As veterans, and really the entire country, breaths a sigh of relief as the war in Afghanistan comes to a conclusion as hundreds of thousands of Afghan allies were evacuated by a herculean effort by the U.S. government and veteran volunteers, we can take solace that Hollywood is doing their best to pick at the scab.
That's right, dudebro actors Channing Tatum and Tom Hardy are set to star as Special Forces veterans in a feature film about the Afghanistan evacuation, according to Deadline Hollywood. The as of yet untitled film is set to be the biggest thing since the Australian guy who played Thor rode horseback during the invasion of Afghanistan.
Nick Palmisciano was one of the veterans who helped with the evacuation effort and was on the ground in Kabul for about ten days with some Special Operations veterans who were going into the city, recovering Afghan allies, and getting them onto the airfield to be evacuated. Palmisciano confirmed that they have not been contacted by the producers of the ripped from the headlines 'based on a true story' film.
Many other veterans and veterans groups were involved as well, most behind the scenes working remotely from the United States to coordinate with the U.S. military and State Department. Guys like Scott Mann with Op Pineapple, Mike Jason with Allied Airlift, and Mick Mulroy with Digital Dunkirk did amazing work and this is just to mention a few.
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To be fair, the movie has yet to be made and likely there isn't even a script, but enough cringe war films have come out about the Global War on Terror that the roasts are already steadily rolling in.
Enjoy the spicy content below:
The jury is still very much out on this endeavor but having seen more movies in this genre than I have cared to, I've always been struck that these glossy Hollywood productions are essentially a Rosetta Stone to help the bewildered American public make sense of complex, confusing international events be it Operation Red Wings or Benghazi.
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With the annoying politics removed from the equation, we relate to the camaraderie of the soldiers, with the causes and effects of the war shuffled aside.
There are many reasons to focus on the soldier stories, they are worth telling and our service members often acted heroically under fire.
However, when we Hollywoodize these events, the concluding remarks are Hoot's hollow words at the end of Black Hawk Down, that it is all about the man next to you in combat which is an awfully convenient way to avoid asking ourselves why we were fighting there in the first place.
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Reach Jack Murphy: jack@connectingvets.com or @JackMurphyRGR.
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