The Hornet's Nest (2014) - full transcript

Career Journalist Mike Boettcher takes his son to the war zone in Afghanistan, covering U.S. Combat Troops on the front lines. What starts out as an effort to reconnect with his son, becomes a remarkable true story and fight for survival for all.

That's gonna be pretty
upsetting for him.

No one's ever dared
to go in there.

You think that's gonna
cause a ruckus?

Careful.

Get over here!

- What is that?
- RPG.

That thing's brand-spanking-new.

I'm down here, on
Objective Richmond,

I don't know what it is.

A couple box of fuses.

Definitely an indicator that we
caught them by surprise. Break.



- Hey, Zee?
- What's up?

Give me eyes on that bridge
at your eleven.

Get down around here now!
Get something in front of you!

Fuck!

Roger. We're shooting.
We got contact up on the hill

Holding six, moving three-six.

Bostic's shot...

My name is Mike Boettcher.

For the past 34 years,

As a war correspondent,

It cost me my relationship
with my family

Birthdays,

You name it.

So when it was time for me



With or without my permission.

He said, "I need to know why
you chose your work over us."

As much as I wanted to say no,

So off we went...

together,

father and son.

The only trick was...

we had to come out of there alive.

Looks like they attached
two different wires

For power? Where does it go to?

Right into the house.

Gould!

What were you saying again?

He's next to the vehicle. Why?

So you're a good luck charm?

Whoa!

Son of a bitch!

- Yeah, still warm.
- Still warm?

Yeah, we got a bunch of these
that we were just shot at

Very deadly when it hits you.

And then watch me.
Hey, I'll either go up,

He's still too low!

Oh, nice.

One person injured.

They are reporting
everything's okay right now.

Good. It's not gonna be okay.

They don't, they don't know
what's about to hit 'em.

Roger that.
I need to go to the left of that.

Give me, uh, three shots
right there for right now,

- Yeah!
- Good hit!

Whoa, baby!

Two-zero-seven,
dark knight four-two.

There's a false bravado involved.

Uh, they just haven't fought us yet.

How close were those bullets
coming to you?

Gunfire buzzes
when it's close enough to you.

Steve Lutsky, Colonel Lutsky.

I expect these guys
to risk their lives

It was a fight to stay alive
when you were with Steve Lutsky,

And sure enough, we were.

Tag two, tag one, over.
They saw three, uh, possible insurgents.

They were regressing
straight south from that location,

The problem was, the Taliban found us
before we found them.

I'm up here...!

The problem is, you had no idea
where they were firing from.

You couldn't see 'em.

Yeah.

Snipers firing from this...

from the tree line over there.

Snipers firing at us from the tree line
just over there,

behind some cover, but not much.

- They want us to go up.
- Okay, okay.

Okay, I'm going.

Here we go.

Carlos!

Carlos!

Carlos!

I had no idea
if he was alive or not.

I wasn't a reporter then.
I was being a pop.

And the one thing I
could not let happen

Was...

Carlos!

Carlos!

Carlos!

Carlos!

Carlos!

What the hell were you thinking?

You okay?

To the best of my ability, I was.

Hey, by the way, their aim sucks.

Okay.

Ambushes along the road

Ambushes along the road
are one of many reasons

- All right. That was good.
- Any suggestions?

You all right?

These are the first houses
that they would bring him to.

Hear any of the shooting?

Yeah, we heard the fighting.

One of them was wounded,

Watch your head.

What the hell is this?

I, I don't think you're Taliban,

We have to arrest the insurgents
and tell them they're not welcome here.

That's a roger.

Yeah, we're en route at this time.

Hey, uh, I need to know
if this situation...

We need to know when you think
we should come in from the south,

- Sixfour, roger.
- That'll be six-four-six.

[ Baby crying 1

The American convoy
was traveling this direction.

After we realized what happened,

There was a lady off to the side,
next to a, uh, kalat,

I started calling for the medic
over the radio,

Private Richter,
how long you been in the Army?

And, uh, it didn't need to happen.

101 over 60, pulse 72.

I looked at the eyes
of the medics,

They weren't gonna let him die.

The name of the child?

I'm very happy that he kept his leg.

We go out of our way to make sure
people like Sadiq don't get hurt.

