His outpost was attacked and he did not have time to dress.
It was a horrible battle.
Giving up the Korengal - SURRENDERING it to the Taliban is spitting in the faces of our incredible troops that fought and died in that hell-hole.
“Restrepo” is - was? - the point firebase in the Korengal - in the thick of the Taliban and a 2 hour mountain goat hike from the nearest FOB...with the wooded mountains on every side - exposing them like ducks in a a shooting gallery.
The movie, made by Sebastian Junger (wrote “Perfect Storm”) and award winning videographer from Britain (now NYC), Tim Hetherington, it's about an incredible little band of paratroopers: the 173rd ARIBORNE - BATTLE Co,, that pickaxed a shelf out of the mountainside - pickaxed by night, filled sand bags with rock, and then got ready for the firefight that would start at first light.
Junger and Hetherington embedded with the Platoon for a total of a year - far beyond he usual 2-3 days or weeks. They became trusted members of the company.
For the Platoon, it was a 15 month deployment in The Korengal, aka, “the Valley of Death.” (ABC did a documentary on them, Vanity Fair did two articles and NY Times Mag. did a front page story.
During that deployment, they were in over 1,000 firefights - that has to be some kind of record. They had heavy losses. They beat the Talibans butts.
The movie made selection at the Sundance Film Festival - and went on to take the top award: Grand Jury Award. It is being screened at film festivals around the country - and scheduled for theater release 2 July - theatrical rights bought by Nat’l Geo - who also bought broadcast rights - and will air on TV in Nov.
Sebastians book “WAR” on it comes out mid May and can be pre-ordered on Amazon.
This is a war movie like no other. NO Hollywood, no actors, no “script”, no agenda, no propaganda - you are boots on the ground with the soldiers, hour by hour, month after month, firefight after firefight. This movie will show America just how incredible our soldiers are - against all odds.
Watch the trailer - mark your calenders, read the book - and Thank God for our troops.
