All language subtitles for Danger.Close.2017 eng

All right, gentlemen...

Right here is
Black Rock Mountain, men.

Fifteen to twenty minutes ago,

Alpha Coy, became engaged
by 5O to 100 fighters,

up, around, and on the vicinity
of Black Rock mountain.

They're also taking some indirect
fires from this location.

They hope to have them, uh,
backstopped by Bravo Coy

and compress the enemy
between the two of 'em,

setting the conditions
for us to come in

and do our air assault.

What's our
plan for this evening?

Basically, we're rolling in with
the attack of the Command Element

in order to secure
a, uh, high-traffic region

for the, uh...
the Taliban.

So you'll be with
Command Element in a Black Hawk

and I'll be up with
the Joe's in a Chinook, yeah?

Absolutely. Yeah, you get
the better spot, though.

Beck Becks. I actually
have an L-10-11 going out.

Upper foresight is good.

Internals are incomplete.

30 mag, all cooling.

- You can go ahead, over.
- Roger, work it off.

Arrow 2-5, I have
contact on all friendlies.

We have good situational awareness.

Arrow's clear.

- Plug it in.
- Yep, Roger.

Truckade...
her movement's the tree line.

- Got anybody in there?
- I'm looking, sir.

Right there,
clock him, hold on a second.

Oh, shit, right.

Arrow 2-5, we
have multiple enemies

in trees, engaging west of road.

Ah, we're getting shot at.

- Roger...
- Oh, shit, their in...

That's affirmative.
We are taking fire

from the west side...

And, Hard Rock, this is Arrow,

we need permission
to engage the tree line,

where the RPG came from.

Roger, you're clear to engage.

Uh, fucking
light that tree line up, hit it.

Roger.

- Just to the left. Hit it.
- Roger.

Okay, make
sure that-Okay, looking good.

- Oh, shit.
- Hit it, hit it.

- RPG right over there.
- Right, hit it!

We have multiple
RPGs coming from that side

at the aircraft, I copy.

Right, hit it.

Hit it again.

Hit it again.

Good man, good man.

We neutralized the one RPG site.

Roger, that's good, copy.

- Come up the road.
- Up the road, Roger.

Up the road, up the road
to the left... to the left.

- Right there in that building.
- Arrow 2-5, are you seeing

- or we're taking more contact?
- Okay.

Roger, we're engaged.

Oh my god, I got a bucket.

Oh, shit...

On, shit.

2-5, 2-5, one
of our vehicles got hit.

We lost the line of...

Standby, we're
missing friendlies.

We're trying to
get him out of there.

There was a huge,
huge air assault operation.

This was involving
the first and 5-0-8,

the parachute infantry
regiment, an entire regiment.

It was involving
7th Special Forces Group,

more than 15
different air assets.

It was a huge operation,

and it was going to be going on
for weeks and weeks and weeks,

and within that first hour,

one of the Chinooks
had been shot down

by a Taliban
Surface-to-Air missile.

They had to try
to secure this huge,

flaming crash site,

and they didn't know
if there were any survivors.

What happened
when you touched down?

We had heard that
there had been a Chinook

that was shot down,
but I just focused

on my job of shooting video

and trying to get the story.

1-3-6, over.

Air Humvee.

Roger, we heard there was a downed
aircraft. Can we confirm that?

Is anybody looking
to our North route?

I'd linked up
with the Commander,

Lieutenant Colonel Brian Menace.

And we were moving
to clear a compound

so he'd have a secure location

because they needed
to control 15 aircraft

that were racked
and stacked in the sky.

This had now become a combat
search-and-rescue mission

in addition to the ongoing
offensive operation.

Spread out.

- Moo.
- I need to get by you.

Do you speak English?

Hey, he does.

Hey, get him over here now.

Get him over here now.
Get him out here.

Come on.

Let me see it.
Here, all right.

Yeah, these guys check out.
They're friendlies.

Thank you.

Who the fuck is our...

- All right, you guys ready?
- Yeah.

Which contact...

- That one right there.
- Okay.

Up, up, right there.
Hit it.

Roger.

Take that, fucker.
Here we go.

- Coming up left.
- Roger.

We nailed the shit
out of that one.

[Quadel Hey, limbo,
what are we hearing?

Thank you.

I think what's
important to remember

with this huge
operation is that...

and it was an operation
that still went on

for weeks and weeks thereafter.

And there were many
battles that still followed

and towns that these troops
had to clear, and...

but the important thing that...
that can't get lost in this

is that seven souls were lost.

The five crew of the flipper

and our coalition partners,

a Brit and a Canadian...

and that it... it
made no difference

that... that it
was internationals

or that they
might be reporters...

that we had Americans that
were willing to risk their lives

and go after and make sure
to recover the fallen.

They had to count
the bodies of the fallen.

And when I tracked down
Sergeant Greg Strickland,

whose little six-man platoon...

he had gone in there
and had counted five bodies.

And he thought, okay,
well, I found the crew.

And he was ordered
over the radio

to go back in and
count the bodies again

because the reporters
are missing.

And he told me on camera
that he went back in there

to look for the reporters,

and he said he...
that... to look for me.

