OT: Hesco's and the movie Restrepo

I watched Restrepo just a few days ago. You're right, a lot of those soldiers looked like they were young, but I'm surprised how young the senior officers look these days.

The captain was talking about the hescos before there was any reference to them, and since he was talkin about digging-in and they were filling those things up with dirt and rocks (and some dirt-filled sandbags), I figgered that was what he was talking about.

There isn't much of anything to use for shields in those mountains, so the hescos are a really good idea that is probably making some DOD contractor a lot of money. Taking the mountains apart with picks and shovels appears to be treacherous work with guns fired at them on a regular basis. So all of the shelter that's available comes from rocks and plywood with additional some framing lumber.

The landing zone in the valley seemed odd. The Restrepo soldiers were in a good position to defend it, but it looked odd.

The worst part was that the interviewed soldier commented that the gubmint doesn't have medical personnel qualified/experienced to treat the needs of the men that survive that kind of duty.

It is hard to believe that after that experience one wouldn't need some help re-integrating into a more sedate civilian world. In another war it was called the 1000 mile stare.

Wes

The combat troops will all likely need considerable help, but whether they'll actually get anything more than an unlimited number of meds, will be seen.

From what I've seen recent years, many of these men (women aren't performing combat duties) aren't getting what they need. Same old-same old.. from previous generations until today.