Citizen Soldier 2016

[Peacedog]

I just finished watching a film entitled Citizen Soldier (2016). It is available on Amazon and is free to view with a Prime membership.

The film chronicles the deployment of a National Guard infantry unit to Afghanistan in 2011.

It is by far the best film of its kind I have seen and is mostly shot using real time footage captured by a combat photography specialist.

For anyone curious as to what combat by coalition troops looks like in Afghanistan this is the best I've seen.

For veterans out there this will bring back many memories. For those who have never served, or curious family members, this will provide some insight into what others have experienced.

Be advised of graphic content.

https://www.amazon.com/Citizen-Soldier- ... ldier+2016

[Michael]

Thanks for the tip, I watched it. Very good documentary.

[Peacedog]

A few scenes at the beginning of the film when they get shot at the first couple of times made me laugh.

Everyone is standing around with that "someone is actually shooting at me" look on their faces. The first time is where you can't quite believe it is actually happening so most people, and yes this happened to me too, just stand there waiting to be a target.

Another part of it is that the "hit the ground" reflex has to be trained into most people via experience. It turns out getting shot at from a distance (i.e. not close up), in broad daylight, when well rested and well fed just isn't that scary until your mind links it with the after effects.

Now indirect fire, and the accompanying explosion/pressure wave, is a different situation, but most people tend to freeze the first few times that happens as I suspect it is overwhelming their sensory network. Doc Steir and the like could comment.

It brought back memories.

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[Michael]

I'll probably watch it again because it's something with which I am not personally familiar as I never saw anything close to combat during my years in, Ford be praised, but here's what I was thinking while watching.

Why did you set up an observation post that could be so easily triangulated by enemy fire and also worth their investment in time to wait for you, as in, why were you so farkin' predictable?

Then i realize all the USA tactics shown in the film are perfectly predictable. Stay in safe area, compound, whatever, go out to "battle damage assessment" after a helo drops some ordnance? What? You're a rolling IED detector sending your men up a mountain in order to see what damage the helo did, all while making yourself completely vulnerable? And then no way to take the fight back to the enemy because it might be an ambush?

Next, let's lead a convoy there and back so that on the first trip all the bad guys can be easily alerted to take a little break from the falafel shop and go and man their IED switch boxes waiting for the return leg of the convoy, and boom, Lewww-ten-nant Daaaan gets blown up on the return trip. If the IED's are buried under the roads and can't be detected by sight as you drive along, just driving along and hoping you don't explode seems a bit off.

Why don't they make themselves more prepared to get the IED switchmen by having air support a few minutes away and able to sweep those corn fields with infrared or whatever? Is that not possible? They're just human bait, bird-dogging roadside bombs the way they do things.

Is sitting in the compound and going out in predictable fashion more safe than constantly engaging the enemy? Isn't this all a repeat of Vietnam? Maybe they've worked it out to have fewer casualties, but it doesn't look effective at engaging and killing the enemy much. We've been in Afghanistan 16 years now, so fewer casualties per year will still add up.

[Peacedog]

I'm sure part of that was just how the film was edited.

As I understand it, the unit in question was deployed during the 2011 surge. That was a period when the coalition moved into "undergoverned" spaces to allow the Afghan government to set up shop.

So, they weren't so much combating a standing army, which is something infantry is good at, as providing breathing space to our "stalwart Afghan allies."

A lot of that resulted in mucho standing around waiting to be shot at time.

COIN sucks as the provider of said COIN, especially when the force you are supporting is not the most motivated.

[greytowhite]

A few scenes at the beginning of the film when they get shot at the first couple of times made me laugh.

Everyone is standing around with that "someone is actually shooting at me" look on their faces. The first time is where you can't quite believe it is actually happening so most people, and yes this happened to me too, just stand there waiting to be a target.

Another part of it is that the "hit the ground" reflex has to be trained into most people via experience. It turns out getting shot at from a distance (i.e. not close up), in broad daylight, when well rested and well fed just isn't that scary until your mind links it with the after effects.

When my sister first moved here to the Phoenix area from Stockton she went to the mall with a friend in East Mesa. It was after the mall had closed and they were waiting for her friend's mother to pick them up. A car backfired somewhere in the mall parking lot and my sister immediately hit the ground and her friend was confused. Her friend asked what was up and my sister said, "Shotgun driveby dumbass." Little did she know that the mall is next to one of the most sedate areas in town.