I didn't know I was
supposed to be on that...

on that helicopter,
on that Chinook.

It was the guys
who told me afterwards.

It was a punch to the gut

because it was
this realization that...

men put their lives at risk
to come after reporters,

to come after people like me,

even though I'm
not a service member.

It's not that I have a purpose,

but it's that I have
this huge responsibility.

I have a debt to
pay back to these guys.

I have to tell their stories.

Did you stay embedded
with this group

for the entirety
of their mission?

No, I... I was with them
for a good week or so

and then it was time
for me to dis-embed.

I was trying to get in with the
Special Forces Teams in Iraq

and I had a hit date
to try to get in there.

And so it was time for me
to hitchhike my way to Iraq.

I went to Diyala province,

which is the size
of Massachusetts

along the Iranian border,

because that's where
I was going to embed

with the Operational
Detachment Alpha 0-7-2.

0.D.A 0-7-2 was
a so-called rough team...

very austere, out there
on the fringe of the empire...

where every day was truly
a fight for survival.

Even their Special
Forces Commander

called these twelve men
hard-charging

and living the Special
Forces Dream...

but they'd just lost
one of their own,

Rob Pirelli, who I knew
from an earlier SF mission.

Tell me... um...
tell me about Rob.

Rob was the
senior engineer on our team.

He... - Which means what?
What does an engineer do?

Well, the engineer
is responsible for

anything that
we have to build or destroy,

or... he's responsible for
movement of all our equipment,

accountability for
all our equipment.

Um, basically he's the
logistics expert on the team.

So an engineer... - So building
stuff and also, like, blowing stuff up?

- Yeah.
- Okay, so, but building stuff too

because I think a lot
of folks don't understand

- that you guys do all sorts of things.
- Right.

When we moved into this outpost,

it was a house,
basically in desert,

surrounded by barbed-wire fence.

Within a month,
Rob had built the camp.

♪ This ain't no world
for the weary eyed

♪ This ain't no game
for the foolish child

♪ This ain't no place

♪ Got to fall in line

♪ Gone away... - He did everything
from install the protective barriers

to running electricity
for the house,

repairing generators.

He was literally working
until he went to bed.

He'd wake up in the middle of the
night to play some online poker,

go back to sleep,
wake up in the morning,

still in his AC-ers
and his boots,

ready to work in the morning
with a smile on his face.

We thought it appropriate
to name the camp after him

since he did so much
of that work on his own.

We've been kinda holding
off on this one a little bit,

but let's talk about
Rob and about that day.

Yeah, it's a difficult
subject to talk about,

but any questions you want
answered, you want to...

find out about it, I'm more
than happy to talk about it.

Bring us-— Let's
walk through that day.

We drove out there,

in an area
we've never been before.

There was the makings
of a small village

and so we stopped.

My gunner, he had told me that he
saw somebody on top of the roof,

somebody who was
wearing all black.

And he had an AK, and he was
running around on top of the roof.

The compound
directly to your North,

we have one individual
up on the roof.

And he had seen people

maneuvering towards
his building,

and he was sporadically
firing his weapon

from off the top of the roof.

And they started moving aerial
assets over to our location.

My team Sergeant,

he said "I've been shot,"
you know "Man down, eagle down."

Eagle down!

I directed my medic

to maneuver up to the building
where we thought that he was.

And I looked over to my right

and I saw my Senior Charlie
at the time, Rob.

He was laying on his back.

I just remember reaching
around the corner

and grabbing the strap
on his kit,

and pulling him around
the corner of the building.

It was crazy
because he looked...

other than the fact
that he was unconscious,

he looked like
nothing was wrong with him.

And then I looked on his helmet,

and there was a... uh, an
entry mark on the helmet

basically the round
and pierced his helmet.

The individual who
shot at Rob and Don,

he was the battalion commander

for all of Al-Qaeda
in that area.

So I pulled back the Iraqis

and we used an F16

to do a couple runs
on this objective.

- When you heard, what, uh...
- I was devastated.

Um, yeah, you know,
it hits deep your heart.

I've been able to, uh...
to work pretty closely

with Rob's family,

and I'm gonna, uh,
build, you know...

with the loss of Rob,
be able to build together

and help each other, you know.

They feel a great
loss for their son,

and my wife and I, we feel a
great loss for... for a friend.

The next big mission
that happened

after Staff Sergeant
Rob Pirelli was killed

was a mission slated
for 9/11 time frame.

The men that I was with
were going out

and raiding houses

and going after targets
and going after targets

and going after more targets.

- It's a big one, huh?
- That's gonna be a big one.

It's gonna be a lot of assets.

It's gonna be going on two-—
from 2300 to 1400 the next day.

It's gonna be
a lot of stuff going on.

- A lot of bad guys out there?
- Hopefully.

Maybe not after we're done.

We've got
approximately 24 total vehicles

- going to get this objective.
- Okay, Roger.

There were multiple
ODAs on this mission,

and I was to be a
part of Assault Force 4

in ODA 0-9-4s vehicle.

The men of 0-9-4
were serious gunners

and their motto was "machs gut,"

a saying from a German
sniper in World War ♪

Meaning "make it right."

