Our War: Afghanistan 10 years on
Discussion
I was caught up in the passion of it being an ex soldier. It must have made grim viewing for the parents of the young lad who died. I was so full of respect for the Officer who wrote a detailed account of what had happened leading up to, during and after the contact so the parents would know the full facts rather than them having to wait months, that was such a nice gesture and no doubt a very difficult thing to do.
A really well made programme.
A really well made programme.
Watched this on Sky+ last night, I agree with many of the sentiments above: very gripping documentary, interesting to see it from the soldiers point of view and so on, but a couple of aspects didn't quite sit right with me:
1) The Major (now lieutenant colonel?) in charge back at base was presented as deciding to go on active patrols in Taliban area "just to shake it up a bit" - seems a very blase attitude to war, akin to Donkeys leading Lions in WWI. There just didn't seem to be an overall objective to the patrol other than to "stir things up a bit".
2) The platoon sergeant's attitude, I imagine his portrayal is not a fair reflection of his attitude in reality, but he came across to me as being quite detached from it and not overly affected by the death of one of his platoon members. I will say that I (in my totally amateur capacity) thought that he was very impressive in the combat situation though - clear, concise orders, aware of others' duties and how well (or otherwise they were performing them) and confidence inspiring.
1) The Major (now lieutenant colonel?) in charge back at base was presented as deciding to go on active patrols in Taliban area "just to shake it up a bit" - seems a very blase attitude to war, akin to Donkeys leading Lions in WWI. There just didn't seem to be an overall objective to the patrol other than to "stir things up a bit".
2) The platoon sergeant's attitude, I imagine his portrayal is not a fair reflection of his attitude in reality, but he came across to me as being quite detached from it and not overly affected by the death of one of his platoon members. I will say that I (in my totally amateur capacity) thought that he was very impressive in the combat situation though - clear, concise orders, aware of others' duties and how well (or otherwise they were performing them) and confidence inspiring.
youngsyr said:
1) The Major (now lieutenant colonel?) in charge back at base was presented as deciding to go on active patrols in Taliban area "just to shake it up a bit" - seems a very blase attitude to war, akin to Donkeys leading Lions in WWI. There just didn't seem to be an overall objective to the patrol other than to "stir things up a bit".
From what I gathered it was similar to when the RAF do a show of force , this is what we have got, this is what we can do, be affraid! All though it looked chaotic and overwhelming in the Taliban's favour at times, I remember one of them saying that there was an estimated 22 enemies eliminated, dont know how to word this correctly without it being a bit touchy but thats 22/1....that will be seen as an overall success to the higher ranking officials whom I imagine came up with the idea.DAKOTAstorm said:
youngsyr said:
1) The Major (now lieutenant colonel?) in charge back at base was presented as deciding to go on active patrols in Taliban area "just to shake it up a bit" - seems a very blase attitude to war, akin to Donkeys leading Lions in WWI. There just didn't seem to be an overall objective to the patrol other than to "stir things up a bit".
From what I gathered it was similar to when the RAF do a show of force , this is what we have got, this is what we can do, be affraid! All though it looked chaotic and overwhelming in the Taliban's favour at times, I remember one of them saying that there was an estimated 22 enemies eliminated, dont know how to word this correctly without it being a bit touchy but thats 22/1....that will be seen as an overall success to the higher ranking officials whom I imagine came up with the idea.I am always a bit dubious of "kill estimates" though, each party always seems to talk up their tally significantly.
It's also worth considering that both sides probably don't value "kills" equally - I would imagine the Taliban may well celebrate the deaths of their "martyrs" and the Taliban victims themselves have beliefs that possibly don't hold death in as much fear as Squaddies effectively doing a job.
Still, I know literally nothing about the situation so I'll shut up now!
SammyW said:
An absolutely brilliant documentary, looking forward to the next one. Anyone know the average age of a squaddie in Afganistan, I'm always amazed by how young some of them seem.
21 years old source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/a... I don't know youngsyr said:
...
2) The platoon sergeant's attitude, I imagine his portrayal is not a fair reflection of his attitude in reality, but he came across to me as being quite detached from it and not overly affected by the death of one of his platoon members. I will say that I (in my totally amateur capacity) thought that he was very impressive in the combat situation though - clear, concise orders, aware of others' duties and how well (or otherwise they were performing them) and confidence inspiring.
I saw that a bit differently.2) The platoon sergeant's attitude, I imagine his portrayal is not a fair reflection of his attitude in reality, but he came across to me as being quite detached from it and not overly affected by the death of one of his platoon members. I will say that I (in my totally amateur capacity) thought that he was very impressive in the combat situation though - clear, concise orders, aware of others' duties and how well (or otherwise they were performing them) and confidence inspiring.
During the engagement natural instinct seemed to kick in. His only concern was getting help to the injured soldier and doing what he could to prevent him dying.
In the interviews, he was quite critical of himself in terms of his own actions. I also got a sense that he was holding a lot inside and that's possibly where his detached demeanour came from. I suspect if you weren't able to do that you'd be in bits all the time.
They did all seem a little bit...disorganised when it all started kicking off, and the officer leading them mentioned that they should have done better. But equally it's hard to imagine the very vast majority of people being able to do any better in such circumstances.
From conversations with my dad (who saw active service), this is really how things tend to be.
I hope the rest of the series is as enlightening as this. And that it gets watched by as many as it deserves to.
Obiwonkeyblokey said:
I thought it was one of the best things Id seen on TV in quite some time. should have been on BBC1.
Will be going out on BBC1 later in the year.There are also 35 exclusive short films on the website by individual soldiers, relatives and Afghans. http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/features/ourwar/aps/exclus...
youngsyr said:
1) The Major (now lieutenant colonel?) in charge back at base was presented as deciding to go on active patrols in Taliban area "just to shake it up a bit" - seems a very blase attitude to war, akin to Donkeys leading Lions in WWI. There just didn't seem to be an overall objective to the patrol other than to "stir things up a bit".
It seemed quite logical to me. They said at the beginning they were there to maintain the status quo (them in their base, Taliban on the other side of the wadi) but no war is ever won by standing your ground. They couldn't sit around in base waiting for the next Taliban attack, they had to take on the Taliban and hopefully scare some of them away. The dense orchards and alleyways meant a foot patrol was the only option, so its hard to see any other way they could have done it. They found the town to be deserted - I think there is an overall objective, and it was to clear the town of Taliban so the locals return, just as they had in Sangin (the town just before they flew out, where all the locals had returned and the bazaar was bustling with people).
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