ok, finally watched '12 strong'. i cannot tell you how strange it was to watch a movie

about someone you know. someone whose diapers you changed.
the main character is a composite of my nephew, and another guy in his team.
my nephew-https://democraticunderground.com/100214554773

i read the book it was based on back when it came out- 'horse soldies' by doug stanton.
the driiiiiest book i ever read.

anyway. so part of the experience was sorting out what was mark. the merge was for the movie, not in the book.
since he had a fatwa on his head from obl, he wouldnt let them use his real name, or details in the book to begin with.
the bio was mostly the other guy. except for the family. that was his wife, his little girl, his town. they actors looked like them.
but that guy had never held a command before, and that was NOT mark.

the relationship w dostom, the warlord, was def mark. he talked about him at the time.
they left out what kind of man he is. brutal. just brutal. but mark came to respect him, and at the end it says they are friends to this day. i believe this to be true.

in light of the publication of 'the afghanistan papers' i think my original opinion of the book proves true- it was a hagiography published at a time when support for the war was waning.
iirc in the book at least they make mention of the money that changed hands, left out of the movie. at any rate, it's a fact i know that is not mentioned. but i thought it reeked of puffery. down to the sub-title which is some nonsense about riding to victory in afghanistan.

will also point out that mark did not go home.
he stayed at mazari sharif, and was responsible for putting down the prison uprising there, which earned him a congressional medal.

it's been hard all along to see someone so good spend his life is such a dubious pursuit. so smart, so driven, so brave, and for what? back when i made buttons, i made one that said- love the soldier. hate the war. but it was damn hard.
i asked him the other day if he was sorry he retired. he said- you know that saying 'familiarity breeds contempt'? yeah, that's true. i'm glad to be out of all that.

he's on to another life. he's talking about a book, but, sadly, is unlikely to spill any tea.
he's a master at that. it will likely be about foreign policy.

all in all, tho, so completely strange.