And that's what 0-9-4
was all about,

getting it done.

At this time, I'm located

just to the east of that mosque
we were talking about, over.

Okay, Roger, at this time,

we're gonna start systematically
clearing this objective.

Move! Move!

Go, go, go, get in there.

- Let's go, let's go, let's go.
- That's it!

Watch your six.

- Hey, that's it!
- Sir, we got two.

Let's get out of here.

It's more like the one
guy we wanted too.

There were insurgents
that had squirted out

from some of these targets and they
were hunkering in a palm grove.

The aircraft overhead
thought that

they were digging up
weapons caches

and things like that.

The next morning,
the Green Beret's called in

and used air strikes.

Is that cache
right around the area

where they were low-calling
and shit too, you think?

Yeah, there's six of them now.

Six?

Yeah.

And he met up with his buddies.

There he is.
You spot him?

Okay, Roger, did your call
at 4 to 10 seconds now.

He's got it cleared hot.

Agent 3-3 Bubba 0-4.

I have visual on four
at this time... men target, over.

Fuck yeah!

4-1-1 Bubba 0-4,
good hits and...

- Yeah!
- You ready?

It was like a
modern day cavalry charge

through this
dried-out lake bed

in these deep waddies.

We've got still
two up ahead on the left.

What is that?

- They're up. Pick up the speed.
- We got it, Chief.

Did you see where he came from?

Negative! I did not see where
he came from directly.

I just know from the left side.

We got two up ahead,
two on the left.

We got scouts
who can fucking shoot.

Shoot! Shoot the...

There was a
moment where we were under fire

where I had to make a decision.

Do I stay a journalist
or do I cross the line?

Because the gunner, Bubba,
up above me with the 50 cal.,

he was out of ammo.

- What?
- Get the 50 cal.

I took a breath and said, Okay, Chad,
you know, throw me your knife.

I'll open
the strap on the ammo can.

I'll put the camera down

because there was nobody else.

I don't think in that moment
it made me a combatant.

I don't think I necessarily crossed
the line Journalistically.

Had you thought through
that moment before?

Or was it one of those things
that you just said,

if it comes,
it comes and I'll...

There becomes a moment when you might
have to check your moral compass

and your gut, and figure out
what's the right thing to do.

And in my career,
there's been moments where...

is it the reporter thing
or is it the human thing?

And I think in times like that,

the human thing
needs to win out.

How old are you?

There were four of 'em
that we did catch

and we conducted some tests

to determine whether or not
they were actually the culprits,

they guys that had fired at us.

After the test results
came back,

we knew that they were
the four guys that we wanted.

Positive, positive,
positive, positive.

So would they be considered
snipers or pretty good shots?

I know one of them
got the truck.

They had a sniper out there

and they...
we did receive fire,

a few, uh, rounds

flew over our head and other
vehicle that you were in

got shot up and a round actually
pierced the armor there.

During that mission, there had
been a lull in the firefight

after the feeding
of the ammo and all of that.

I had asked if I could
get out of the vehicle

and crawl up
on top of the vehicle

to get some... some
panoramic shots,

some wide shots
outside of the vehicle.

And while I was up there,
stuff started happening again.

So I jumped off
the roof of the vehicle...

had a very hard landing,

uh, busted my ankle
and busted my wrist.

Something was wrong.
I knew that I had hurt myself

and hurt myself badly, but...

I tried to fake that I was fine.

I didn't want to get sent home.

I wanted to keep
getting the story.

And so I kept faking...
trying to fake that I was fine.

It got to the point where

I couldn't go
on air assaults anymore.

I couldn't even
put weight on the foot.

And, uh, so it was
time for me to go home.

Operational Detachment
Alpha 0-7-2,

they did their team photo

standing in front of
the Pirelli wall.

And it was that team photo

I brought to Rob's dad,

Bob Pirelli.

Above you are three C-1-30s,

approaching the drop zone
with over 174

lethal and highly motivated
paratroopers on board.

The aircraft are flying in.

Oh! IGOR, guys.

He said how much
you built the place up.

Well, when you heard about
this, what did you think?

Well, when I heard about it,

I thought it was nice.
I mean, I said, you know...

but when I actually saw it,
physically saw the design

they had... they had...
they had done,

and I really get the sense
they... they really did, uh,

officially name the outpost
with his name.

And to see the actual drawing
on the side of the wall...

And also, I think,
not only that,

I think seeing it
on a soldier's arm...

One of the soldiers
had the insignia done.

- And, um...
- Tattooed?

- Tattooed to his arm.
- Tattooed to his arm.

That type of love
for each other,

we need them
because they're him.

You know, they're part of him.

You know, them being around
makes a big difference to us.

Well, this is the
basement and this is Rob's room.

And that's what I call it,
Rob's room,

because I turned around
and I decorated for Rob

and all his things.

It's a memorial for Rob.

This here is a picture
of Rob's unit,

one of them anyways.

I remember him
calling me one time

because I work in constructions

and electrical construction.

And he called me one time

to ask me how to
wire something out there.

And they wire differently...

Their schematics are different
than our schematics, anyways.

So even if I told him
that green was ground,

he says, "The wires
over here are orange.

