You got to make sure your lens is straight, dude.
Mccool: Kind of has a cock on it?
I got it. I fixed it.
Boucher: We are an assault team...
Just six of us.
You better run, goat.
This is my first patrol,
and I'm thinking, "it's a beautiful country."
Up there when the sun comes up, I'm wondering,
"man, like, this is so cool."
Mccool: It smells amazing out there.
It's almost like a slight sagebrush smell.
You see that little area right there?
Let's go push over, go in that grassy-knoll area,
and bring it out over there.
Mccool: There's these stacks of rocks...
Taliban fighting positions.
I start walking over there,
camera in hand, taking pictures,
making sure we get all this documented.
Holy cow.
These rounds are hitting inches away from me.
Welcome to Afghanistan.
Shriver: Go! Go!
In may 2010,
a small unit from the legendary 101st airborne
is among those deployed
in an attempt to defeat the Taliban.
President Obama: It is in our vital national interest
to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan.
Shriver: Pick it up! Go, go, go!
The korangal valley
is frequently described as the valley of death.
Hurry up! Hurry up! Get up there!
Oh [Bleep]
Mccool: We knew that it was gonna be the deployment
that people would write books about.
I figured i wanted to be able to document that.
What is that? Is that a camera or something?
Their mission...
To intercept weapons and fighters
pouring through the valley
from the Taliban's safe havens in neighboring Pakistan.
Among the group,
rookies who had never been in combat before...
Private jj mccool.
We're leaving here in like 10 minutes, so...
And private Kyle boucher.
This is it.
Boucher: I was pretty green.
I never left the country before i joined the army.
Hi, mom.
We really didn't have any idea how bad it was gonna get.
Whoa!
Mccool: We were already taking fire from two places.
Boucher: You could die in a matter of seconds.
It is kind of that journey from boyhood to manhood.
Aah!
It's a brotherhood, man. You can't let your brothers die.
It's gonna hurt, but it will be all right.
Boucher: I don't really think there's anything
that could bond you more. All right, let's go!
These are my brothers. This is my family.
Mccool: [Bleep] Man. Those are close.
Where's it coming from?
I don't know, dude... Behind me.
They were coming right next to my head, dude.
Boucher: Mccool came running up over that little hill
that we were hiding behind
just excited because, you know, he just got shot at,
and, you know, we're like, "oh, man.
Like... like this is real."
Mccool: Dude, i was, like, taking a picture out here...
It was all around me when i was on that other side.
Boucher: So now we're just shooting everything...
Everything that moved.
Mccool: I could literally see the rounds
hitting the rocks right next to me.
It sounded like it was
either coming from that tree right there
or right up this ridgeline.
See where that...?
It's very hard to fight an enemy
that, a lot of times, can't be seen.
It's almost like you're fighting a ghost.
If i can pinpoint a location based off the sound,
once I'm aware of the area, i can see muzzle flashes.
We have cas on station, which is our close air support,
so we are coordinating with them
so that they could drop a bomb on them.
They tell us that they have visual on them.
It's danger close, so we have to take cover.
- Okay. - Take cover.
Hey, come on. Hunker down.
Boucher: Hearing that bomb coming, screaming in overhead,
that's awesome.
Mccool: It's this very distinct whistle.
- Cowabunga. - Whoo-hoo!
Got it covered?
Go on. Go. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go.
Mccool: Someone who was just trying to kill me minutes ago
now no longer has the chance.
Hey. Hey, i got video of it.
- You do? - Yeah.
It's like going down a huge hill on a roller coaster,
where, you know, your stomach lifts up,
and you just have this, like,
almost feeling of, like, weightlessness.
There isn't anything like being in a firefight.
It's funny looking back at it now.
I mean, they say, "hey, you may not make it back,"
or "50% of you will," or "you could get shot."
That may be true, but it doesn't really feel real
until you actually see one of your buddies get shot
or a round hit inches from your head.
It toys with your mind a bit, especially now,
knowing that I'm having a baby in a couple weeks.
