Watched it twice already. Watching it I felt like I was getting PTSD, such bad anxiety, and the culminating last scene I just can't get out of my head. Never seen anything as close to war as this and Ive seen many. Chaos. In one word.
Dave "Crown Time" Blankenship for Time Man of the Year.
I served in Iraq and my platoon was a part of this documentary. We were the platoon at the Hotel in Ramadi ( 2LT Joe Walker). I am actually the guy picking up brass from the 50cal during that section of the film.
I have watched every documentary on the war in Iraq and nothing else has even got it close to how things were like for us on the ground. This film does exactly that though.
When Mick and Yuri were there with us that 24 hours at the Hotel they told us some stories that blew our minds. Even then in 2005 he was the most knowledgeable person any of us had met on the situation. He's a real good guy, very personable and someone we all respected when he was gone. Yuri as well. This isn't the easiest thing to get from a combat rifle platoon.
Thanks for taking time to see this remarkable film and sticking it out through some of those tough scenes.
First, thank you for your service.
Ware's film was incredible. Always have liked him as a reporter, and there's a real statement made here.
Glad you got back alive. What a freaking mess that must have been living it.
Good luck to you in whatever you do.
Semper Fi! (VMFA 251, 1981-1983)
Thanks for your service and responding to my post, and I have it on DVR and I'll look for you but I'm pretty sure I know which guy you are just from watching this twice already. The guy from South Carolina with the beanie that went to the small college in SC? The Hotel scenes were really interesting, I felt so much better for you guys when he showed the snipers with the 360 vantage point on the top floor. And I was shocked how much damage that dump truck did to the Hotel from the propaganda footage (complete with Arab song as the truck headed to the Hotel).
I've watched Operation Restpo, all kinds of real documentaries....I thought HBO's mini-series Generation Kill was really good. I'm a History graduate and War semi-historian, always reading books and watching anything and everything I can. I am just fascinated with WWII, but anything really I will watch.
I have to ask what blew your minds? Their stories from the inside of the insurgency? Which he was almost beheaded for by ISIS fighters on the road in Baghdad...
As I'm writing this it's actually on right now! Just missed the Hotel scene and now they're killing Al-Zarqari with the F-16s...
These journalists are IMHO a very important part of war, without his footage we'd never really see the total brutality of it all and the real consequences it has on Every single person. I'm glad your platoon had respect for him, I gotta give him credit for having the balls to be running around with you guys...he could've lost his life at any time, and almost did.
Right now they're dragging the dude that got hit from the sniper (US) who was twitching for a good while, before eventually dying. The first time I watched it, it was just emotional for me, and I'm not even quite sure how I felt.
When we first saw it, me and my GF were like "damn, this is giving me bad anxiety.." and I just felt my heart and it was beating really fast...and another thing I felt from watching this film was how I felt a little guilty, I'm 38 years old...I was around the ages of you guys when these events happened...I was 25 when we invaded Iraq...but the military wouldn't take me even if I had wanted..I'm legally blind without my contacts, blind as a bat...glad you came on here and responded. I was shocked that I was literally the second thread. I was like I just watched the most real, most emotional film ever on war and nobody is talking about it...hope to hear back from you. Thanks
P.S. Do you suffer from PTSD? I'd imagine almost anyone who saw combat does in some shape or form. My GF has it pretty bad, and it started rubbing off on me (which my psychiatrist said absolutely can happen)...I would wake up in the night from a dream and have my hands on the side tables to the bed picking them up ready to throw them...and a few times woke up screaming like I was being attacked..luckily that has calmed down. A few friends of mine were in Afghanistan, a couple of them have dogs that were given to them and the dogs helped them tremendously.
Dave "Crown Time" Blankenship for Time Man of the Year.
Well semper Fidelis teufelhunden
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I know exactly who you are.
This sounds ridiculous but I'd never considered someone would have to actually pick up the used ammo around the base and thought - *beep* me that must a while when I saw you.
The guy from South Carolina was my platoon leader. He is a great guy, someone we all looked up to.
shareOk...I'll rewatch it tonight and figure out exactly who you are...I have a good idea. It was literally just on but my GF was like "that was just mind numbing, I don't want to watch it right now.."
Dave "Crown Time" Blankenship for Time Man of the Year.
Ok, I saw it again and I did remember from the first time I saw it seeing someone pick up what I thought where .50 caliber shells, I was just trying to "see you" in other scenes at the Hotel. I read that M. Ware took a year off in 2010 to recover from PTSD. Glad you made it home.
Dave "Crown Time" Blankenship for Time Man of the Year.
Saw it again last night, so I think that makes about five times. It still blows my mind. And like anything, the more you see it, the less you become effected by it. And I say that not to say that it kinda proves a point, the more you see this the brutality of it, the less you care. It's a remarkable film, I hope everyone will watch it, as it gives you a real idea of what happened in Iraq, with the insurgency, and the even more brutal ISIS attacks and their grand scheme for a global Muslim region of the world, and then the entire world. Like Ware said, even the insurgents were terrified of the methodology of the then Al-Queda in Iraq.
Dave "Crown Time" Blankenship for Time Man of the Year.
The footage is absolutely amazing. Its 10X better than any film Hollywood could make. I'm in awe.
shareI saw a reviewer say it was too long...I disagree 100%...I could have watched it for hours. This documentary is amazing. The first time I watched it I was just is "awe" also..
Dave "Crown Time" Blankenship for Time Man of the Year.
last scene though was really hard to watch but overall a really good docu
shareOP: Not to be a dick, but it sounds like it was a hidden blessing that you could not be eligible to join the military. If watching tv and being around ppl with PTSD make you display your own symptoms, then you probably wouldn't have been long for that world anyway!
Excellent footage, and raw if nothing else. The last scene made just about everybody in the room uncomfortable and grateful to have the ability to look away. Appreciation all around for those there IRL that didn't have the option of looking away.
I had some huge objections to the amount of ego injected into the project by the journalist, we get it. You were chosen (or used) by high ranking enemy combatants to spread their message of fear. You were invited to witness morally questionable acts that * I am convinced * only aroused Ware because of the killer footage he obtained. The long shots at the end of the dying enemy may have invoked some level of guilt -he expressed this much in narration- though was absolutely a distance second to his excitement of capturing such an event. If he didn't love it so much, he wouldn't have shown it at such length and as a parting event to conclude his film.
Yes what he was doing was dangerous and reckless, but I am not so sure this should necessarily be respected.
Otherwise a great film with early footgage less often seen than later years of the war. I shook my head when reminded that people thought the Baghdad invasion would probably conclude the extent of the war. If only we knew what we know now, would anything have changed?