What do I do?" You know.

So he figured out... He figured
everything out himself, so yeah.

And they all turn around
and they say that,

the Pirelli outpost,
Rob built most of it

and I'm sure he did.

Rob loved hockey.

Can you tell by the cups and all
that he loved the Avalanches?

And these are some
of the players that he liked.

We buried him
with his hockey stick

and we buried him
with his number 18,

his Hockey shirt from Franklin.

And that went with him.

My dad always said,
to really get to know Rob

you needed to go
to the places he went,

experience what he loved

and see the things he built.

'Hey.
'Hey! Buddy good to see you

- You too, Shawn.
- How's everything?

- Uh, it's going, it's going.
- Good, good.

- How you doing?
- Good, good, good.

Since Sunday, we've...

You guys went to state, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.

- That was awesome. Overtime?
- Yeah, double overtime.

- That's awesome.
- Yeah, it was a great game.

I can imagine.
That's the first time.

Yeah, in 33 years.

He came from a hockey town.

He came from a hockey family.

For dad, he was proud of Rob.

You heard that
when he announced the games.

He started announcing
because of Rob.

You got 6 seconds
left, 41.6 seconds left

in the second period.
One-one deadlocked,

a great game.

You're treated to one of the
best games of the year, here.

And every time that Rob
touched the puck,

it was... you hear him yelling,
like, "Pirelli's got the puck!

Pirelli! Pirelli's got it!
He's gonna score!"

It was... it was... you know,
everybody else was like,

"Here comes Speducio,
Speducio shoots, shoots, save,"

but when Rob touched the puck,

it was... you felt it,
you felt his passion.

Back up to Pirelli,
Pirelli on the left side.

Pirelli fighting for
the puck on Speducio.

He's looking down
the wrong way and...

He's gonna have a break-away!

Will it hit? Oh, no!

Aww, on an open net.
He missed an open net.

He made a beautiful move
and he misses the net.

He wants Rob to score so badly

because he wants
to announce this.

He wants to announce
to the world

that, like, Rob just scored.

Everything...

Pirelli, I don't know how
he ever missed it,

but regardless...

Dad wanted to see
that... that outpost.

That was something
that he, um...

I know he talked about
every day...

was seeing and trying
to get to see the outpost

before it was destroyed

because it was
the last thing he built.

It was the last thing
he touched.

For our family as a whole...

to be able to see
what Rob had built,

it may give us
some sort of closure.

It may give us some sort of...

opportunity to say good-bye.

It may give us another opportunity
to meet Rob in a way.

Rob's dad had shared with me

that he was talking to his
Congressman in Massachusetts

to try to go into the war zone

because he wanted to see
the combat outpost...

the house that his son
had built.

And there was no way
that the Congressman

or anybody in the government
was going to let, uh,

somebody go over
and do something like that,

or hopefully not.

So he made me promise

that I would try to get
back over there

and let him know that his son's
outpost was still there,

that his son hadn't
been forgotten over there.

The Green Beret's 10th
Special Forces Group,

they knew that I was
planning to go back

to Iraq with them when they
re-deployed for the second year.

They also knew
that I was injured

and that I had to
come back from the injury

and I would have to prove myself
to them on that one, as well.

I was back with the serious
gunners of ODA 0-9-4.

The "machs gut" guys
who get it done.

- You guys ready?
- Yeah!

All right, on you,
all right, here we go, dudes.

They invited me to
go through their shoot house

with live fire.

Stay in the room!

He-Y, what do you guys got?

We bypassed a pool door
on the right in the beginning.

We got a team who's checking it.

Hey, what do you want
for direction of movement?

Where we going, sir?

To the left and back that way.

All right, ready?
All right! Go.

Hey, remember,
it's a shotgun door!

Everybody! Hey!

Hey, everybody...
There's a closed door on the right.

Closed door, right!

- Everybody good?
- Good.

- Oh, why is that door shut?
- We're moving right behind...

We're moving.

All right,
let's go... let's go.

Ready? Everybody up?
Let's go.

After this training,

I'd been invited
to climb Mt. Rainier

with wounded Special Operators.

This would be the final test

to prove that...
that the ankle was back

and that I could hack it.

On the rope line in front of me

was blind Navy Seal, Lion Joe,

who if you remember
in the American Sniper movie,

he was the one who had been shot
in the face on that rooftop...

and a marine recon scout
who had also been blinded,

and an army soldier
who had lost his legs,

and a ranger who had served in Somalia
in the Black Hawk Down mission,

Kenny Thomas.

And at more than 14,000 feet
at the top of this volcano...

the lesson that I learned
from these Special Operators...

from these wounded warrior
Special Operators,

you don't quit.

And it was that moment that
I was able to prove to myself

that I was back from the injury

and that it was time
to get back to Iraq.

Neither one of you
have ever heard this story.

I'm sure we haven't.

The last Christmas
that Rob was here,

which was, um, 2006,

we went up to Uncle Ralph's
as we always do.

We go up to Uncle Ralph's for
Christmas Eve... - Christmas Eve.

And opened all the presents.

We do what we always do.

You and dad left early,
and Rob and I stayed.

- Tara, what are you looking at?
- Cosette?

