HOW ACCURATE IS “THE OUTPOST”?

 

                “The Outpost” is based on the nonfiction book by journalist Jake Tapper.  The full title of the book is The Outpost:  An Untold Story of American Valor.  Tapper was not embedded at Camp Keating.  The book was based on interviews and research.  In preparation, he visited Afghanistan, but could not go to the site of the base because it was too dangerous.  Even the army did not go to that region any more.  Some were skeptical about the book based on the perception of Tapper as a liberal, anti-Bush journalist, but the book won the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s “Tex” McCrary Award for Excellence in Journalism.  I just finished the book and agree with the society’s recognition.

                As far as accuracy, screenwriters Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy have done an admirable job bringing the book to the screen.  The book really should have been a miniseries because it covers the entire history of Combat Outpost Keating.  There were plenty of fascinating incidents and personalities before the climactic battle.  To get to that battle, the screenplay has to play loose with the buildup.  The biggest license was taken with the character of Capt. Benjamin Keating (Orlando Bloom).  Keating was not the commander, but was the executive officer.  Time was compressed to make it seem like his death was a few months before the battle.  He died in 2006, about three years before.  His death is close to the way the movie depicts it, but Romesha and Carter were not with him.  (They were not in his unit and were not at the post at this time.  The scene where Romesha, Gallegos, Scusa, Yunger, and Kirk arrive at night was way ahead of time, but used to introduce the characters and the vibe of the outpost being insecure.)  A mechanic named Tiller was in the passenger seat and was thrown out on the way down the cliff.  He was badly wounded, but survived. 

                The outpost was commanded by several officers after Keating.  Only Yllescas and Broward are depicted.  Yllescas’ injury by a command-detonated IED is accurate, but the movie does not even imply that he made it back to the States and was the subject of a tremendous effort to save him before he passed away.  Broward is a fictional character based on Capt. Porter.  The depiction is pretty spot on, but underplays his being burned out and poorly suited for the command.  The men called him “No Mortar Porter” because of his strict adherence to the rules of engagement.  He was reluctant to expose himself to enemy fire.  The dog incident was actually based on a pet biting an old lady and it was Yllesca who ordered the dog killed. Portis had actually been in command for a couple of weeks, but was away from the camp when the attack occurred. Bunderman was in temporary command as shown in the film.

                As far as the battle, it is amazingly accurate.  I would be hard-pressed to find a battle that is more accurately depicted in a movie.  Nothing of significance happens that is not in Tapper’s book.  All eight of the deaths are as they occurred.  One great thing about the movie is it specifically backgrounds these particular soldiers, along with Carter and Romesha, of course.  Carter (Caleb Landry Jones) seems to be a bit of a stock character.  The book does not portray him as a boat-rocker.  I can’t imagine he was upset being personified as a common soldier type, though.  The relationships between the men and their interactions are realistic. 

                If anything, the movie downplays the odds the Americans overcame.  A big part of the book is the theme that it was pretty insane to locate a base in the bottom of a valley and assign it the goal of winning “hearts and minds” in one of the most hard-core regions of the country.  The movie does not dwell on command idiocy, but it is effective visually in showing the Dien Bien Phu nature of the base and semi-effective in getting across the uphill climb in dealing with the village elders. The movie also is not harsh enough in showing how the ANA made the ARVN look like an army of Rambos.   As far as the battle, there were many more insurgents than we see.  They used a lot more RPGs than the movie shows.  The movie also does not give enough credit to the air support the base got.  I guess it’s hard to show that without off-putting CGI.  But if you want to learn what happened in the Battle of Kamdesh, you can’t ask for better.