In the end,
does it change Afghanistan?

But it saved that kid's life,

Get well. We'll see you.

I got a son, Jake,
who's 10 years old.

- Can you imagine?
- No.

Did it sink into you
that you had saved a child's life?

It did, but uh,

that's... that's why I'm here.

Afterwards, ground unit
came up by and thanked us,

This all-woman crew

I call it, you know, the band of sisters
and a little brother.

We just consider ourselves
just soldiers, like, like everyone else,

The countdown to
hugs and kisses,

I'm a mom. I understand
how every other mom feels,

Kids are the ones that usually
give all the good information.

I talked to some kids here on scene.

The villagers are the ones
that actually came to us,

Nah, I love doing this.

'Cause right now,

Yep, got the pressure plate.

But, uh, we've definitely located, uh,
one pressure plate at this time.

Front line traced to
the pressure plate,

Holy hell.

How much you think was in there?

My intent is for us
to get in there,

Yeah.

But let's not do anything
fucking stupid, huh?

We have a mission tonight,

from here, past those mountains,

I believe in each and
every one of you,

Dedicate yourself to America's battalions
and our mission.

Your measure is not found in how
much time you have on this earth.

These people have suffered for too long.

Change the course of history
in Afghanistan.

We had marched
for days with the Marines.

Unbelievable.

We ran out of everything.

And then we got, finally,

This could be Gulf Company's new home.

- This is it!
- Okay, let's get a team up there.

Next team's coming up!

Roger. Fox One's
clearing the area right now.

Go! Go!

Oh, my God.

What is this here?

And this is pure heroin
down here, you said?

So what do we have here?

Walled compounds like this one
fill Helmand Province,

We knew that we'd
accomplished our mission,

There is a squad that's surrounded.

Someone else has to go,

Saying he'll go in place of me.

Hey, do I got any friendlies
over there?

- Right or left?
- Uh, go left of the compound.

You got the dude in the white turban
that keeps looking at us?

While movement
through the fields and canals is slow,

There's a copper wire.
Where is it?

- Oh, yes.
- And it's running up

A patrol this morning found an IED.

They cut the command wire,
which is a wire that runs to a device

Command, three-two.

When you enlisted,
you didn't ask for this job, did you?

The villagers did not come.
The Taliban did not attack.

Stand by.

Hey, we got two people, 600 meters
away from us, moving southeast.

- Hey!
- Yeah?

Fuck!

Hey, what is he talking about?

Send your traffic. Hope you rock.

- I can't! I got bad left.
- Do it! Shoot it!

I shot at that motherfucker
that walked by the compound down there.

Saw him with a fucking AK
in his hand.

Shoot him!

- I hit that son of a bitch.
- Go!

Did you see those fuckers?

Just last night,

It was very lucky that, uh,
there were no major casualties

Stand by!

What's up?

We got smoke!

Straight down the road here
is where everyone is.

Hey, one, twos, move in!

- Open it up!
- Okay, let's go.

Hey, let's go!

We're taking fire!
We're taking fire!

And he was surrounded,
and there were Taliban all around,

Start suppressing!

Let's go, let's go!

Over there! Shoot something!

Shoo“.

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I had no idea
what was happening.

I didn't know what to do.

I thought I'd never see my son again.

Come on! Shoot!

Go, go! Hey, let's go!
Let's go, dudes!

Let's go, dudes!

Yeah, more smoke, bro!

Let's go, partner!

Fuck yeah, brother!

Being reunited with Carlos
after that...

to see him alive...

The best.

Initially, I was scared
going into it.

We heard that there was gonna be
gunfire directed at us

Carlos grew up... real fast.

And I was so proud of him.

My time is almost over,

and now it's Carlos's turn.

And I believe my son is going to be
a better storyteller than I ever was.

It's his turn.

And about 12 minutes into it,
I was just dying.

See, my joints
have a limited shelf life now,

Yeah, true.

Carlos's time was up,

You wake up every
morning, facing death,

And ironically, in a war zone,

It was worth the risk to be a father again.

But, I think, deep down, as a father,

I was relieved that Carlos
was headed home,

QZR controls the entire northern part
of our area of operation.

Because they don't know
what they're doing.