- Robbie.
- Robbie?

When Rob decided
he wanted to leave,

we got in the car
and left Uncle Ralph's.

We were driving home
and it was the moments

that Rob confided in me
for the first time.

It was one of those times
where he just let it all out.

And he told me that

he wasn't necessarily
planning on coming home.

Oh, from Iraq, okay.

So he had an idea in 2006
that he wouldn't be home.

You know Rob.

It doesn't surprise me,
but I didn't...

As a mother, he ain't gonna confide
in me all that stuff anyways,

but I did not know that.

I can remember the last time...

I dropped at the airport.
I saw him that Christmas.

And he says, "You don't
have to hug me."

Until this day, I wish I did.

Well, you don't know.

No, you don't.
You really don't.

It is what it is.

L'

- All right, Bill.
- See you.

Did you have
any idea at that point

how you were gonna figure out

how to get there?

No, I knew I was going
to do whatever it took.

- Oh, there's somebody I know.
- Hey, what's up?

When I re-deployed
with them again,

Rob's team was in
a completely different location

very far from
Combat Outpost Pirelli.

My team we're the elite
unit down here in this province.

We're here to bring
credibility and legitimacy

the Iraqi Security Forces.

- How do you do that?
- Once we get here,

we have to identify
a fit partner,

foreign internal
defense partner.

And the party that we identified
is the an-Nasiriyah SWAT

Special Weapons Attack team.

So we had to select
those operators

that we felt would be
effective in this area

in order to set the conditions
for sustainable security.

Everybody, this on you,

knock out ten push ups...

and then we take a break.

I'm not gonna count for you,

but, you know, if you only
do two, that's on you.

You're not getting any stronger.

Okay, so...

They can do multiple
sets of that as well.

This rotation in an-Nasiriyah
did not get large scale

for on-surge operations.

We're leaving those type of operations
up to the Iraqi Security Forces.

So, you know, the IPs are gonna
do it, the IA are gonna do it.

I think that's
a sign of progress.

I think that's what
we should be doing.

'Ready, guys?
Yeah! Up!

Keep it UP!

Up!

Ahh.

Oh my god, we're doing an excellent
job of teaching jumping jacks.

The excitement and the fun

and you know the things
that they signed up...

- The adrenaline stuff?
- to do or their kind doing,

is kind of going
by the wayside a little bit,

but everybody understands
that that is where we should be,

and that's a good thing.

So difference between
last year and this year?

Last year we had
to walk 500 meters

to go take a shower,

and we were going to the bathroom
in a hole that I dug in the ground.

And this year, I have people
wash and fold my laundry.

Completely different
from last deployment.

Honestly, there's times
where this deployment,

I'd say, man, I wish we were back
up at, you know, COP Pirelli

because... I mean, I definitely
miss Rob every day.

I'd like to go back up.

And it'd just be interesting
to see what it's evolved into,

and just kinda go
back through some memories

from being out there

and kinda walk
those paths again.

When Rob had passed,

my dad, he would go down
to the coffee shop

and grab a coffee
for himself also for Rob.

He would come down
to the cemetery...

and it would be his chance
to sit and talk with Rob.

He would park his car.

He would have a pin in his car

where Rob's picture would be.

And he would walk up

to Rob's resting place...

and he would take a pin
and poke Rob's coffee.

And as it was dripping out,

he would drink
his coffee with Rob.

That was...
that was their time together.

My father passed away
on September 11th, 2012.

He was really sick
and in a hard place,

but he knew it was... okay

because he was gonna
see his son again.

We wanted to have him

buried as close
as we could to Rob

and we know that's what
he would have wanted,

so we made that happen.

Tim, the medic,
who had tried to save

his Green Beret brother and help
him breathe his last breathes...

wanted to know that the
place that Rob had built...

he wanted to know
about the changes there,

but the military P.A.O.s
had said that my...

my embed was with
10th Special Forces Group

and was not with
1st Special Forces Group,

which was now located

where Combat Outpost Pirelli
was in Diyala province.

They denied my request.

So to get there,
I'd have to hitchhike

from Special Forces
A Team to A Team

more than 300 miles
around the war zone.

From an-Nasiriyah
it was to Hilla.

From there, went to
Baghdad to area four,

which was the secret location

where those serious gunners

of ODA 0-9-4 were going out
and doing missions.

- Alex!
- What?

- Stay out here.
- Who said?

All clear!

Put these guys on the roof.

All right, step in there, Alex.

What was that?

- He's a free worker.
- What does he do?

Yes.

The one's too young.

But the other one might
be old enough to be him.

Do you have
a first name, Hussein?

Robert.

Pull those detainees
and go down out of the element.

Have the source take a look
at both those jack-asses.

- Okay. Hey, Bob!
- Yeah.

I'm gonna need you and Ranger
in about 3 minutes.

- Ali Abu...
- Bob, you move with...

- Haruz, let's go, brother.
- Ranger

Did you actually
plot a course in your own mind?

If this didn't work out,
you could sense an adjust,

and you knew somewhere
else that you could try?

Is that what... Is that sort
of how you approached it?

I always hope for the best.

Um, expect the worst
and plan accordingly.

