"The Outpost" On Netflix...

General General Discussion
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So probably everyone is familiar with the story of Cop Keating in Afghanistan.

There have been several documentaries and shows on the subject, most notably the “Medal of Honor” series. There is even some pretty shocking live footage of the event in some of those documantaries.

So going in, most will know the story and know it’s going to be a rough ride. And in the case of “The Outpost” it is everything you expect but still done respectfully and without attempting to rewrite a narrative. Probably the most important thing the film does is provide quite a bit of backstory which really helps everyone to understand exactly how we got there in the first place.

Proper credit is given where credit it due without turning anyone into a cartoon super hero and just as important it tells the story of everyone who did everything they could even if it still resulted in a unfortunate outcome.

This is likely the most dramatically one sided conflict fought by the US military since the Battle of Mogadishu (Gothic Serpent) and with many of the same kind of preventable tragedies.

This is also one of those stories where a handful of guys went against every human survival instinct and turned disaster into survival. Guys like Romesha, Carter, Bundermann and all of the medical personnel truly deserved to have their stories told.

Scott Eastwood does a pretty impressive job portraying Romesha.

If you haven’t seen the Medal of Honor series, watch that one first.

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Saw it several times, and thought it was really good.

If you watch the post credits, turns out some of the less prominent roles were played by the actual guys who were there. That’s pretty damn cool.

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Romesha’s book Red Platoon was a great read as well. It goes into deeper details that MOH and The Outpost kind of glossed over. Regardless, it is a very compelling story.

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That’s probably true of any book to film adaptation. As comprehensive as the film Black Hawk Down was, the book was far more detailed, especially the events that led to the decision to capture Aidid. I’ll have to put Red Platoon on my list.

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Don’t forget, M4C member Ash was there for the first attack in 2006. I spoke with him about it a while back:

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“The Outpost” backs up a few years regarding American troop involvement in that AO, then it leads into the main story. Interesting read. I’ll have to add “Red Platoon” to my list of books I buy and haven’t read! (kinda like some guns too!)

Currently reading “Cry Havoc”, which is focused on the Ranger Batts during Operation Urgent Fury (Grenada). Contrary to what some might dismissively say—”We only lost 19 guys”—that shit was for real a combat jump. It is a wonder we didn’t lose more. For those two Ranger Batts it was the no-joke dream (or nightmare) of an Airborne Ranger.

*19 KIA for the entire operation, not just Rangers