The age of context is upon us.
Last week we featured some POV footage of mind-blowing surfing action. It was fun, sporting and intentionally creative.
The clip above is on the the whole other side of the spectrum. It’s real, raw, and unnerving from the middle of an active battlefield. No doubt, it was not created with artistic purpose. But it captures the context and imagery of what it is like, visually, to be in war. Nerve-rattling and stressful.
Watch as this unknown US soldier places himself in harms way – presumably to to pull Taliban insurgent fire off his squad, pinned down above him, so they could get to safety. He is hit several times (reports suggest his body armor protected him from serious injury) and his exclamation, “Im hit, Im hit,” parks itself in your brain. The soldier’s actions might seem courageous and brave, but some are suggesting that he was reckless and moving into harms way without a plan for cover. I’m not a solider or an expert in fighting the Taliban, so I will leave that debate for others. I’m sure there will be no shortage of opinions.
The soldier is quoted:
“I got a hit a total of 4 times. My helmet cam died and i made it down the mountain on my own. I was also hit in the side of my helmet and my eye pro was shot off of my face.
A round struck the tube by my hand of the 203 grenade launcher which knocked it out of my hands. When I picked the rifle back up it was still functional but the grenade launcher tube had a nice sized 7.62 cal bullet hole in it and was rendered useless.”
This is an relatively new application of wearable cameras – and the footage from the battlefield is more ubiquitous than ever. There is ongoing footage from the war in Afghanistan HERE.
thanks for sharing chase , I got goose bumps just watching it !
Hey,
I’m not in the loop; can someone tell me what this war is all about? Why are American soldiers there in the first place?
In the 70s US gov learned getting stuck in a quagmire like Vietnam was just like losing. To even the score in the cold war, it made sense that Russia should have it’s own ‘Vietnam.’ Meanwhile there was an oil crisis and the Saudis (and their crazy fundamentalist Wahhabi Islamists) to placate. Thus, Zbigniew Brzezinski had the clever idea to make Afghanistan Russia’s ‘Vietnam.’ So they shipped all these Saudi Islamists – who hated the godless, communist infidels – into Afghanistan to launch terrorist attacks along the border with Russia – which didn’t respond for a long time as they didn’t want to get sucked into a quagmire. This led to attacks inside Russia, and so Russia let itself be drawn in. This of course, meant the US could ship more Islamist fighters to fight for freedom against the Russians in a hot war on their doorstep. And it led to the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. This is where the term ‘blowback’ comes from: unintended consequences from treating countries like pawns.
When the Russians left, which was just like losing, their country falling apart, Bin Laden et al declared victory – as did the US – and both continued with their regular programming. The Islamists figured if they could defeat Russia (forgetting US help) they could take on the US. So they starting launching terror attacks against the US around the world, eventually leading to 9/11. The invasion of Afghanistan was then a matter of vengeance and getting some respect – and extending empire, and oil. Like any war after Vietnam, American soldiers are fighting for the wealth, power and prestige of the 1%.
The problem is that getting stuck in a perpetual war of terror is just like losing. Who wants to live in a police state? (Ex. Suspended habeous corpus. Bradley Manning, who gets perpetual solitary confinement up for leaking war videos of mass murder in Afghanistan.)
when will all the war stop? lets make the world a better place, for u & for me & the entire human race
Being under fire & out in the open with no hard point to get good cover when fired upon got him sorry to say. He is brave solder to take that chance with the enemy shooting at his feet in any case! I hope he heals up ok!
This video make me think of two things. First, the words to John Lennon’s “Imagine”. Second, the impact that photography had on the world after the Civil War.