Tonights Ross Kemp on Afghanistan...

[Tony*T3]

Simply the most hard hitting front line coverage yet. Patroling with the Marines, one of them pays with his life when an IED goes off. Just a few hundred yards from Kemp (a civvy). The explosion itself is caught on tape. Cant say I've seen any other programs with Journos in that close to the action.

Moving scenes from Hedly Court earlier too.

And they expect our troops to be in this kack hole for another 15 years or so.

[Tony*T3]

S13_Alan said:

Close to the start where they were behind the guy kneeling down, what was it on the ground that was blurred out?

Dont know, some kind of secret stuff for mine detecting (they wouldnt blur a regular detector would they?)

[Tony*T3]

audidoody said:

Eric Mc said:

And didn't John Simpson find himself right in the middle of a Friendly Fire incident when a US Navy F-14 bombed the journalist's convoy rather than the correct target?

Yeah - but that was because he was in the right place at the wrong time. Kemp and his crew have delberately put themselves in harm's way. I always used to think he was an "all mouth and trousers" pretend TV "hard man". Not any more. The man has steel ones.

Agreed. Although JS has my deepest respect, since that type of incedent , and indeed lets not forget Terry Lloyd whilst we're at it, the circumstances were quite different - gross negligence by friendly forces - and since then the true front line reporting by the Beeb and ITN seems to have been almost entirely curtailed. I'm guessing this has a lot to do with corporate 'Health and Saftey' by the Beeb and ITN, where as Kemp makes his own programmes for Sky One I think.

Kemp takes 'embedding' to a different league. CLearly stting himself at times, he still goes forward right to the point of conflict. He also has the bottle and balls to tell it like it is, and isnt constrained by Beeb editorial directives to give 'balanced and politically correct' reporting. FFS the Beeb would have us listening to how unfair it was for taliban insurgents to not be given their oppertunity to present their objectives....

[Tony*T3]

pokethepope said:

Is the cameraman a regular soldier or also a civvy? If the latter they deserve as much credit as RK IMO.

One 'funny' part of the program last night was seeing RK sprinting past the cameraman, as rounds came in overhead, then fall arse over tit downhill on a very rocky path. The camaerman got it all on film. Then a Marine picks up the cmaera from the cameraman (who is obviosuly prostrate on the ground in fear) and both head off after RK, shouting all awhile 'Ross - stick to the path - STICK TO THE PATH' in panic the RK was going to be splattered by an IED.....

They eventually caught up with Ross at the bottom of the hill. I think they all needed to change their pants....

[Tony*T3]

zebra said:

tenohfive said:

I'd do it for free, just for the experience. The risks our troops are put in are very real, but he is always in the safest place on any patrol - and he's getting paid a hell of a lot more for the experience than the squaddies in front and behind him. Not that its a criticism of him, fair play to him for doing it. I just don't think the risks against him are as real as he portrays, but thats not necessarily down to him - presumably the producer wants it to appear as high risk as possible without there being much actual risk of him getting killed - risky documentaries get bums on seats.

Safe place? That would be in a studio commenting on footage brought back. Yes, he's in a slightly safer position than a point man or similar, but last night a sniper bullet came past him and as has already been mentioned he could have been blown up by an IED. As for him getting highly paid _ no problem. That however cannot be compared to the soldiers _ they are way underpaid for what they do for this country. I'd like to think I could go out there and do what he does, but no, I'll stay here and watch it as a documentary.

Zebra.

Hmmm, its not always the point man that stands on the IED though is it.... he's usually the one most alert and treads super carefully. Its the guys just behind that usually get it. Kemp was no more than 200 metres away from the IED, just on the next hill.

[Tony*T3]

sadoksevoli said:

The Londoner said:

minerva said:

I missed being shot by yards (I felt the heat of the round as it passed me). I returned fire (actively aiming shots at the enemy) and I was terrified for long periods.

Not knocking in any way but curious about this. I have noticed from both the RK films and a couple of other programmes on this war that medics are going out armed. I have possibly watched too many war films, but I have always assumed that battlefield medics do not carry weapons. Presumably the Taliban don't bother to discriminate over who they try to shoot?

Under the Geneva Convention medical personnel are allowed to carry weapons entirely for self protection as not all enemies respect the Geneva Convention.

They did say that they dont even bother painting a red cross on the MERTS chopper as it just presents a more interesting target to the taliban....