Everywhere you go, everything that you do,
i mean, it's exhausting always thinking
of maybe what the worst thing that could happen could be.
The small platoon
from the famous 101st airborne division
are based at one of America's smallest
and most dangerous outposts.
Deep in enemy territory,
cop Michigan is a critical line of defense
against Taliban fighters
coming across the border from nearby Pakistan.
Boucher: Cop Michigan is maybe
a little bit bigger than a football field and a half.
Mccool: I mean, you're talking 15 people to one little chu,
and the chu is what we sleep in...
I mean, bunk beds on bunk beds on bunk beds,
and privacy is not even a thing.
Things that aren't reinforced with sandbags and hescos,
they're just riddled with shrapnel.
Boucher: Next to my bunk,
there's bullet holes right there,
and you're like, you know, like, "I'm gonna sleep here?"
Mccool: Tell me i won't put on my tiger mask.
Tell me this is not
the definition of intimidation right here.
- That is intimidating. - Intimidation [Bleep]
Let me tell you something. This is just...
Mccool: I was doing sales,
selling shoe cleaner in the mall,
but i liked going on adventures, doing new things.
Yeah.
Anytime I've ever done anything crazy,
I've wanted it on video.
Then i decided to join the military
because i thought it would be a lot of fun.
Shake it. I'm trying!
I wanted to be able to document that.
Boucher: Mccool is the type of guy
that you either loved him or you hated him.
Mccool: What? What you got?
I'm not dying [Bleep]
Boucher: He could annoy the [Bleep] out of you,
and he was good at it.
Boucher? What's up, man?
What do you got, dude? Hi, mom.
What are the last words, man?
Those are my last words... "hi, mom."
"Hi, mom"? That's it?
I was a ranch hand.
I had worked at a car wash, at a subway.
There's no job that i haven't done,
and i couldn't stick to one, you know?
I would just get bored easily,
and that's when i decided
i needed to go and join the army.
* i ain't got no worries *
you know, my mother cried
when i left to go and sign the papers.
I was the baby.
I had gone on the computer to look up where he was going.
It was the worst place in Afghanistan.
It was the most dangerous place.
I was afraid every day.
So i just prayed every day. That's all i could do was pray.
The base is strategically located
to deny the Taliban control of a vital supply road to Kabul.
Boucher: And they told us, you know,
cop Michigan takes fire every single day.
The advantage to the Taliban is we're in the mountains.
You know, these guys know where we are.
Kind of like you're a sitting duck.
Mccool: So we're all waiting for something to happen.
There was nothing.
We're sitting here, waiting,
wishing for a better life.
What do you got to say, sergeant petry?
Boucher: You know, you'd walk around the cop,
and we were like, you know,
"why aren't they shooting at us?"
Pissing just reminds me of home, you know?
Mccool: Moving into that next day,
we're like, "surely we're gonna get attacked,"
and there was nothing.
Two, three days you're just hanging out at the cop,
and still nothing.
- Oh, they're friends! - Aww, look.
Mccool: I'm like, "these guys are exaggerating."
I mean, it's easy
to make it sound like it's way worse than it is.
It's not possible.
Boucher: We really don't have any idea how bad it's gonna get.
We didn't know what we were in for.
Whoa!
- Damn! - Oh, geez!
Go!
Pick it up! Go, go, go!
They said, "hey"...
Hey, let's go! Pull out!
Oh [Bleep]
[Bleep] That hit.
Boucher: The first time cop Michigan gets attacked,
they're shooting right at us, like shooting fish in a barrel.
Back side of Omar again.
Mccool: We are at the bottom of this valley
surrounded by endless mountains.
I mean, they can kick rocks down at us and hit us.
Damn!
It's baptism by fire.
Jesus Christ.
I have just done two back-to-back tours in Iraq.
Almost all of our guys were new to the army.
They've never done this kind of stuff before.
Shriver: Where's the mark truck, man?
The mark truck needs to be right [Bleep] here
laying up that whole [Bleep]
We were just cleaning the mark, sarge.
