if they have just been through a 90-minute deployment. This is war, full stop. The conclusions are up to you.

Youtube trailer.

[tmurphy]

Added to my calendar

[Cms.sloane]

DO NOT LOCK..... a very interesting story.

[DC]

DO NOT LOCK..... a very interesting story.

Why would this thread be locked?

[RADIOMAN015]

It's good to show the realities of war, to all those who are considering joining the military in a combat skill.   It's very unfortunate that historically that this appears to be very similar to the Vietnam war (e.g. historically weak central government, with various tribal leadership being the norm).  As far as the fire base, it was located right in the "kill zone" (e.g. high mountains on 2 to 3 sides, allowing the bad guys to shoot down at the Americans), so one really has to wonder about the military leadership that even placed the base there.  Lets face it general don't like to loose any wars.  No matter what the cost -- they want to win (whatever that means), and hopefully the civilian leadership overseeing them needs to take a very skeptical attitude towards these so called "progress" reports.
RM               

[Stonewall]

I suggested watching this movie for one reason only, to bear witness to the gut wrenching battles fought by the troops, the ones with boots on the ground...where the rubber meets the rocky road.  Not to discuss whether or not the war in Afghanistan is right or wrong or if military leaders are doing things right.  Forget all the crap about governments, the President, generals and even strategy, and take a 90 minute look into the soldier who is doing the fighting.

[manfredvonrichthofen]

In reference to why Higher military chooses these places to place outposts and FOBs, some times there just is no better place.

When I was in Afghanistan we were in the Tagaab Valley in the Paktika Province. You went right out the back gate and you went right up a small mountain that started about 50 meters from the Hesco Barriers. We would climb that thing three times a day (minimum) to make sure that no one was up there and to look around through our scopes and get a really nice vantage point on our valley. The placement of FOB Kutschbach was because there was no better place. Infront of the FOB was an MSR, right on the other side was a large village.

In Iraq we were in Ramadi, right in the middleof the city. right outside our walls was an apartment complex. There were balconies and windows all over the building that could see right into our FOB, the building was close enough that you could just jump from the balcony and be inside our FOB. Why did they choose that spot? Because there were plenty of buildings that could easily suit the needs of an infantry company, that was all it could fit, was one company and a vehicle maint. baywith a small LZ. It also had rather high walls going all around it that were well suited to stop small arms and RPGs. Also it's main gate was right on a major MSR. The FOB was an old community college. (not to mention there were minarets that could see right in also.)

You may not think that people are using their heads when they choose these spots for FOBs and outposts, but there is always a good reason or two that they use them.

[NIN]

I suggested watching this movie for one reason only, to bear witness to the gut wrenching battles fought by the troops, the ones with boots on the ground...where the rubber meets the rocky road.  Not to discuss whether or not the war in Afghanistan is right or wrong or if military leaders are doing things right.  Forget all the crap about governments, the President, generals and even strategy, and take a 90 minute look into the soldier who is doing the fighting.

^ THIS.  +1000.

I listened to Sebastian Junger's book "War" on my way home from Annual Training this summer (a 15+ hr car ride will do that for you), and it was an excellent read listen.

Then my girlfriend and I saw Restrepo at the local art house back in August or September. I found the film tremendously sobering, but I didn't think it did a very good job of tying things together.   For example, a lot of thing went completely unexplained and/or opaque to a viewer not well versed in military culture or terminology, and some of it was especially unexplained unless you happened to have read "War" beforehand.

It tended to present things with next to no context, and in some cases, without any context or understanding of the whys and wherefores of things (example: the captain telling his men to "get over it, and drive on"), many people would be inclined to think "That was [redacted] stupid!" or "What a bunch of morons!"   Again, a reading of "War" in advance was handy, and nearly 30 years spent in a uniform helped, but still, it was a little disquieting.  If someone wanted to paint the Army in a bad light, it would be easy to do so with this documentary.

