Rented it today. Thoroughly enjoyed it. I will have to watch it again on a bigger screen when the little one is away. Every time Scott Eastwood has a 3/4 silhouette shot I see Dirty Harry.

will stream this this weekend DEFINITELY

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watched it

well-worth the $7 streaming on Amazon

tough to watch in some places. did not 'sugar coat' the reality. officers made mistakes. NCOs made mistakes. no one was perfect but there was a ton of heroism displayed that day. Romesha's actions thwarted the enemy's ability to completely over-run the camp and create the PR extravaganza the Taliban were seeking -- to over-run a base and display a COPs worth of dead US bodies for propaganda

i read the book and it is very true to established facts based on all the participants experiences and what I read. actual names are used.

several actual soldiers were involved with the production and also played themselves on camera

anyone who served in the military will appreciate some of the absurd experiences of service life depicted

amazing there were (2) Medals of Honor earned that day by participants who lived

not an easy movie to watch but worth it (lots of violence and much profanity if you have younger viewers)

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This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sig209,

Halfway though...

UPDATE: If you crossed Blackhawk Down (2001) with Zulu (1964)

NOTE: Stay for the credits.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: kkina,

Damn.

Yeah, keep watching for the end credits.

Best war movie of the year.

0-0

quote:

well-worth the $7 streaming on Amazon

Just put it on my Amazon Watchlist. A little hesitant to rent it at $7 but I'm willing to spring for it. Scott Eastwood needs to get more work. Not only is he the spitin' image of the old man he has the voice to go with it and a good actor to boot.

Watched it yesterday. Outstanding! My highest recommendation. I'll echo what others have said - stay for the credits at the end. Well worth the extra few minutes. I read an account of the battle before I saw the movie. I was wondering if the incident would be depicted where a soldier used a captured Soviet Dragonov sniper rifle to take out some Taliban. It is depicted in the movie. Although the written account indicated several Taliban were taken out with the Dragonov, the movie showed just one. Dramatic license I guess. The movie did overall accurately depict the battle according to the account that I read. It also shows the absolute outstanding leadership of the commanding officer at the time of the attack. When things looked desperate and it appeared likely they all could be killed, he came up with a plan to retake the base. He rallied the men, made sure everyone understood what they had to do, and executed the plan flawlessly. Not only was there tremendous bravery, but their was also outstanding leadership.

An excellent film, like the others, I would highly recommend you watch it!

Watched it today, thought it was great. One hour setting the scene, giving the backstory, and an hour on the battle.

What was the movie where the General was busted back to run supplies, after screwing horribly actually leading men? Well that's what should have happened to whoever decided to put that Outpost in the bottom of that valley.

Scott is deserving of the Eastwood name.

quote:

Originally posted by ibanda:
Watched it today, thought it was great. One hour setting the scene, giving the backstory, and an hour on the battle.

What was the movie where the General was busted back to run supplies, after screwing horribly actually leading men? Well that's what should have happened to whoever decided to put that Outpost in the bottom of that valley.

Scott is deserving of the Eastwood name.

Heartbreak Ridge, although the character was a Captain, not a General

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:

quote:

COP Keating, an unusually positioned outpost nestled in the bottom of a steep valley in northeastern Afghanistan. The position yielded advantageous high ground from nearly 360 degrees, leaving the men as sitting ducks to an unruly enemy’s coordinated attack.

This really makes one wonder who the idiot was that decided to place a US outpost in this location. It defies all logic and tactical sense.

If you met some of the officers in my unit it wouldn’t surprise you. Hell in basic we had a couple generals pop in during training and say some out right stupid shit that our drill sgt’s would immediately tell us to ignore after general dumbass left. You don’t always advance up the ranks by being smart or talented in the army. Unless you’re a total fuck up rank comes with time served. And many times the truly worthless slip through the cracks

that position might have been 'unavoidable'

they wanted to be near the villages

the villages were not on mountaintops. the mountains were very severe -- so there would have been likely no way to get that kind of combat power on a super steep incline. so they chose the 'only' location that worked in terms of the size of the foot print of the base.

BUT -- the command definitely should have done a 'MUCH' better job fortifying the camp though. the HMMWVs were totally in the open. most positions appeared to have no significant overhead cover. no trench lines. ammo pit not located in bunker IIRC. it's like they put up some Hesco barriers and called it good. defensive fortification improvement is supposed to be an unending proposition.

if the COP had been there that long they should have had engineering assets out there helping get that location more hardened. the ground there didn't look like a shovel would have much success digging in. AARs have stated they were planning on closing the COP so that removed the emphasis to continually strengthen the defensive perimeter

and don't get me started on claymores not getting checked and rechecked. absolute leadership failure there from whoever said they were not to be reinspected. apparently the concertina wire was in bad shape in many places also

bravery was not in short supply. but the command leadership once they picked that spot should never have stopped hardening the location.

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Captain Portis was talked about with high regard by the characters in the movie before he's first seen but then you see the real Portis in the end credit interview and he's just so young!

quote:

Originally posted by Orguss:
Captain Portis was talked about with high regard by the characters in the movie before he's first seen but then you see the real Portis in the end credit interview and he's just so young!

same thing with 1LT Keating ... in real life he was young but in the movie he is played by Orlando Bloom who is 43.

they admittedly took some license with a few of the portrayals but made a major effort when it came to the actual battle to stick very close to actual events

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Wife and I watched it this week, well done movie.

The base they set up for this movie looked so real to me. How they are able to move with the cameras and film is really amazing.

HK Ag

Great movie

The last five minutes punched me right in the feels


Stick around after the credits

I also enjoyed this one. On a whim, I caught it on Netflix.

Good movie. Unbelievable that men were put there.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig209:
that position might have been 'unavoidable'

they wanted to be near the villages

the villages were not on mountaintops. the mountains were very severe -- so there would have been likely no way to get that kind of combat power on a super steep incline. so they chose the 'only' location that worked in terms of the size of the foot print of the base.

BUT -- the command definitely should have done a 'MUCH' better job fortifying the camp though. the HMMWVs were totally in the open. most positions appeared to have no significant overhead cover. no trench lines. ammo pit not located in bunker IIRC. it's like they put up some Hesco barriers and called it good. defensive fortification improvement is supposed to be an unending proposition.

if the COP had been there that long they should have had engineering assets out there helping get that location more hardened. the ground there didn't look like a shovel would have much success digging in. AARs have stated they were planning on closing the COP so that removed the emphasis to continually strengthen the defensive perimeter

and don't get me started on claymores not getting checked and rechecked. absolute leadership failure there from whoever said they were not to be reinspected. apparently the concertina wire was in bad shape in many places also

bravery was not in short supply. but the command leadership once they picked that spot should never have stopped hardening the location.

This deserves a second read. It's the reality of warfare in Afghanistan, which is a Special Forces type of war. If you place the base on the high ground, you forego the protection and relationship with the village. Doing do is outside the parameters of the mission.

Improving the positions is a legitimate criticism but there may be only so much you can do, given the terrain.

v.