[Bleep] It's off?
We only took one of them off at a time, sergeant.
Where's the other one?
We thought we were men, you know?
But now looking back, like, we were boys.
You know, like, we didn't know what we were getting into.
I'm good.
Boucher: I was pretty green,
but shriver would be able to make you feel like,
"hey, man, like, everything's gonna be okay."
Yeah, they're over to here, down that [Bleep]
[Bleep] Dude.
Sergeant shriver, his nickname is big bear.
Mccool: He's fierce,
yet you almost want to give him a hug.
He's just there to protect us all the time.
Where the [Bleep] are they, man?
That just hit right over there.
Whoo!
Oh, geez!
Yeah, I'm good. It hit the [Bleep] truck.
Mccool: You realize pretty quickly
that there isn't a place on the base that you're even safe.
If it hit right there, it'll just throw shrapnel at us.
And there's just nothing you can do about it.
What's up, dude?
Whoop. All right.
We're receiving fire from a cave to the southwest.
Why aren't you in the [Bleep] tow?
Huh? I just ran down here, sergeant.
Get in the [Bleep] tow truck! Go get a kill!
Well, get it up. You probably got 5 minutes.
You procrastinating [Bleep]
Hey, is the tow up yet?
The reason i love the tow so much
is because the optics allow for you to see really well.
The gunner can fire a tow missile that's wire-guided
and precisely put it inside of a tiny cave.
Hey, get this [Bleep] vehicle over at the hlz!
Let's go, let's go, let's go!
I'm gonna use the biggest hammer i have
for some shock and awe.
Not yet.
So, i mean, if that's a tow missile
that costs, each one, $65,000, okay.
Then that's what I'm gonna use.
You better get it in the hole.
In the hole.
Stand clear!
The Taliban call that the finger of death.
Let 'er rip.
Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
It scares the hell out of them.
Nice shot!
After that, they started, you know, upping their game.
Oh, geez!
You can expect at least once a day,
if not two or three times, and that's just normal.
Mccool: You're really rolling the dice,
and you're just hoping for good luck.
And you realize pretty quickly
that you take luck over skill anytime.
Boucher: If you're outside,
the chances of you getting shot at were probably like 75%.
Go!
We actually had people get wounded,
you know, who were taking showers,
and they caught shrapnel.
Mccool: I mean, you feel like a rat
going through a series of tunnels.
Boucher: You know, you'd go that way to go to chow,
and the tunnel of love what we called it.
Did one impact near here? I smelled sulfur.
You'd sit down and eat,
but, i mean, a guy got shot sitting here.
So you really kind of eat as fast as you can,
and then, you know, you go about your business.
Mccool: Not a lot of us sleep at night.
It is just endless at that point.
It's a hard fight.
I mean, not only are we fighting people
that are on a mountainside, firing down at us,
but you have the battle of keeping the road open
and making sure there's not i.E.D.S and things like that.
From their hilltop strongholds,
the Taliban are fighting for control of the pech valley.
The platoon has armored vehicles
to protect them while out on patrol.
Hey, we got room back here?
Yeah, you can hop in here.
- What's up? - What up?
Boucher: There's a piece of equipment inside of the truck
that can pick up what direction
a bullet's being fired at you from.
Charge.
Boucher: So while you're driving in the truck
and you hear, you know, a couple pop shots,
you would turn to that turret,
and you'd start shooting over there.
Shriver: Our role is
to establish security in the pech river valley,
because the Taliban are pushing right through that area.
The valley is very rural.
People just like to be left alone.
And the further into the mountains you go,
the more hard core they become.
But the children, you know, they're innocent.
They're curious.
If the children only see, you know, the Americans
inside these giant up-armored vehicles,
you're not really a human.
- A friend. - A friend. Yes.
Shriver: What I'll try to convey to them
is just that it doesn't matter...
Christian, Muslim.
You know, we're the same.
It's your dog?
Shriver: The war zone desensitizes you so much.