And I always hope
that logic will prevail

and people will... will...

will... will maybe have a soft spot
get what it is that I was doing,

but, uh, no.

From there, it was to Camp Taji.

What's the deal
with this bad guy?

Oh, we got
a warrant for his arrest.

It's a Baghdad warrant.

He was an AQI member.

Mostly what he's wanted for

is the murder of
other Iraqi members,

mostly another clan.

His tribe is very large
with I.E.D.s in this area.

What's your name?
You're the RTO?

- Yeah, Roger.
- And I'm Alex.

Okay, I'm gonna be on your
hipper behind you, okay?

Okay.

An Arrow 2-5,
go ahead, it's traffic.

We at this time, we
are supporting Jaguar

on guard.

- Check the friendlies, please.
- Checking the friendlies.

We have six Humvees on the road.

It's about a six
vehicle convoy, over.

Okay.

Okay, will do.

The compound
that is directly above them

to the southeast
is a hostile compound.

They can declare
that area, copy.

All right, go.

Go, 90, 90,
last man. Last man.

Get out of the hallway.

Medic check.

Hit it with your light.
Will it open?

Go! Go! Go!

Sir, these are his cousins.

Round 'em up.
Take 'em outside.

The first house we went to,
the target house,

was the target's house,
his family's house.

He was not at that house.

We're just searching the house...
Hmhmm.

Because this guy
is a high-level leader.

We're looking for
documents, notebooks,

anything that can
lead to the next guys.

We call it a cascading target.

Normally with
high-level terrorists,

they're like code 1-0-4.

It's like the highest
level of crime

in the Iraqi judicial system.

And so this guy was wanted
on a code 1-0-4 warrant.

Why is he a bad guy?
Why do we go after this guy?

Very basic broad strokes.

Yeah, he runs a
terrorist organization.

Which does what?

The big thing he's
pushing for now is I.E.D.s

And the I.E.D. threat has
kinda started up a little again,

- more recently.
- Yeah, I hear in the last

two weeks,
we've had three strikes.

And that coincides with
being released from prison.

So... - He had been detained
and then got released

and back out on the streets?

Yup.

- Checking for movement.
- Copy.

You got two of 'em
staying in the courtyard, there.

- Yeah, I think that's him.
- Copy.

- Are there three?
- Okay, now there are three of them

running in.

One is...
Oh, one's a kid.

- Copy.
- There's another one.

Four, five...
they have all gone

into the door
of the host building

and continuing to watch.

Yeah, make sure you
get ahold of those guys

in that area up there.

Roger, that's a good, copy.

GO, go, go!

Go to the left!
To the left.

- Where'd everyone go?
- Clear!

GO; Go!

Okay.

He says he doesn't know.

His brother was there.

We have his brother,

a major ARCOM in the I.A.s

We got the story
of where he was at.

They try to lie to 'em,

but it's a lot easier
for the I.A.s

because they speak the language.

Three minutes
ago, we heard one individual

talk to another individual.

That they took the hill coming
toward the other individual.

Search that tree line.

Searching.

I got alight
or something down there.

Get right there.

That's him.

We are tracking
enemy personnel in that area.

Look around
for the friendlies, please.

They are
continuing west from there.

All right, he's running.

Let's watch him for a second.

Close to friendlies!
He is 360 meters,

and he's hunkered down.

I follow.
Go, go.

Okay, well, one, two, three, four.

- Thank you.
- You're welcome.

So far, it looks
like he's hunkered down.

- I'm checking for movement.
- Copy.

If we get a good shot here,
let's stop and look.

Sir, fire some flares.

See if you can stir him up.

Flares.

There it was.

Okay, we got several movers.
Ah, those look like animals.

Hey, there he is.
He's up and forward.

There he is.

Came out of the tree
line and ran into that compound.

COPY-

GO; Go!

We ended up finding him
at his cousin's house,

which was still
on the family's land,

but again the family's land
is about two kilometers wide

in every direction.

That's why we traveled
so many canals and so much land.

- You guys be safe tonight.
- Roger, that's a good, copy,

and we appreciate the word.

Like always, it's great
working with you guys.

I managed to get myself
to Diyala province,

to Bakuba... what had become this
massive Forward Operating Base

Warhorse.

Within Warhorse,
had been the Special Forces

Headquarters Compound.

I just boldly walked up
and knocked on their door

at the Special Forces Compound

and said, "Hey, I'm Alex Quade.

I spent time with the... with the
teams that were here last year.

Want to let me in?" And, no.

No, they did
not want to let me in.

So that's when it was...
okay, plan B.

I'll embed with the conventional
units that are here.

And I will try to
hopscotch my way

from conventional unit
to conventional unit

and just try to
geographically get closer.

Did you have a time limit

that you knew you
were working within

to try to get to
Combat Outpost Pirelli.

No, I was my own person.
I was a freelancer.

I was at my own expense

and unattached with no support

and no camera crew
and no nothing.

So I had all
the time in the world

and that worked to my advantage,

as did being underestimated.

What exactly are we doing today?

We... are going to
look for some caches today

in one of our villages.

Uh, we got some
Intel the other day.

