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asimplechordDDDD: Our neighbor goes fishing on weekends. He gets up, gets ready, and puts his dogs out in the backyard, all by 5 am. The dogs bark pretty much continuously when they are left alone. This does not endear said neighbor to me.
+ I would like to hear what Abu Muqawama has to say about Mleeta and what it implies about Hezbollah's current mindset w/ respect to the IDF and UNIFIL.
+ Restrepo. There are multiple levels to my feelings on this movie, and I think I need to reread War and see the movie again before I can sort them out.
But:
a) In some ways, I found it much harder to watch than Generation Kill, because it is a documentary, not a dramatic re-enactment. I know that the events in GK happened, that they were real, but we see everything through the lens of Wright's affection for the men he embedded with. Junger & Hetherington filmed Restrepo as the events happened, and there's no glossing things over or putting in dialogue to make a point. Even so, there are moments of hilarity and homoerotic jokes, as one might expect.
b) I found myself feeling FAR less sympathy for the captain, Kearney, as I watched him on-screen, both in the events filmed at the Korengal Outpost and in the post-deployment interview. It makes me recognize anew how much of my sympathy for Nate Fick as a character comes from Wright's admiration and Stark Sands' portrayal of him, because there are things in One Bullet Away that, on their own, irk me. Like his definition of masculinity, for example.
c) Watching them build outposts and deal with locals? Made me wonder even more if it is at all possible for a counterinsurgency success there without a significant change in procedure. Not specifically in the Korengal valley, since ISAF forces withdrew this spring, but in Afghanistan generally. Because they held a weekly shura, but a weekly meeting doesn't make up for killing or injuring children, or killing a villager's cow (yes, they argue that the cow got caught in the camp's concertina wire; if you read War or hear Junger describe it, the soldiers sort of herded it into the fence, where it got stuck and died, and then they slaughtered it and enjoyed "same day cow") and then arguing about how to reimburse the villager. Clearly the villagers were not buying what the soldiers were selling, when it came to building a road and getting jobs, benefiting through cooperation. (Re: roadbuilding... wasn't that the same sort of thing that the British empire used in the Northwest Territories of Pakistan, to employ tribesmen? Oh, how little has changed.)
d) One of the soldiers has SPQR emblazoned on his arm, which made me stop and think about the Roman Empire vs. American Empire, and whether what they were doing out there was really will of the populace. *sigh*
ETA: e) There's a scene when Kearney addresses Battle Company, trying to raise morale after their sister company, Chosen Company, suffers 9 deaths and 27 injuries. On one level, Kearney's right: no one joins the military without knowing that injury or death could result. But since the battle they died in was Wanat, and an independent investigation concluded that the officers in charge were negligent in their duties (although CENTCOM's reprimands were overturned by the Army), I had some moments of discomfort, listening to him. Then again, I suppose at the time none of the soldiers there knew how it went down.
ETA2: Apparently the first living recipient of the Medal of Honor since Vietnam will be the Staff Sgt from Battle Company, for actions taken during that deployment.
It's too early for this. Need coffee, or my brain will go offline.
+ I would like to hear what Abu Muqawama has to say about Mleeta and what it implies about Hezbollah's current mindset w/ respect to the IDF and UNIFIL.
+ Restrepo. There are multiple levels to my feelings on this movie, and I think I need to reread War and see the movie again before I can sort them out.
But:
a) In some ways, I found it much harder to watch than Generation Kill, because it is a documentary, not a dramatic re-enactment. I know that the events in GK happened, that they were real, but we see everything through the lens of Wright's affection for the men he embedded with. Junger & Hetherington filmed Restrepo as the events happened, and there's no glossing things over or putting in dialogue to make a point. Even so, there are moments of hilarity and homoerotic jokes, as one might expect.
b) I found myself feeling FAR less sympathy for the captain, Kearney, as I watched him on-screen, both in the events filmed at the Korengal Outpost and in the post-deployment interview. It makes me recognize anew how much of my sympathy for Nate Fick as a character comes from Wright's admiration and Stark Sands' portrayal of him, because there are things in One Bullet Away that, on their own, irk me. Like his definition of masculinity, for example.
c) Watching them build outposts and deal with locals? Made me wonder even more if it is at all possible for a counterinsurgency success there without a significant change in procedure. Not specifically in the Korengal valley, since ISAF forces withdrew this spring, but in Afghanistan generally. Because they held a weekly shura, but a weekly meeting doesn't make up for killing or injuring children, or killing a villager's cow (yes, they argue that the cow got caught in the camp's concertina wire; if you read War or hear Junger describe it, the soldiers sort of herded it into the fence, where it got stuck and died, and then they slaughtered it and enjoyed "same day cow") and then arguing about how to reimburse the villager. Clearly the villagers were not buying what the soldiers were selling, when it came to building a road and getting jobs, benefiting through cooperation. (Re: roadbuilding... wasn't that the same sort of thing that the British empire used in the Northwest Territories of Pakistan, to employ tribesmen? Oh, how little has changed.)
d) One of the soldiers has SPQR emblazoned on his arm, which made me stop and think about the Roman Empire vs. American Empire, and whether what they were doing out there was really will of the populace. *sigh*
ETA: e) There's a scene when Kearney addresses Battle Company, trying to raise morale after their sister company, Chosen Company, suffers 9 deaths and 27 injuries. On one level, Kearney's right: no one joins the military without knowing that injury or death could result. But since the battle they died in was Wanat, and an independent investigation concluded that the officers in charge were negligent in their duties (although CENTCOM's reprimands were overturned by the Army), I had some moments of discomfort, listening to him. Then again, I suppose at the time none of the soldiers there knew how it went down.
ETA2: Apparently the first living recipient of the Medal of Honor since Vietnam will be the Staff Sgt from Battle Company, for actions taken during that deployment.
It's too early for this. Need coffee, or my brain will go offline.
