Restrepo

If you get the opportunity to check this film out do it. Very touching and thought provoking. It's a documentary about one of the deadliest assignments in the middle east (the Korengal Valley). Sebastion Junger (he did the Perfect Storm) spent a year with this platoon. There is some incredible footage. There are some scenes that really capture the power of the weapons being used. Right after I moved out here I took a very thorough concealed weapons course. On one of the days we got to go to the range. I was primarily interested in a .357 Magnum revolver and so I got to spend all day getting to know one quite well. I've shot all kinds of guns (black powder rifles, pistols of .22, 9mm, .38 special, and .45 flavor, AR-15 assault rifles, Ak-47's and your usual hunting shotguns and rifles). One of the neatest things was simply shooting a .357 at a gallon jug of water and seeing the carnage it can inflict. The hole that goes in the front is no bigger than a pencil eraser but the entire back of the jug disappears as all that energy is transferred to the water and out the back. When learning in a class like that the instructors always tell you to shoot for the center of mass. On 4 legged critters, that would be the chest. Taking that class was definitely a learning experience. At that time, I was spending a good amount of time in the wilderness at dark and was a bit concerned about bears and mountain lions. I was the only one in the class with those concerns. The rest of the people were building safe rooms in their homes and worried about government conspiracy.

My father was/is a big gun/hunting guy. I remember going hunting with him as a kid and seeing him drink Jack Daniels while we were waiting for deer to appear in the abandon fields. Even at a young age I pretty much knew it was irresponsible and always felt strange. I always felt some degree of worry while my dad was "teaching" me the ethics of hunting and handling of a firearm.

Ohhhhhh.....I digress.......anyway...some of the footage is pretty intense with regard to the destruction that the weapons can create. There's also some scenes where they're shooting .50 caliber tracer rounds across the valley and it's pretty incredible.