There's some possible
cache's out in R.A.O.

So we're gonna jointly
with the E.R.U.

go out there and see
if we can find these things.

So this is pretty much
where we're at nowadays.

Doing operations...
everything we do.

So we expect to
find in these caches?

Well, everybody else
has been finding them,

- so I hope you find them too.
- Yeah?

If we don't, we're not
gonna look too good.

We call it trash village.

It's a whole town,
lives in nothing but trash.

Everything's gonna
build character.

Well, this is a whole lot
of character building today.

Down by the truck?

Bye-bye, bye-bye,
bye-bye, bye-bye.

I managed to get myself
within the vicinity.

Combat Outpost Pirelli
had ended up urban sprawl.

A Forward Operating Base
was growing up around it,

called Cobra.

And they didn't
even realize all that much

that there was this secret

Special Forces
A team house in there.

I managed to get myself
embedded with the cavalry unit

that was there, co-located where
Combat Outpost Pirelli was.

And that cavalry unit was from
Alaska, the arctic wolves.

They had just that week
received a coffee maker.

We just got a
coffee pot two weeks ago.

We're getting re-adapted
to the caffeine.

It's gonna be a good clay.

See the major over there?

- He's running the show.
- Hm-hmm.

We're just his
little followers right now,

putting the Iraqi army first.

Most of these guys...
the soldiers...

personally know
the farmers in here.

So even to come in here
and clear palm groves

it's a social call.

You know, they come in
here and talk to their friends.

We try to enforce, you know,

the fact that they
need to clear this,

but they're like, "Oh, no,
it's my brother, it's my friend.

He's good."

- He might be good, but...
- It's a happy morning gathering.

That's all it...
It's a social call.

Get a few mandarins
while you're at it.

Where do you got to go
hunting for oranges and stuff?

- Yeah, I found a terrorist.
- You did.

- It was right there.
- They were growing on trees.

You pretty much
cut 'em out at the root.

A terrorist...

Has anybody found anything yet?

Any caches? Any signs of...

- No, sir.
- Okay.

- Just let me check.
- You're gonna go see it in the future?

Somebody just hit one.

Get inside the palm grove!

That's a lot of fucking contact.

Hey was that a striker?

And just like that...

Just like that it
changed in an instant,

and we're coming under fire
in the palm grove.

I am less than half a mile away
from Combat Outpost Pirelli

and fulfilling my promise
to Rob's A team

and his gold-star family.

I'd come all this way
and this...

this might keep me
from completing that mission?

Hey! So we're moving
back to the vehicles!

- I'll follow you.
- We're moving back to the vehicles now.

We have... Hey, we up, Mo.

It's jumped to
the south marked position.

Hey, Gunners be advised, we're
moving out of the palm grove.

Hey, spread out, you guys.

Keep eyes
for fucking trip wires.

Sorry about that.

Hey, keep eyes
to the north also!

Holy fuck.

They are here.

- Right there, you see the smoke?
- Yeah.

- It was in the palm grove.
- Yeah, it was in the palm grove.

Shit!

Hey, let's have this
vehicle move with us.

All right?
Improved cover.

We'll say back off
or these guys up front...

You guys up front...

It's the way it rolls, now.

Ooh, there's
a smoke, right there.

We're moving the strikers
down here for cover, all right?

I'm on your left hip, Baily.

We got two.

There had been an I.U.D.
that was...

we figured out
was made out of 155,

which is an artillery round

and they'd
wrapped it in C-4

and added 30 pounds of munitions

to turn it into a wall
above an I.E.D.

One Iraqi civilian was killed
and five were injured.

- Do you consider that a big one?
- About as big as they get.

They'll want
to shake your teeth.

This is the way
we drove in to get...

to drive to get
to the palm grove.

I'm pretty sure
it was meant for one of us.

They knew we're here.

That's why I think that
it was command detonated

because pressure plated...
we would have hit it

- by rolling over it.
- So command detonated

- would mean like a trigger?
- There was a trigger made.

- Somebody watching and trigger manning.
- Exactly.

Our strikers had
been going back and forth

over this area
just 20 minutes earlier.

So these soldiers,
they figured that, well...

our... the jammers
that were on the strikers

must have been working
to interfere with the signal

that the trigger man for this I.E.D.
must have been putting out.

Once we got back to Cobra,
the FOB that had grown up

around Combat Outpost Pirelli,

the cavalry unit
that I'd been with that day

and for the last few days
on these types of missions,

they came to me and they said,

they thought that
I'd earned my spurs,

since were a cavalry unit.

And yet they had no spurs
to give out there.

One of the guys reached into his ruck
and pulled out a Ka-bar... a knife.

He said, well,
it's blunt, but...

these are your spurs.

With that, I had a Ka-bar now in
my back pocket and it was time.

A 160th SOAR-— Special Operations
Aviation Regiment bird

was coming to pick me up

and their L.Z...
their Landing Zone...

was inside
Combat Outpost Pirelli.

So even though
the Special Forces A-Team there

didn't want to let me in,

they had to
if they wanted to get rid of me.

We made it to the door
and knocked on the door.

There was no hello.
There was no nothing.

