Taking Fire

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Synopsis

Taking Fire is war as never seen before. A handful of rookies and their leaders from the legendary 101st Airborne Division packed personal helmet cameras with their standard issue kit and flew out for a year’s deployment in Afghanistan.

For them, 2010 would be spent in one of America’s farthest flung outposts at the mouth of the notorious Korangal Valley: surrounded by Taliban-held mountain ranges. Their mission: to take out the enemy and win the hearts and minds of the local population in a task made all the harder by the constant resupply of fighters and weapons streaming in from safe havens just over the border in neighboring Pakistan.

Excited and nervous, the rookies turn on their helmet cams to capture what they see to show the folks back home. The footage charts an extraordinary first-eye view of modern warfare in one of the deadliest places on earth.

Viewers are plunged into the heart of the action, giving a visceral experience not captured by news reports or traditional documentaries.   This material captures the personal struggles, confusions, joys and sorrows of war. The men leave the States seeking adventure, inspired to serve their country. What they experience in Afghanistan changes them forever.

In flashes forward to their lives six years on, the men reflect on their year taking fire in Afghanistan. Now, with their partners who waited anxiously for the safe return of their sweethearts, our soldiers reunite. For some, it’s their chance to lay old ghosts to rest.

  • Discovery Channel
  • September 2016