Was there an order to 'stand down' in Benghazi? As we all know, it has been repeatedly denied by the government, which claims that no forces were available to respond and there were no stand down orders given.
The guys who were actually on the ground say it absolutely happened. (Advance to 7:10.)
Their opinion is that 13 Hours is unusually accurate for a war film. It certainly has the potential to be explosive. American Sniper proved to me that there's an appetite for this kind of movie. Let's hope it does well.
6 comments:
Kind of hard to have an order "not happen" when a general in command of a theater was relieved of command for not obeying said "not happened" order.
Consistency isn't something the masses know about, however, since it wasn't taught in their public indoctrination periods.
I'm looking forward to seeing the movie. I have read the book and thought (keeping in mind my ignorance of most things military) it was excellent.
The claims that there were no forces available are not true either, Ymar, but that is the government's official position.
Along with Grim's post about that WWII fighter pilot that took things on his own "initiative", events like these illustrate, greatly for me, the difference between overall humanity's lack of wisdom and wealth of foolishness, vs those individuals who just can't shut up and obey their damn orders. Their ROEs, No Blue on Blue. They just don't Obey their Damn Orders.
They obey their conscience and their souls, their warrior virtues, or whatever they call it, patriotism or loyalty to human ethics.
They just stop Obeying the Authority, even if that Authority is the entire world at the time.
You have a bunch of humans, who are what humans are, and then you have a few individuals, who tend to keep dying at greater rates than the norm, who are not the masses of humans. It is an interesting phenomenon.
"What do you mean, the film depicts absolute hell" said the civilian and non warrior, albeit kawaii interviewer.
It's an emotion that is hard to describe. Being so proud of the actions of people in your team, connected with them, that their life decisions are literally etched unto your heart as a physical sensation. I have experienced a similar simulated scenario, so I can only imagine how much their adrenaline imprinted emotions are stronger than even that.
That being drained, that hole in the heart, feels very familiar. It's hard to describe the emotions in words, because they do come in sequence, they mix together to the point where it no longer is a normal emotion. It's something else, a hybrid, depending on what mix and when they were mixed.
It's similar to the bitter sweet pain that comes from watching a sunset or sunrise. The light hurts, but it is also beautiful, yet fleeting at the same time. That is how the lives of honorable men and women, who die in battle exemplifying the greatest warrior virtues in human history, look like. That is one ideal at least, and perhaps actual human experience is something different, due to words and languages changing the meaning and distorting it.
But it's why when the civilian non warrior says that it is horrifying, it may not be horrifying. Or rather, without the horror, the pride and the etching of emotions unto the heart, would not be the same. The Tao is no longer the Tao when called the Tao in human language.
One justification I had heard is that many people are strongly motivated to ensure that their comrades had not died in vain, that they want to go back to the battlefield partially to ensure that the memories of their comrades are preserved, down the line or to future missions, and also partially in order to uphold their duty to the current generation in making sure they don't die needlessly. Human emotions are kind of funny in that sense, the stronger it is, the more it needs to be expressed in physical action. Bottling it up isn't necessarily a good idea.
And yes, it is funny at times too, recalling.
What I recall is that I remember thinking, that it was such a sad thing that this kind of unity would never reach the upper ranks of America's chain of command. Maybe even before Benghazi happened. It was just a stark contrast. So many people fight to ensure the deaths of their comrades are not in vain, to save their fellow humans, yet I look above, and I see the darkness of utter evil.
"Stand down, let them die"
I'm looking forward to seeing it.
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