The Survivors Of Restropo Reflect On Surviving In An Afghan Outpost

'Restrepo' Soldiers Reflect On Surviving Afghan Outpost -- Stars and Stripes/The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio (MCT)

The Korengal Valley in Afghanistan wasn’t an easy a place to stay healthy.

From May 2007 to June 2008, the men of 2nd Platoon, Battle Company of the 173rd Army Airborne Brigade held the remote Outpost Restrepo, named after PFC Juan Restrepo, the platoon medic who had been killed in action.

And if you weren’t there — well, you just don’t know what it was like.

“Growing up, I always had that imagination of what war would be like,” said Nicholas Chisenhall, who was deployed to the outpost for five of those months. “You get there, and it’s completely different.”

Living with the platoon were two journalists — Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington, who recorded the soldiers’ patrols, firefights, exhilaration and sadness.

Read more ....

My Comment: A fantastic documentary .... if you have the chance .... see it. On a side note .... for those who do not know .... Tim Hetherington, the director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Restrepo .... was killed in Misurata, Libya, in 2011 while covering the Libyan civil war.

Star Of ‘Restrepo’ Returns To Afghanistan

Photo: Specialist Misha Pemble-Belkin (left) and fellow soldiers from Battle Company, 173rd Airborne Division are shown here during a firefight at now-defunct Outpost Restrepo in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley in 2008. Courtesty photo/Tim Hetherington

Unintended Star Of ‘Restrepo’ Returns To Afghanistan -- Stars and Stripes

ASMAR, Afghanistan -- Sebastian Junger’s best-selling book “War” reconstructs in visceral detail a day in 2007 when Taliban insurgents ambushed a U.S. platoon in the Korengal Valley of eastern Afghanistan. In one scene, then-Pvt. Misha Pemble-Belkin runs through sheets of gunfire to aid Spc. Carl Vandenberge, who is bleeding out after a bullet has severed the brachial artery in his left arm.

Pemble-Belkin starts stuffing the wound with Kerlix bandages until he’s knuckle-deep in Vandenberge’s huge arm. Vandenberge is soaked with blood from his boots to his collar, and soon Pemble-Belkin is, too. When he cuts the sleeve off Vandenberge’s uniform, two or three more cups of blood spill out.

“You could see it in his face that he’s slowly dying,” Pemble-Belkin said.

Read more ....

My Comment: I commented on Restropo last year, the link is here. Special note, Restropo director Tim Hetherington was killed in Libya earlier this year.

Restrepo Director Tim Hetherington And Pulitzer Prize-Nominated Photographer Chris Hondros Killed In Misurata

Two Journalists, Including Restrepo Director, Killed In Misurata -- The National

MISURATA, LIBYA // On Saturday evening, Tim Hetherington, the director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Restrepo, and Chris Hondros, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated photographer, hitched a ride to this besieged city on the Ionian Spirit, where they prepared sandwiches for refugees and talked about their plans back home. On Wednesday evening, the ship ferried the bodies of the two renowned journalists back to Benghazi.

The two journalists were fatally wounded during an attack by Col Muammar Qaddafi’s forces against rebels in Misurata. Two other photojournalists suffered injuries, some critical, according to doctors at the hospital where they were treated.

Read more ....

More News On The Deaths Of Tim Hetherington And Chris Hondros

Tim Hetherington, Chris Hondros are killed documenting Libya fighting -- Washington Post
Two photographers killed in Misrata mortar attack -- Euronews
Tim Hetherington: 1970 – 2011 -- BBC
Tim Hetherington's Courage Under Fire -- ABC
World News: British photographer killed by mortar attack in Libya -- The Scotsman
”Restrepo” director Tim Hetherington killed in Libya -- Reuters
Tim Hetherington: Talented photographer, true gentleman -- CNN
In pictures: Tim Hetherington -- BBC
A War Photographer Who Stayed With His Subject -- Wall Street Journal
Photojournalist Chris Hondros remembered -- USA Today

Restrepo Is A Documentary That You Should See

'Restrepo' Goes Into Afghanistan Trenches -- New York Post

Forget every movie you've ever seen wherein pampered Hollywood actors smudge their faces with dirt, rub on some fake blood and pretend they are soldiers fighting for their country and their lives on a remote and barren outpost.

"Restrepo," a documentary film that follows a 15-month deployment of the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Afghanistan -- which is now the longest war in American history -- is the real thing.

Read more ....

More News On Restrepo

RESTREPO Review (National Geographic) -- Daemon's TV
Junger tells story of U.S. combat troops -- Poughkeepsie
‘Restrepo' views the war through soldiers' eyes -- NewsOK
'Restrepo' Shows Afghan Combat From Soldier's View -- ABC News
"Restrepo" Subject Receives Medal of Honor -- IFC

My Comment: I have been preoccupied with other stories, but I finally got a chance to see Restrepo tonight. In short .... it is a must see documentary. If you have the chance to see it .... see it .... you will not be disappointed.

Restrepo: A Documentary Viewed Through A Soldier's-Eye View Of The War.

In 'Restrepo,' The Afghan War's Brutality As Viewed Through The Soldier's Scope -- Washington Post

In "Restrepo," a documentary by Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington, an officer addresses his troops after a demoralizing enemy attack in Afghanistan takes a heavy toll on American soldiers.

"We make them pay; we make them feel how we feel now," says Capt. Dan Kearney, urging his troops not to despair and to take the fight to the enemy.

Read more ....

More News On Restrepo

"Restrepo" Documentary Captures the Life of a Soldier in Afghanistan -- CBS News
'Restrepo' Offers Intimate Portrayal of Soldiers in Afghanistan -- ABC News
Sebastian Junger, Tim Hetherington Talk ‘Restrepo’ -- Wall Street Journal
Battle Company: Loving Life, Making War -- New York Times
Short Takes: 'Restrepo' places audiences into Afghanistan warzone; 'Dogtooth' uncomfortably odd -- New York Post
War film "Restrepo" gives ground view of Afghan war -- Reuters
Movie review: 'Restrepo' -- L.A. Times
Obama, McChrystal and Restrepo -- Huffington Post
REVIEW: ‘Restrepo’ Focuses Admirably on Our Military But Willfully Ignores Their Noble Cause -- Big Hollywood