Fooling around with the kids
helps make you feel a little bit human again.
The children feel that they want to see you again.
They enjoy your company.
Maybe the next time you go out,
they don't come and greet you like they ordinarily do,
you're gonna know something's up.
Mccool: You are with the Afghan national police
to kind of take a foothold in that region.
We got intel from them
that there is an i.E.D. Implanted on the side of a road.
Shriver: I.E.D.S are extremely hard to see.
Command wire can be the width of a human hair.
Hey, mccool.
The i.E.D. Is a perfect weapon
for the type of vehicles we were in and everything.
It was a very effective killing weapon.
They were very good with them.
Boucher: Petry is tough, you know.
He knew his [Bleep]
He'd been to pretty much the worst places in Iraq.
He's been in plenty of combat, so he's a guy you looked up to.
You know, if he was yelling at you, you listened.
A lot of these guys were so young.
Like, it's the youngest group of privates
I'd ever had, really.
Mccool: Myself and petry started walking up.
Roger, 2-7. All vics pull up through our element.
Copy that.
You're no longer in a bulletproof box.
Now you're out in the open.
Good day for a firefight.
Let's go! Let's go!
Mccool: Looking back now, i think a lot of us were scared.
You feel a lot of fear,
and you just don't know what the outcome is gonna be.
'Cause you like to think that you can control things,
but sometimes you can't.
And sometimes there's so much that's uncertain,
it's just very unsettling.
We knew that there was an i.E.D. There.
From day one that i stepped off on that deployment,
i just had this feeling
like something bad was gonna happen to me
'cause it was my third time,
and it's usually your third time where you get messed up.
We had got a phone call about the i.E.D.
From the Afghanistan police.
Whenever they found some stuff like that,
they would call our command and let them know that it was there.
Mccool: You don't know ever if your intel's reputable or not,
and you don't know if it's an ambush.
You hope that it's not
in the truck that's coming towards you.
It's easy for someone to place something,
and as you walk up to it... Set it off.
The guy who had called us and given us the intel,
he's actually taken a portion of it out.
Petry: And this Afghan police walks up
and grabs this thing out of the ground
and just pulls the wires out.
I was like...
I don't know what to say about this.
As l.T. Walks up with that piece...
That's the detonator,
and i was like...
I was like, "are you sure that's the detonator?"
All right.
Mccool: After we had identified it no longer as a threat,
it was almost like a novelty thing.
We took a minute to take a quick picture with it.
It's just a new form of excitement for us.
That's me and that's mccool there.
Look at that.
We're all smiling, holding the bomb in our hand.
That's great, right?
Mccool: I mean, looking back now,
you start to have this eerie confidence.
It's almost like you feel invincible.
Back home, you're always trying to find something
that can replicate that feeling.
And one of the ways you can almost replicate that
is by putting something else at risk.
Everything smells waterlogged.
The mission in Afghanistan as a whole
is to win over their hearts and minds, right?
To help the local populace advance
in whatever way that may be...
Whether that's something as small as a bridge
or maybe fixing their power plant.
Petry: We brought those engineers out there.
They needed to see what kind of materials
they were gonna need to build that school.
It's gonna be a girls' school.
The Taliban... no. That's a no-go.
That's not in their religion, in their culture.
They don't believe women should be educated.
I want to build a school for the little girls.
These girls have no education
or no way of ever getting any better of their lives.
Here we are. We're trying to help you.
We want to make your lives better.
Shriver: On board, we told them
it was really dangerous to go in there
'cause it's wide open.
My job was to make sure these guys don't get shot
while they're walking there.
So the platoon dismounted.
- Let's go. - Let's go.
Boucher: And i go over into that school.
The school is located
nearly 200 meters from the safety of the armored vehicles
where boucher and five other gunners remain
to provide fire support.
Mccool: The school is at the bottom of this valley
with the mountains all around you.
Shriver: No, it's not one of ours.
Mccool: It's very vulnerable,
and it has a bad reputation.
It's 2-7. Do you copy?
