Any combat vets watch Baghdad ER?

[TomInTib]

What was your take?

I cannot decide whether or not to watch.

After 30+ years, I caught Apocalypse Now the other night.

I had seen it when it came out and it had minimal efect on me. And I was a River Patrol Pilot.

My girlfriend had never seen it and I clicked into it midway through the other night.

I didn't last 5 minutes.

[MichiganVote]

1. If they can live it, you can watch it. Seriously.

[TomInTib]

2. Problem is..

I have lived it, too.

I just want to hear from some fellow combat vets that have seen it before it comes on out here (CA).

Because I want to sleep tonight.

[MichiganVote]

3. Then you've done your time hon', stay away, you won't sleep

This is not for you, its for the one's who haven't been where you've been. Sleep tight.

[TomInTib]

7. Thanks for the tip.

After 3 tours of River Patrol, longrange recon (into Laos), and target extraction (which involved a good bit of Close Quarters Combat), I have had a pretty good handle on my emotions over the years.

Lately, though, I have found myself a bit weepy and brittle regarding the current outrage.

[leftchick]

11. I am not a Vet

but I watched it and given what you have stated about Apocolypse Now, do not watch. It is pretty heavy shit that I am sure you do not need to re-live. :(

[MichiganVote]

16. My brother was a medic in shit like that. Not good.

[tsuki]

4. Don't watch it. Please. Military brat here, Viet-Nam era. I walked

out of the last 15 minutes. If it affected me, then don't you watch it.

[IndyOp]

6. Don't watch - you can catch the DemocracyNow! interview

with the producers and just one or two short clips from the movie anytime you want to at the DemocracyNow! website. From the interview with Amy Goodman it seems that active duty soldiers thought the movie was fairly tame - but could be different for you. Watch the interview during the daytime -

Take care.

My cousin Mac died as a result of Nam. He was a Green Beret, a surgeon on the front lines. His death was the only time I ever saw my father cry.

Don't watch.

[TomInTib]

9. That sounds just fine to me. Thanks. nt

[MuseRider]

5. It was pretty tough

and I thought about you when I watched it. I was an ER nurse then an ICU nurse and it was hard for me. I have seen and done much of what they showed but the circumstances were much different. It was just very very sad. I think the most difficult part for me was watching the emotions of the young soldiers who lost a buddy.

[TomInTib]

8. Thanks, MuseRider, that means a lot to me.

More than you can even know.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

14. I served in the Army as a nurse, non combat, and have an ER background

as well.

You hit the nail on the head.

It's always a blow to medical personnel to see a life taken by brutality. It's especially tough when it's someone young, who should have their whole life ahead of them.

So, these folks are living that double whammy every day.

Watching the young man hold back tears until he was told it's OK to cry and his subsequent sobs was absolutely wrenching. MKJ

[MuseRider]

15. I almost lost it

when the young man was dying and they were telling him to fight but if he could not it was OK to go. I used to say the same thing to my patients and also my mother and my brother as they were dying. That is one of the hardest things of all on this side of it, to give them permission to stop fighting.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

20. Muse...

Sometimes the best thing we do is make it OK to let go...:cry: MKJ

and then hug the friends and family which no one can do when they're dying in Iraq. MKJ

[IChing]

10. I spent a week in Walter Reed in a military ward when I was 14

Saw 3 people die, massive injuries and soldiers screaming in pain that they had flown in from Vietnam.

I had a broken my arm badly from an accident and spent a week in a ward of about 30-50 soldiers.


I have HBO and could not watch this.

[Scoody Boo]

12. I watched it.

I jumped into Panama with 3rd Ranger Batallion in 1989. And served in Desert Storm. I did two six month contracts with a security company in Iraq.

I was undecided about whether I was going to watch it until it started. It was a very poignant film. I felt bad for the soldiers. I still see troops with a Sergeant's eye and consider them "my guys."

[TomInTib]

13. Thanks, Scoody Boo

I wanted to hear from someone who has been there.

I pulled 3 tours of River Patrol and longrange recon in Vietnam.

12 of us made it back (out of 74).

I do not want those old sounds to rattle around inside my head tonight.

[Scoody Boo]

17. I was a brand new Buck Sergeant...

and lost one of my soldiers in Panama. A good kid, even though he was a committed smartass. I held his hand, looked into his eyes and lied to him. Told him it was nothing. Told him we'd be getting lap dances back in Columbus, Georgia before he knew it. To this day, I mourn him.

Watching that Marine, valiantly struggle and fight for his life, and finally succumb to his injuries really got to me. I know exactly what the medics and surgeons rooting for this brave troop pull through were feeling.

I know those surgeons and medics wished that he had died right away if he was going to die anyway. When you watch a soldier fight so hard to live so futilely, you can't help but make a huge emotional investment. It HAS to hurt in the end.

[TomInTib]

18. I know just how you felt.

We had to bring guys back for miles on the river. Racing the clock, almost always in vain.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

19. You ever watch those ER documentaries?

Such as Trauma: Life in the ER? They're very much the same as far as level of gore and people in a lot of pain. With the exception that they're in Iraq, instead of a hospital in a U.S. city. If you can watch one, you should be able to watch the other.

[Bigmack]

21. Tamed down and cleaned up....

... for TV. Even HBO.

No burns... no bad head injuries with guys screaming. No smell, either.

There's nothing like the smell of rotting blood and open bellies to make it real.

No combat dreams last night after watching it, but I had a bunch of violent dreams.... beating the shit out of people.

I must be really angry at somebody who would cause all that suffering for NOTHING, huh?