Lone Survivor

I loved the book - looking forward to the movie!


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It was filmed near here just East of town. The land used has land grant disputed ownership and now there is a fight - lawsuit on whether or not the film company paid the wrong folks.

Interesting that Marcus Luttrell named his son Axe, after one of his Seal buddies, Matt "Axe" Axelson.

Great book, definitely gonna see it on the big screen.

Imperfect but overall very good movie.

Might to fuse this thread with the one already going on the movie:

http://smith-wessonforum.com/lounge/353095-lone-survivor.html

Great book.Very intense movie.Some of most realistic filming I have ever seen.I have the greatest respect for these men and what they endure in training alone.We can not allow these men be forgotten.I still feel Universal Military Service should be US policy.We all should have some "skin in the game".Surely many young people nowadays couldn't make the military grade,but why not something like the CCC of the Roosevelt era.All the hearts bleed about saving "self esteem".What better way than being productive,learning responsibility and discipline and respect of self and country.

My wife and I were visiting our son in San Marcos (Texas), a college town, and decided to see "Lone Survivor". The theater was full of a mixed aged crowd. There was a lot of talking and laughing during the previews but when the movie started everyone was quiet for the next two hours. The entire audience gave a big round of applause at the end of the movie.

It brought back memories of my father (now deceased) who retired as a SGM after 28 years of service. He was in Korea and Vietnam and received a Purple Heart when he was seriously wounded in Korea. My father was a soldier who loved the USA and fought for the freedoms we enjoy as citizens of this great nation.

Rest in peace Dad. God Bless all the men and women that are serving or have served in all of our military branches.

SPOILER ALERT!

The movie opens with "based on a true story," which set off alarm bells for me. That means the director took a lot of license with the facts and the book, which I read. Marcus Luttrell, the lone SEAL survivor was a consultant on the film and apparently is happy with the way it turn out in representing his story.

I saw the movie last night and would give it high marks as an action film. The acting, cinematography and directing were first-rate. Character development fell somewhat short but how much can you cram into 2 hours and change?

What bothered me were two major differences between the book and movie:

1. When the SEAL team encountered the goats and three herdsmen, a discussion ensued as to what to do with them. Lt. Michael Murphy who led the group of 3 enlisted guys said there were three options: kill them, tie them up or let them go. He then asked his team for opinions and they were generally split on what to do. In the book, Murphy put it to a vote and at Luttrell's urging they decided to let the goatherders go. However, in the film, Murphy, rightly as officer and leader of the team, makes the call. This is an important plot discrepancy. Officers should always decide. The military is not a democracy. Perhaps the filmmaker and Marcus wanted to show that Murphy was truly in charge but if it happened the way Marcus said in the book then it's quite a different story.
2. In the book, Marcus, his legs badly wounded, has to virtually crawl six miles to safety with no pants, which were blown away in the firefights. In the movie, he's wearing pants and walks his way into the arms of friendly Afghans not far away.

Other differences between book and movie: Marcus never saw the helo get shot down; he was on the other side of the mountain. In the film, he sees it first-hand. And there were many others, mostly minor but still enough to make me wonder how much a man, who was so badly wounded, under duress and hallucinating much of the time until his rescue could accurately remember the sequence of events as they occurred, much less the dialog.

I believe Marcus and his fellow SEALS acted with the highest degree of honor and courage and deserve all the praise heaped upon them. I am a Navy veteran and thought the film was realistic in its portrayal of military life. But I believe a great deal of dramatic license was taken in order to present these men in the best possible light and downplay the numerous mistakes made in planning and executing Operation Redwings, which had failure stamped all over it from the get-go. The biggest of which was dropping 4 SEALS into unknown territory in the black of night with a vague mission without adequate backup. There is a great deal of discussion about ROE (rules of engagement), which caused confusion and hesitation among the team as to whether they should or should not kill the goatherders. Marcus said it was the biggest mistake he ever made in advocating for their release. But he was worried about the political fallout back home.

Finally, the film avoids any conclusions about whether the U.S. should have been and still have a military role in Afghanistan. SEALS did their duty as they were ordered to do and they did it admirably, but questions linger about the wisdom of fighting a war that was and is essentially a dispute among Afghans alone.

