Customer Reviews

Off to War - From Rural Arkansas to Iraq

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This series is very well done, fair, sympathetic, appropriately journalistic, and it shows what happens when an army unit of average quality--some great soldiers, some less so--is sent to Iraq with sub-standard equipement, a poorly defined mission, mediocre officers, and a lack of training in basic counterinsurgency principles. They do their best; they act honorably and bravely; but you get a sense they're just moving around in cirlces and not accomplishing very much to make a real victory come about. It's also very telling how much the soldiers change. They become harsh, jaded, less patient with Iraqis, and less enthralled with the various patriotic cliches they and their families uttered before their departure. From what we can tell, most do not reenlist and view war and the army very differently from the way they did before they left.

The movie does a very good job of showing the interaction of war and the homefront. Frankly, the homefront appears to really demotivate some of the soldiers, some of whose wives fall apart in their absence. In other cases, these country women and families show real strength in the absence of their husbands and loved ones.

This is the real thing. The real Army and the real Iraq. It's not a bunch of spit and polish parades, but real troops, none of whom embarrass the military, but it's not exactly the 5th Special Forces Group either. They're average. And they're from the kind of economically depressed and average communities that so often send their best into the military.

The reviewer who was unhappy that no happy times were shown most likely never served. I spent a year in a different war zone with a different kind of soldier (draftees). While our experience was different, I thought this film captured the tedium and fright of the real thing. Military recruiters won't like this film but high schoolers contemplating enlistment would do well to watch this. And PS: very few citizen soldiers (as opposed to happy killers) find war much fun. Being in combat may have its moments of exhileration - survival or winning a fire fight - but it is not a happy experience.

I have greatly appreciated these DVDs. It has been very interesting, and surely moving (as far as I'm concerned) to take an inside look at the lives of these soldiers from Arkansas. The war in Iraq is not well understood here in Italy and it is hard to find such documents, excerpts from real life. I wish the Italian media would buy and write about what America really is and fights for.
Thanks

This documentary is about National Guard Soldiers that are activated and sent to Iraq. Though some of this is interesting, it is mostly filled with boring elongated scenes. It should have been cut down from 10 hours to maybe 2 hours. It also shows little about how the Soldiers live in Iraq. Some people who are not experienced may believe that this is what the war in Iraq is like, however, it is not true to reality. It only shows a few people's points of view. The Soldiers in this unit are from Arkansas and although very nice, the filmakers make a point of showing just how redneck they are. These people are only some of the Soldiers of the U.S military. There are lots of highly educated people and it is very diverse but you will not see that in this film. The only thing you will see over and over again until it annoys you is how unhappy a few Soldiers are. Of course it is never pleasant to be deployed to another country, but these guys make Soldiers look bad. Its one thing to complain but over their entire time in Iraq, wasn't there any fun or good times between the men? Well, this documentary doesn't show it. It is definetly not worth the money I paid for it. From my first hand experience, I have never witnessed a unit present themselves in such a negative way. I am surprised they would even participate in this and can only wonder if they were happy with the final product because it made them look bad.

Simply required viewing for people who want to know what the Iraq war is like for soldiers and their families.