I deployed to Afghanistan twice with the 173rd Airborne. It's painfully obvious "The Kill Team" had no technical advisors or anyone even remotely acquainted with the Army involved in the production. It's distracting as hell when a film about a subject has no feel or understanding of the people involved. The endless technical inaccuracies aside, it's depiction of US soldiers is totally phony. These soy based actors don't talk, act, or carry themselves like Soldiers, especially guys deployed in a forward area.
As to the accuracy and veracity of the events depicted, who knows? We all know poorly led soldiers, yes even Americans, are capable of falling into this type of darkness. But once Army CID, plea bargains, and the top brass starts scrambling to cover their butts...the truth goes bye bye. The Army Judge Advocate crew are even worse than civilian lawyers. They will do anything to secure convictions. But they also receive the full blessing and support from the Pentagon to create narratives and railroad service members. Anything to get the spotlight away from them.
I spent a lot of time in the worst parts of Afghanistan and I never saw US personnel indulge in wanton acts of barbarism or murder.
The soldiers in question were in all probability the product of a breakdown in the command and control of a military unit in combat. If these morons deserve jail time then so do their platoon, company, and battalion leadership. A combat unit doesn't degenerate like this overnight, there needs to be a vacuum of leadership. When this occurs in the face of constant exposure to combat, the anger and resentment that can and does build inside fighting men boils over.
As previously mentioned, I never came across an outlier unit like this in Afghanistan. This was not a systemic issue but a tragic incident. I did however very often witness the systemic barbarism of the insurgents we were fighting against. Murder, rape, mutilation, torture...it was all in a day's work for them. When saw the aftermath of their crimes, which were so heinous and bizarre, I couldn't help but be awe struck by them.
I found myself often wondering: "What kind of human mind could conjure up THIS method of killing another human?" I'm not saying these soldiers don't belong in jail because they probably do. We don't take kindly to bad soldiers bringing dishonor to the uniform, it's simply unacceptable. But let's look at the big picture instead of posturing like WE were the bad guys over there. When I personally stack up what these guys did vs. The universe of suffering created by the Taliban and insurgents...how should I be expected to feel? A couple of fingers hacked off and the extrajudicial killing of some locals who were clearly aiding the insurgents? I'm sorry but I've stared into the abyss too long and too often to have my hair blown back by that.
As to the accuracy and veracity of the events depicted, who knows? We all know poorly led soldiers, yes even Americans, are capable of falling into this type of darkness. But once Army CID, plea bargains, and the top brass starts scrambling to cover their butts...the truth goes bye bye. The Army Judge Advocate crew are even worse than civilian lawyers. They will do anything to secure convictions. But they also receive the full blessing and support from the Pentagon to create narratives and railroad service members. Anything to get the spotlight away from them.
I spent a lot of time in the worst parts of Afghanistan and I never saw US personnel indulge in wanton acts of barbarism or murder.
The soldiers in question were in all probability the product of a breakdown in the command and control of a military unit in combat. If these morons deserve jail time then so do their platoon, company, and battalion leadership. A combat unit doesn't degenerate like this overnight, there needs to be a vacuum of leadership. When this occurs in the face of constant exposure to combat, the anger and resentment that can and does build inside fighting men boils over.
As previously mentioned, I never came across an outlier unit like this in Afghanistan. This was not a systemic issue but a tragic incident. I did however very often witness the systemic barbarism of the insurgents we were fighting against. Murder, rape, mutilation, torture...it was all in a day's work for them. When saw the aftermath of their crimes, which were so heinous and bizarre, I couldn't help but be awe struck by them.
I found myself often wondering: "What kind of human mind could conjure up THIS method of killing another human?" I'm not saying these soldiers don't belong in jail because they probably do. We don't take kindly to bad soldiers bringing dishonor to the uniform, it's simply unacceptable. But let's look at the big picture instead of posturing like WE were the bad guys over there. When I personally stack up what these guys did vs. The universe of suffering created by the Taliban and insurgents...how should I be expected to feel? A couple of fingers hacked off and the extrajudicial killing of some locals who were clearly aiding the insurgents? I'm sorry but I've stared into the abyss too long and too often to have my hair blown back by that.