They just graduated that madrassa.

They don't know any better.

His abilities to fight in the future
are gonna be extremely degraded.

That's all I got.

I don't think anybody
was necessarily prepared

After almost dying,

A personal thing, on a level that...

you know, I wasn't gonna let
these guys beat me.

I've been through quite a few firefights.
I'm not different from anybody else.

I wanted to get back,
get back in the fight,

We landed at 3:00
in the morning,

and all of us were tense.

Now, based off the map,
it looked like there was a, a trail

Pretty sure it does not exist at all.

I'm glad we waited till daybreak
to actually move,

Hey, Ramone, take the low trail!

Going through the kalats,
uh, you can tell,

- Hey, Zee?
- What's up?

That shit sounds like
it's right in front of us.

Yeah, it does.

We had landed in the hornet's nest.

Stay down.
Stay behind Jim Coper.

This was command and control
for the Taliban,

And they were gonna make us pay.

Hey, we gotta start getting them
in this fucking kalat.

Can we get the fucking 60s
up on this fucking hilltop?

- They're there! I saw 'em moving!
- Just up... up there!

- Fizzo?
- Yeah?

RPG seven!

- RPG seven!
- Oh, shit!

In this muddy, friggin' hillside...

we were surrounded.

And I thought,

Go ahead, one-six Romeo.

And a status with the count.
Over.

Six-three-six, stand by.

Three pads, two urgent,
one priority.

Break, break, break, break!

Yankee, Delta,
zero, four, niner, three, eight,

I was sitting there
on this mountainside,

hearing the radio calls come in.

Dammit.

And you knew...

choppers weren't coming.

Telling them, "Hey, the bird's coming,
the bird's coming,

The person saying it is getting
tired and under-sure,

Star cluster?

There he is!

- Medevac's inbound?
- Yeah. They're in the valley.

- Hell, yeah!
- Whoo!

You pull in, turn
sideways, and...

Made multiple attempts,

Fuck! Dammit!

A kick in the balls,
more than anything.

So we had to wait again.

It was a very low moment,

You were on your own.

It went through everybody's mind
that, you know...

You don't know who you are,

They're going to die,

and...

Hey, tell 'em,
tell 'em I want a gun run

Three-alpha!

In the draw.
Hey, they're in the draw, Meyers.

Covering fire.
You guys come to me!

Cease fire!

Was that three-four-zero?

- Hey, Wade, get ready!
- Ready, sir!

- All right, let's move it.
- Let's go, let's go!

In the middle of this battle,
Specialist Lindskog,

Who you wouldn't expect would do
anything heroic,

runs through a hail of gunfire

to try to save his fellow soldiers
and another Afghan soldier.

Let's go, let's go!

Forward! Move!

Go!

Move, move, move, move, move!

As soon as I said, "Let's go,"

Grabbed his bag
and stayed right behind me.

Lindskog was coherent enough
to talk to Sizemore

He wanted to do everything he could.

He treated three people in, like,
a matter of 10 minutes.

Oh, he was fully alert.

Uh, actually apologized
for not being able to hang on.

For dying-

Go ahead, three-six.

Roger.

As a reporter with a camera...

you don't.

Fucker!

Roger,
we don't know. Roughly, uh, south...

When we gun it, a
360-degree firefight

Fuck, dude!

I tried to let you know
as soon as I saw it.

Okay, listen up.
Prepare to copy, all right?

I could tell by A.C.'s tone of voice
that, um...

I'm, I'm pretty sure he didn't think
he was gonna make it out of there.

Looked to A.C. like,
"A.C., this is gonna hurt."

He actually, you know, did us
the big A.C. smile.

Couldn't explain, in words
how I felt...

After helping them out,
having to run down there,

Watch it!

Go, go, go, go!

Go, man!

- Shit.
- You okay?

- It's definitely exposed.
- Get back.

Hey, go in the fucking doors.

- Hey, Kent!
- Loaded, sir.

All right, breathe.

' Hey, Meyers!

Meyers!

This is Strong Eagle Ill.

Got up to our overwatch position.

Uh, wasn't...

wasn't that easy, uh, this time,

He actually had to fix his boot.
His shoelace was busted,

Let's talk about
the seven layers of hell.

