Battle Company: Loving Life, Making War

Battle Company: Loving Life, Making War
By A. O. SCOTT
Published: June 25, 2010
“Restrepo,” a documentary that sticks close to a company of American soldiers during a grueling 14-month tour of duty in an especially dangerous part of Afghanistan, is an impressive, even heroic feat of journalism. Not that the filmmakers — Sebastian Junger, an adventurous reporter perhaps best known as the author of “The Perfect Storm,” and Tim Hetherington, a photographer with extensive experience in war zones — call attention to their own bravery. They stay behind the portable high- and standard-definition video cameras, nimble flies on a wall that is exposed to a steady barrage of bullets.


Hanging out with the members of Battle Company in their hilltop outposts in the Korangal Valley between May 2007 and July 2008, Mr. Junger and Mr. Hetherington recorded firefights, reconnaissance missions, sessions of rowdy horseplay and hours of grinding boredom. Afterward, when the tour was done, the filmmakers conducted interviews in which the soldiers tried to make sense of what they had done and seen. There is nothing especially fancy or innovative here, just a blunt, sympathetic, thorough accounting of the daily struggle to stay alive and accomplish something constructive.
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Loving Life Making War

State's new immigration law worries Arizona soldier

I'm here because this is something that's close to my heart," said Army PFC Jose Medina. "I went off to protect this country, to protect my family. That's what hurts."

State's new immigration law worries Arizona soldier
By Paul Vercammen and Thelma Gutierrez, CNN
April 26, 2010 4:01 p.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Pfc. Jose Medina expressed his concern over Arizona's new immigration law
Medina's friends and family talked about new law during his farewell feast
Medina wondered if some of his undocumented friends, family would leave the area

Phoenix, Arizona (CNN) -- At a vigil protesting the passage of Arizona's tough new illegal immigration law, a young man in Army fatigues and a beret lit a candle at a makeshift shrine.

Pfc. Jose Medina, an Army medic, came to the Arizona capitol while on leave, to express his sadness over the law, signed by Arizona's governor on Friday.

"I'm here because this is something that's close to my heart," said Medina. "I went off to protect this country, to protect my family. That's what hurts."

The new law, signed by the Arizona governor on Friday, requires police to determine whether a person is in the United States legally. It also requires immigrants to carry their registration documents at all times and requires police to question people if there is reason to suspect that they're in the country illegally. Some fear the law will result in racial profiling.
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State new immigration law worries Arizona soldier

Army says body armor is "safe" for soldiers in combat

Army: Body armor safe for soldiers in combat
By Richard Lardner - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jan 30, 2009 5:58:09 EST

WASHINGTON — No U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan because their body armor was flawed and failed to protect them, a senior Army official said Thursday as the service defended how the lifesaving gear is tested before being used in combat.

A new audit by the Pentagon inspector general said the specially hardened ceramic plates from one body armor manufacturer — Armor Works of Chandler, Ariz. — were tested improperly and may not provide troops adequate protection.

The audit recommended that nearly 33,000 of the Armor Works plates be withdrawn from an inventory of about 2 million produced by nearly a dozen different companies.

Army Secretary Pete Geren disputed the inspector general’s findings, but agreed to withdraw the Armor Works plates as a precautionary step. In a move underscoring the tension between the inspector general’s office and the Army, Geren has asked a senior Pentagon official to settle the disagreement.

In a separate action, the Army in December voluntarily withdrew just over 8,000 plates because of testing gaps. Those plates were made by Armor Works and other manufacturers, including Ceradyne of Costa Mesa, Calif., and Simula, which is part of BAE Systems.
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