Boucher: I'm pretty far away
and on the opposite side of the pech river in a truck.
Things escalated pretty quickly.
Light it up.
We have an a.K. Shooting at us from 200, 300 meters away.
If you look behind the cellphone tower,
you see that peak to the right?
Mccool: You can see rounds hitting.
It's very, very accurate fire.
You're just hoping that the next ones that come by
don't have your name on it.
Shriver: Just to the right of the cellphone tower!
Hit that peak up!
Petry: Five minutes in, we're rocking machine guns.
Just we were getting engaged
from one whole side of the mountain.
Mccool: We have swt on station,
which is scout weapons team helicopters
to support our movement.
You know that when you call them,
i mean, it's like calling in the cavalry.
They did a lot of gun runs.
Pretty quickly we went through their payload.
We only got two rockets left.
Finally, it's quiet.
Hey, do you want me to adjust here?
You want 1-6?
Shriver: Whoa. They're still shooting.
Hey, shoot 'em up!
The mark 48 is light,
so we carried it a lot for mountain operations.
It's a great weapon system.
Don't kill it.
Lock it in.
Let's go, dude. Lock it in.
Aw, damn it.
Merlin's mark 48 seized up.
I asked him where his bottle of oil was,
and he said he didn't bring it.
Yeah, his weapon's useless without oil.
Move your hands.
Check it. Lock it and check it.
I was very upset.
Mistakes like that cost people's lives.
Hit that ridgeline to the left.
Load up your [Bleep] in a bag. The gun's useless.
Petry: I wasn't even worried about the fire.
I'll be honest with you.
'Cause here's my soldier with a weapon,
and we need it, and it's not working.
Whose fault is that?
That's not the soldier's fault. That's my fault.
Mccool: We only carried so many rounds in.
Once you're returning fire for so long,
you could only sustain as long as you have rounds.
Shriver: Hey, everybody. Do tactical reload!
Get ready to move!
We don't really have much of a choice other than to go,
because it's only going to get more intense.
Right. Move 'em off!
We don't like running away,
so you have to kind of swallow your pride.
Shriver: Stand by.
For every decision that i make,
i try to consider the consequences for everyone.
I try to consider every single possibility.
I try to.
They're gonna lock down the bridge in groups of four...
In groups of four.
As soon as the first group hits the bridge,
starts going across, the next four go.
Once you get to the other side, find cover.
Start moving! Go!
The first group of men ran out.
All of a sudden,
the enemy started shooting from the north
from a third direction.
Mccool: That's kind of the direction we are headed.
I mean, when you look at people running into fire,
you kind of question their sanity,
but I'm gonna do whatever sergeant shriver tells us to do.
I mean, they tell you to jump, you ask, "how high?"
Shriver: To be in control of a platoon of men
and to say we're gonna run into fire
coming from the north...
it carries a lot of weight.
It carries a lot of stress.
Get ready! Let's go! Let's go! Everybody!
I got the rear. Go!
Go!
Pick it up! Go, go, go!
Let's go! Fast, men!
Petry: I'm running across the bridge thinking,
"you could run faster."
I can't.
You dig deep, man.
You got to kind of try to save your life.
L.T.!
Ohh! Jesus!
- Come on. - We're all safe.
All right. Hurry up.
Mccool: So we finally get to the trucks,
and we made it.
Boucher: It's just kind of like a relief.
You know, you're like, "all right. Well, hey, man.
Look. You know, we're good. Let's do it again tomorrow."
Turn around, go home, go eat some hot chow.
You know, whatever. Watch some movies.
Petry: I didn't even notice until we got back to base.
I had a bullet hole in front of my shins
where i had actually ran into a bullet,
and it didn't hit me.
It went through my pants leg.
Shriver: Go. Haul ass.
Petry: Yeah, i was pretty lucky, really.
You just get that invincibility theory, man, going,
and it's a high, you know?
It really is.
You really think that you're untouchable.
Mccool: Back in civilian life,
everyone is trying to find something
to chase that feeling of being in a firefight,
or that excitement, that emotion.