I heard, like, a couple
Afghanis talking,

And they were right
in the trees above us,

I'm looking up at the trees,
just, you know...

We made a plan to get the hell
out of there,

That's when Jeremy
was, uh, shot and killed.

What?

We can't fucking move,
and we're waiting on this stuff.

What?

I heard my buddies
saying that they were hit.

No one told me that there were
casualties. I knew,

Dusty Feldhaus,
he was hit at least five times.

And he was apologizing
as if, you know,

You know, "I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for?"

My daughter is Makayah.

My, my son is Xander.

- Cool. You miss 'em?
- I do.

How much?

A lot.

All right, Feldhaus,
show us how to fight.

They're dying.

And they're fighting,
not for some war on terror.

- What kept you going?
- The rest of these guys.

We all kind of saw it in us

Their sacrifices are not
going to be forgotten.

Got 'em hoisted out,

and that was, that was good.

All three of them.

Continue getting... to traffic.

John, what, what are you
cooking there, dude?

Inshallah.

- Hey, thank you.
- You want some, Jim?

You see the...

Sure was.

So what's the goat's name there?

And, uh, this is a gift
for Captain Mott.

- Is that your new friend?
- It is my new friend.

You okay, Pep? Are you?

Go back to your mama.
Go back to your mother.

- Ooh!
- First flight!

- Good.
- Yay!

You didn't have a problem then,
you have a problem with a fucking chicken.

- Real chicken.
- Damn.

Like, I've never seen someone
jump up that fast in my life.

It was a rough day.

Sure was.

How do you think today's
gonna go?

This went on for nine days.

Hey, we got 45 seconds
to a bomb drop.

Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!

Allahu Akbar!

Six-four, roger.

Allahu Akbar!

Allahu Akbar!

Damn!

Do you know why
you've done this for 22 years?

As long as I can stay healthy
and keep doing it,

- Yeah.
- Even after a mission like this.

I think that we made
a huge difference here,

No Slack, attention!

Staff Sergeant Sizemore
is also receiving

[ "The Star Spangled Banner"
Plays 1

For those fought beside us,

It was hard.
I knew all of them.

And as a task force commander,
it's very difficult

It's our responsibility
to remember their courage,

Sergeant Mendez!

Sergeant Trickendaus!

Specialist Lindskog!

Specialist Jameson L. Lindskog!

Lindskog was a young guy.

You know, who knows what he could
have brought to the world.

Caring for others,
as he, himself, needed urgent care:

Sergeant First Class Arrechaga!

Sergeant First Class
Ofren Arrechaga!

He was the rock for the platoon.

These bonds are so close that...

you're not gonna leave
somebody out there

Staff Sergeant Frank Adamski!

Staff Sergeant Frank E. Adamski!

Sergeant Adamski was
a husband, father,

Staff Sergeant Bryan Burgess!

Staff Sergeant Bryan A. Burgess!

The last thing Sergeant Burgess
said to me was, uh,

"Where's my chariot?"

Specialist Dustin Feldhaus!

Specialist Dustin J. Feldhaus!

We went through thick
and thin together,

I love you, Mouse.
Rest in peace, brother.

PFC Jeremy Faulkner!

PFC Jeremy P. Faulkner!

With such a famous last name,
I told him he should live up to it.

He gave back to me,
and no kidding, he told me, quote,

You'll always be remembered,

Present arms!

All these men...

his men, dead.

He didn't know the camera
was rolling.

He hung back the whole time.

When no one else was around,
he walked up,

and he let the tears of this entire war
come out, right there.

And I could do nothing...

but cry, myself.

You sit down and you come
to grips with your life.

But you have to realize
that what you've done

is something important.

And you hope you've left
something behind.

We only do this
to make a difference.

That's why you constantly
keep going back,

keep fighting,
keep trying to tell these stories.

Otherwise,

You know something?
It's been for something.

It has.

I think you have an IED on you.

- Is she still following me?
- Yep.

Good luck with that tractor.

High, high five. There you go!

Fist bump! No fist bump?

Yeah! Whoo!

What do you miss most
about home on Fourth of July?

But I have my new family here,

To everybody back home,
I miss you and I love you.

What kind of message
would you wanna give Americans