They let me in so that I
could have my 15 minutes

as I waited for the bird that was
going to take me back to Baghdad

and I looked around
to see the changes.

It was good to see
that what Rob had built

was still there.

That this rough team house...
alone on the fringe

of the empire, as their
Special Forces Commander

Major Derrick Jones
had called it...

that it was still a safe house

being used by
Special Forces Teams

in an area that had
been an Al-Qaeda sanctuary

near the Iranian border,

where every day
was a fight for survival.

It was still here because
Rob and his ODA 0-7-2

had built it and fortified it.

I may have only
been on the ground

inside Combat Outpost Pirelli
for maybe 15 minutes,

maybe 20...

but I'd done what they'd asked

and I was able to let them know

that Rob's wall...
the T-wall with the symbol

that says Combat Outpost
Pirelli... was still there.

Did you ever think to yourself

what are the odds...
of this working out?

Pretty low to
non-existent, right?

There was no way in hell that I
was not gonna get this clone,

that I was not going to
complete this mission

for Rob's family,
for Rob's teammates,

because none of these guys quit

and I wasn't gonna quit either.

Sunrise or sunset, do you think?

I think it's a sunset.

He would be on
the phone talking with

and then all of a sudden,
he'd have to go up on the roof

- and do god knows... so this is...
- Keep watch.

Yeah, this must be what he had to
go through. - They took turns...

- Yeah.
- being up there.

What he must've
had to go through.

Oh my gosh.

- "Keep door closed."
- This is Sparta.

Get out of town.

Well, look at that.

For me, it's hard to imagine

that my son had...
had helped build this.

It's... because he
did build things,

but this is...

it's a lot bigger
than what I thought.

Look at all the
clothing hanging up.

We've never, until this moment,

gotten to see their house,

and it's the one that Rob built.

That's huge for us.

- It just makes it so he's real...
- Right.

And he really made an impact.

The things that he did
were important and he mattered.

But he didn't do it for himself.

- He did it for others.
- Yeah.

This represents him in a way

because... he built
this for his team.

That's who he was.

That's unbelievable.

You know, if we
were watching it with him,

he'd probably just sit back and
we'd be like, "You did that?"

"You did that?" and he'd
be like, "Yup, I did it.

I guess like it doesn't
surprise me in a way.

I could see Rob doing this

and not complaining
about it whatsoever.

- Right, oh, yeah, oh, yeah.
- Just doing it.

Not having a problem with it.

I just miss Rob.

♪ Breathe... don't speak

♪ You're fading out

♪ Don't... close your eyes

♪ We're almost there now

♪ We're almost there

♪ We are ghosts in our homes

♪ Singing songs all alone

♪ But we've fought to be free
and this pain isn't me

♪ We are ghosts
now in our home

♪ We are ghosts all our own

♪ In this valley
we call home

♪ We will fight to be free

♪ Come unchained
from our grief

♪ We are ghosts now
in our home

♪ These friends remain

♪ But this place
just feels so strange

♪ My eyes... betray

♪ I don't want to leave

♪ But I can't stay

♪ We are ghosts in our home

♪ Singing songs all alone

♪ But we've fought to be free

♪ And this pain isn't me

♪ We are ghosts now
in our home

♪ We are ghosts on our own

♪ In this valley we call home

♪ We will fight to be free
Come unchained from our grief

♪ We are ghosts now
in our home

I'

♪ I've been so... in love

♪ And love will find

♪ Its way home

♪ And I've been told...

♪ That love

♪ Will find...

My name's Rob and I'm 14.

' All right!
- 'Good.

It's early now.

My second day of school.

There's mother and Shawn
in the carriage.

This lady just crossed
the street without looking.

Robbie's so
concerned about that.

♪ We are ghosts now
in our home

♪ We are ghosts
on our own

♪ In this valley
we call home

♪ We will fight to be free
Come unchained from our grief

♪ We are ghosts now
in our home

L'

♪ Well, I shipped out
with a job to do

♪ Headed to desert sands

♪ To build a wall

♪ And draw a line

♪ And that wall,
that wall still stands

♪ They cut me down
with the bullet fire

♪ Cut down by hands of man

♪ My body lay
for all to see

♪ But that wall,
that wall still stands

♪ It still stands

♪ It still stands

♪ You might scorch the land

♪ You might kill a man

♪ But that wall,
that wall still stands

♪ Well, the ones who stand
behind me now

♪ They don't know who I am

♪ But what matters most

♪ When danger's close

♪ Is that wall,
that still stand?

♪ It still stands

♪ Oh, it still stands

♪ You might scorch the land

♪ Or you might kill a man

♪ But that wall,
that wall still stands

♪ Now every wall
one day will fall

♪ When steel and wood
turn to sand

♪ But what I believed was good

♪ Still holds its ground

♪ And that wall,
that wall still stands

♪ It still stands

♪ Oh, it still stands

♪ You might scorch the land

♪ You might kill the man

♪ But that wall

♪ That wall

♪ Yeah, it still stands

♪ You might scorch the land

♪ You might kill the man

♪ But that wall,
that wall still stands

♪ Yeah, that wall,
that wall still stands

♪ Yeah, that wall,
that wall still stands