[RADIOMAN015]

I suggested watching this movie for one reason only, to bear witness to the gut wrenching battles fought by the troops, the ones with boots on the ground...where the rubber meets the rocky road.  Not to discuss whether or not the war in Afghanistan is right or wrong or if military leaders are doing things right.  Forget all the crap about governments, the President, generals and even strategy, and take a 90 minute look into the soldier who is doing the fighting.

Hmm might want to look at this 30 minute video also:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6905223n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

Additionally, CBS 60 minutes this evening had a segment on the problems with trying to form an effective police force in the country.  The former UN guy says it will take 100 year to make them effective !!!

What this country is, is another hell hole, where many Americans will lose their lives or be burdened with severe disability for the rest of their lives.   When you watch the movie above be thinking about what did we get ourselves into
RM 

[Stonewall]

What this country is, is another hell hole, where many Americans will lose their lives or be burdened with severe disability for the rest of their lives.   When you watch the movie above be thinking about what did we get ourselves into

Really?  You're going to ruin my thread with bureaucratic BS after I asked  you not to?

[manfredvonrichthofen]

What this country is, is another hell hole, where many Americans will lose their lives or be burdened with severe disability for the rest of their lives.   When you watch the movie above be thinking about what did we get ourselves into
RM

Seriously? Wow! You need to go to Afghanistan and see what it is that we are fighting for. Live with the people and interact with them. Find out for yourself that they can be more human and caring than many Americans. All they are is different and have less than we do. They value their religion and family above all else. How does that make it a hell hole?
[img alt=]http://captalk.net/MGalleryItem.php?id=315[/img]
"burdened with severe disability for the rest of their lives."
I am disabled from Afghanistan.

[tmurphy]

Saw it last night, I was impressed. Even at the end, when they did the "where they are now", it was nice to see that even though their deployment to the Korengal Valley was difficult, some still remained in the military after.

[Smithsonia]

I thought this was among the best documentaries I have ever seen. Simply remarkable.

[A.Member]

Excellent film!   

Set to DVR it last night because it was on late locally.   However, I made the mistake of watching the first 5min and couldn't pull myself away.  I'm draggin' today as a result but it was well worth my time.

I'll have to pick up the books.  I'm particularly interested in some of the detail not in the film.  They show some of the weekly meetings with elders.  However, I'm curious to know more about those meetings. Does Capt.  Kearney and/or the CA guy ever level set with the elders as to why they are there?  Much of that detail is left out but I find it provides valuable insight.  Sure, we're there to fight Taliban but do they know why we are there to fight the Taliban?  Is it explained to the elders that the Taliban supports Al Qa'ida and allowed them to flourish and attack us and our families first?   I want to know more about how that message is received by the tribes given their devotion to family and tribal "laws".

Aside:
For those interested in additional perspective on Afghanistan, one of my buddies wrote this book on his experiences there early on:
Interrogation of Morals

Even if he wasn't my buddy, I'd still recommend the book as a good read.

[Cms.sloane]

My dad just got bag from that area ( can and wont tell me where exactly) and said this movie is spot own how it is.

[SaBeR33]

Just a forewarning, but the language used by the soldiers tends to be quite salty, so those who are easily offended by such language should know this ahead of time. Personally, I'm totally unfazed by such language after having served in the maintenance field in the USAF. Other than that, it was a great documentary that provided a brief glimpse into the world of the infantrymen who bear the brunt of war.

[RADIOMAN015]

Excellent film!   

I'm particularly interested in some of the detail not in the film.  They show some of the weekly meetings with elders.  However, I'm curious to know more about those meetings. Does Capt.  Kearney and/or the CA guy ever level set with the elders as to why they are there?  Much of that detail is left out but I find it provides valuable insight.  Sure, we're there to fight Taliban but do they know why we are there to fight the Taliban?  Is it explained to the elders that the Taliban supports Al Qa'ida and allowed them to flourish and attack us and our families first?   I want to know more about how that message is received by the tribes given their devotion to family and tribal "laws".