All in all, a great book and great film, these observations notwithstanding.

In the past 8 years I've gotten to know some of Danny Dietz's family. They've had two private showings in the Littleton area, most recently this past Friday. Tiffany, Danny's sister said that at first she said it wasn't her brother up on the screen but as the film went on it was him. She became very emotional, understandable, and is very content with the telling of the story.

Dan Sr. Danny's father, said he hasn't seen Marcus but that he loves him as his own son. The family has 2 foundations in Danny's name, the latest showing was a fund raiser for them both.
My older son is @ Ft. Hood about to leave for Afghanistan, Friday night he & his company went as a group to see the film. He called his wife to tell her not to see it right now, he said he's glad he saw it-he read the book on a previous deployment, at this point he said one viewing of the film is enough. He's also no a fan of Mark Wahlberg but said the film is bigger than one actor-I agree.

S&W Fan said:

In the past 8 years I've gotten to know some of Danny Dietz's family. They've had two private showings in the Littleton area, most recently this past Friday. Tiffany, Danny's sister said that at first she said it wasn't her brother up on the screen but as the film went on it was him. She became very emotional, understandable, and is very content with the telling of the story.

Dan Sr. Danny's father, said he hasn't seen Marcus but that he loves him as his own son. The family has 2 foundations in Danny's name, the latest showing was a fund raiser for them both.
My older son is @ Ft. Hood about to leave for Afghanistan, Friday night he & his company went as a group to see the film. He called his wife to tell her not to see it right now, he said he's glad he saw it-he read the book on a previous deployment, at this point he said one viewing of the film is enough. He's also no a fan of Mark Wahlberg but said the film is bigger than one actor-I agree.

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S&W Fan,

My father's last duty station was at Ft. Hood and he retired in Killeen (borders Ft. Hood). After graduating from Killeen High School I went to college for a couple of years and then joined the Killeen Police Department. I worked there for 32 years and retired at the rank of Lieutenant and was the Personnel/Training Coordinator and Range Master. I live about 30 miles away in the little town of Lampasas and would like to extend an invitation to your son to come out for a visit. If he likes to shoot, he can bring his guns & ammo (or I can supply both) and he can shoot out at our place. My wife and I have 365 acres just outside of town and have a small range there. Let me know if he's interested and I'll send you a PM on how he can contact me.

God bless our soldiers and may they return safely to their families.

No matter the discrepancies,..... they are ALL hero's and deserve this countries respect and admiration.

Just got back from theater..... Impressive. I've read the book and seen the movie. Obviously not carbon copy matches, but very we'll done. A must see!

Hats off to SEAL Teams... They are true warriors and have balls the size of coconuts. Thank you for your service. R.I.P all the fallen servicemen....regardless the branch.

Went today. A must see.

my wife and i shed tears at it yesterday...i think every one in the theater did too...great movie

My wife and I went yesterday. It is a must see on the big screen. God bless the United States Military.

The question I have is about the three options is when they captured the goat herders.

When they decided to cancel the mission, and go to a place to be picked up why didn't they take the goat herders with them and just release them when they were picked up?

Just a correction from the first post. The helicopters are from 160th SOAR not 106th. Also known as the Nightstalkers. True warriors RIP.

I don't want to totally rehash the issue of why they released the goat herders, which led to some pretty heated discussion in another earlier thread that I initiated, but I don't think this would have occurred as portrayed had this happened during, lets say, WWII. We used to understand that we fight for victory, and not hamstring our warriors with politically motivated and restricted rules of engagement. This entire story might have been different had these SEALS been told that they were to accomplish their mission, AT ALL COSTS. I salute these heroes but am saddened by their loss due to political decisions of their leaders.

I still have not had a chance to see it yet because of tests and health issues. However, it disturbs me that the liberal media is bashing it all over the place calling it things like: Conservative propaganda, war mongering, glorifying war etc.

When is that lunacy going to stop? Anyway, im going to see it this week.

Maybe the liberal media is bashing this film because of the remarks made about CNN and the goat herders.