People deal with that in different ways.
And for me, it's playing poker.
If nothing else,
you definitely learn to not display your emotions,
which is particularly valuable in a game like poker.
And there is just enough uncertainty and risk
to give you just a little bit of that feeling
that you're so accustomed to
and a little bit of that rush.
I mean, looking back at it now, i was obviously naive.
I had no idea what we were getting into.
No one is ready for what we saw and what we had to do.
Shriver: Charlie company's approaching from the rear!
There's something about the way a grown man screams
that can kind of tell you how bad it is.
Mccool: Candy has always been somewhat of a passion of mine.
Through the mail,
i started to accrue quite a pile of it.
You didn't really have to try and hide something
from anyone else
'cause no one in our platoon will steal something
even as trivial as a piece of candy.
Boucher: Mccool...
He probably has the best care packages.
So when he's sleeping,
we, you know, sneak into his boxes
and steal his chocolates and mountain dews and stuff.
Uh, well, he's gonna know now.
Boucher: At that point, i don't think anybody was
the same person that they were when they left.
You can't be, you know?
When you've been in that much combat,
there's no possible way that you can maintain
that same person that you were when you left.
What's up? What do you need, sir?
Mccool: That day was a day like any other.
We were doing our normal checks.
We left cop Michigan.
Mad-dog face, mad-dog face, mad-dog face.
I think there's a certain calm and cool collected attitude
that you start to get because it's so familiar,
but you never lose the feeling of uncertainty.
We needed to go to fix some technical equipment.
My biggest concern...
There's only one way in and one way out.
My driver and my gunner, we were the best, you know?
We were up front.
We were in the front vehicle every single mission.
We keep about 30, 40 meters of distance
in between the vehicles.
I'm scanning the road like i always do,
sitting up front.
We don't have any issues driving through any of the villages.
It seems like it would be a pretty straightforward patrol.
Petry: Everything's a normal day.
Um...
Man...
There was a giant explosion up front.
Petry's been thrown out of the vehicle
and is laying on top of some large rocks.
Charlie company's approaching from the rear!
There's just something about the way a grown man screams
that can kind of tell you how bad it is.
Yeah, i thought it was really bad.
Um...
Yeah, didn't look good at all.
Not at all.
Hey, Johnson, herrera...
You guys work for doc.
Whatever he needs, you get it for him.
Then the number-one priority
is to stabilize Kyle and get him out of there.
Petry: I know my back's broke, and i know my neck's broke.
My head's crushed, and i can't move my legs.
Oh, the smells...
Dirt with blood mixed in,
and then the smell of death.
Mccool: As i approach,
i could see that Charles high was already gone.
I'm yelling, "chisholm, are you all right?"
And there wasn't any response, so...
Chisholm wasn't with us anymore.
And that's the first time...
I had cried on deployment.
Petry: I can't tell if my friends are already dead.
It just felt like a nightmare.
Shriver: Unfortunately for me,
this is not my first time losing men, losing friends.
But for them, most of them,
it's their first time losing friends, losing brothers.
All right, that's what i need.
It's difficult to hold it together,
but you still have more men there with you
who are looking for guidance.
Men on base, men on 2-7.
Hey, prepare for a [Bleep] counterattack.
Icom traffic.
There's some chatter on the Taliban handheld radios
that they're gonna ambush us.
L.T.!
Mccool: There was so much
that's just out of your control at that point.
Shriver: Hey, let's go! Come on!
Mccool: You don't know
if they're gonna start attacking you.
You just... you don't know.
Shriver: Herrera [Bleep] looking here
up to the [Bleep] top of the mountain. Roger.
So it's almost like you want something to happen,
or i did.
Because you get a chance to fight back.
The best way to grieve your friend
is to hunt and kill these bastards.
Mccool: It seemed like two or three different positions,
and it was accurate.
Shriver: Not for a second would any of those guys question
carrying a brother who's been wounded.
That's the bond of brothers. That's the bond that's shared.