Oh yea, one of their best young men (as far as operations/training goes) in the unit gets killed and you can see the anguish in the troops.   Another scene we see them looking through a binocular type vision system & comments how the machine gun split one of the enemy right in half.  Finally we the Captain, who has been promoted to Major and his wife during the interview is crying (likely concerned that he will go back there).

My guess is the tribal elders take the US talk about what we can do for them with significant skepticism -- they have learned to be "survivors" from a long list of invaders over their history.   

Likely you could have filmed the exact same film in Vietnam. With the same type of comments & issues.   So all you cadets out there wanting to play Army, that's the real thing in that documentary (although it really didn't show enough blood and guts).  Remember there's no real winners in warriors, only survivors   (that's at least what my Tshirt says from the joint combat casualty care course I attended many years ago). 
RM   

[NIN]

Likely you could have filmed the exact same film in Vietnam. With the same type of comments & issues.   So all you cadets out there wanting to play Army, that's the real thing in that documentary (although it really didn't show enough blood and guts).  Remember there's no real winners in warriors, only survivors   (that's at least what my Tshirt says from the joint combat casualty care course I attended many years ago). 

I'm too young to know what it was like to send folks to Vietnam. However, in 2004, when my good friend Shawn Stanford went to Iraq with the PA ARNG, I got a serious, serious inkling.  Thankfully, he had continual access to email, and he was able to keep in close touch with his circle of friends and family throughout his tour, so it was, I suppose, a little "easier." 

But every time there was news of some kind of attack in his AO, I held my breath.

I can't even imagine how it went without the modern communication conveniences.

[Earhart1971]

Not commenting on the politics of what we are doing. Operationally, I wonder why, we would fight by having our troops go uphill against a force shooting down hill?

Why not pick the nicest area (Restrepo) at the getgo. Helicopter in at night, with everything the CH-47 can carry. Setup, and the Taliban, come to us, up hill. And we plink them from above.

Just a thought. I liked the show.

We took the whole country with Green Berets on horseback, and smart bombing, then operationally we fall in to an extended ground fight in mountains with infantry against the natives.


Fodder for the War College for years to come.

[manfredvonrichthofen]

Fly in at night doesn't always work. Loud noises carry farther and longer at night, same with smell. Also, you have no idea how many border hopping nutters over there have NVGs, and a helicopter lights up like a Christmas tree. You can see static bouncing around in the rotors, the cockpit is easy as hell to see into at night, doing night ops only is a bad idea. That also tells the enemy your only going to move at night and that is the only time they need to worry about you so they fit themselves better for night ops. The point of having all the training and the equipment is to be able to fight anytime anywhere and keep the enemy guessing.

Why not fight on top of the hill? Sure being on top of the hill/mountain gives the advantage of easier fire, but it makes it harder (especially at night) to see the enemy down hill. Standing on top of the hill/mountain will make you a silhouette, all the enemy has to do is see you beaming at the top and make their front sight post dissapear  on your body and they got you right where they want you, an easy target. Tactical fighting has a lot more involved than most people realize or think of.

[Earhart1971]

You will have to agree. Going up hill in broad daylight against people on top the hill is crazy.

[manfredvonrichthofen]

It is not smart to go up against an enemy in the open in broad daylight in the first place. Yet it is something you can't avoid. In that situation I would order to fall back while launching as many mortars and 40mm grenades as possible while calling for CAS until you get to a comfortable spot to wait for CAS to finish up. Then you would continue to ascend the hill/mountain. There are a million what ifs and there are as many answers, but unless you have read and understand the FM7-8 and actually been in a firefight you won't get satisfactory answers, simply because you do know that there are things that happen that you don't expect, but you don't have the tactical understanding to know what to do in that split second where you have to make that decision right now or you and your team will die. The Infantry train and train and train and train for these situations and scenarios, training evaluators who have the combat experience throw whatever they can at you to ensure that you can make those split second decisions.

You also have to agree that volunteering to be put in those situations makes you kind of crazy already.