How to Make the Outpost Like You Again
Side by side calendar week, one of the first movies to debut as theaters reopen will be The Outpost, an adaptation of Jake Tapper'due south volume that tells the true story of the U.S. soldiers who battled a Taliban attack on their military camp in a mountainous remote surface area of northeastern Afghanistan.
The project, directed past Rod Lurie, tells of the soldiers' risky assignment at Combat Outpost Keating, made all the more dangerous by the placement of the military camp in a valley surrounded past the steep terrain. Simply it was an element of a counter-insurgency strategy, every bit the outpost was close to the border with Pakistan. Eight Americans died in the attack, merely past the end of the twenty-four hours, the soldiers regained command. Staff Sgt. Clinton Romesha and Staff Sgt. Ty Carter were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions during the battle.
In a Q&A, Tapper tells Borderline about why he thinks it's important that this story be told, even as the attending of the country is on the pandemic, racial justice and massive economical uncertainty.
DEADLINE: Given how much time you spent interviewing these veterans, did you have any hesitation of how this motion picture would be adjusted?
JAKE TAPPER: I did a lot of due diligence in terms of who nosotros got involved. Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasay, who wrote the screenplay, have a lot of experience bringing truthful life stories to the screen. And so [director] Rod Lurie, who attended Due west Point, had a real special feel for the project, not just in terms of how compelling a movie it could be, but how important a story it was. When he signed on, I said to him, 'You're going to meet all these incredible men and women, veterans and Aureate Star families and others, and they're going to go a role of your lives for the rest of your life, as they accept with mine.'
Aught was more than important to me and more than nerve wracking than last Oct, when we showed it to them. It was right around the time of the 10th anniversary of the battle, and Millennium Films flew in a number of the Gold Star families, everyone who had a loved one depicted in the pic who had been killed in the battle. It was nervus wracking for both Rod and myself, and for other producers, because nosotros wanted them to appreciate the flick for what information technology was, merely also it's tough to imagine what they're going through. A, Gold Star families, people who accept lost their sons or their husbands in battle, and B, watching those last ones depicted on screen, and and then C, and most importantly, and most devastatingly potentially, seeing their loved ones' death depicted on screen.
Then after the motion-picture show, I walked around to each ane of the families in addition to the veterans, and was very heartened to hear that every one of them told me that they thought that the flick honored their loved one. And and then I recall what Rod did is [he] really accomplished a very difficult chore, which is he made a very, very compelling film that really immerses you in Combat Outpost Keating, while too doing so in such a mode that is truly reverent and respectful, and then that even the toughest critics, potentially the family unit members, felt positive almost their loved ones' stories being told.
Borderline: Since your volume was published, does it surprise you that that we're yet there?
TAPPER: It is astounding to me that we are notwithstanding in that location. At that place's a line in the book about how the United States had not fought a 10-year war. Information technology had fought a 1-year war, 10 times. And it's the aforementioned thing going on. Nosotros haven't fought a 19-year war, we fought a one-year war 19 times. One of the nifty things about the military is that whatever task our politicians ship them to do, they address information technology with, 'Okay, we can practice that. We volition practice that and we will succeed.' And it'south a great attitude. Merely so, that also doesn't necessarily address the idea of whether the mission is the right one. And then, yep, it's, information technology'due south stunning to me that we're still at that place, and that many of the aforementioned mistakes are still existence made, in terms of whether the mission is likewise broad for any foreign occupying force to reach, whether at the finish of the twenty-four hour period, this is something that the Afghans need to do or not do on their own, [and] whether the Afghans even want to accept a state where this province has to report to Kabul. I mean this these are just big questions, and they've been going on for centuries.
DEADLINE: What virtually the efforts at reaching a peace deal with the Taliban. What do you think that reaction would be of these veterans, if the Trump administration entered into something similar that?
TAPPER: I don't know. … On the i level you know you don't brand peace with your friends You make peace with your enemies, and and then any sort of sustained peace that would have negotiated with the Taliban. But by the aforementioned token, I think there are serious questions as to whether or not the Taliban has truly renounced terrorism or relationships with al Qaeda, or ISIS. I don't know. I know that these men and women take sacrificed and then much for this mission. And I exercise feel similar sometimes our leaders, Democrats and Republicans, have not been worthy of the troops serving nether them.
Borderline: Yous wrote about this kind of deep-rooted inertia that was to blame for not closing or better fortifying Outpost Keating. Do you have whatsoever sense, talking to these veterans, that the U.S. is any better at counterinsurgency?
TAPPER: The U.S. has learned the lesson nearly putting these small difficult, if not incommunicable to defend outposts scattered throughout Afghanistan. That seems to have been rectified, that they are more than fortified and safer locations than they used to be.
I of the reasons I ready nearly writing the book was, when I heard the story, and everybody was talking about the fact that it didn't make whatsoever sense to put this outpost at the bottom of [the] mountains, I wanted to know why it was put in that location. … And and then the Regular army did its study, its later on-action report afterward the battle, and information technology just ended that it shouldn't have been there, but over again they never answered the question. I found the guy that put the outpost at that place, and the reason information technology was put there was because most of the helicopters were in Iraq, and they didn't have many helicopters in Afghanistan. And so in order to set up a base of operations it needed to be by the road, and the roads are in the valley, not on the top of the mountain. So it was that simple actually.
Borderline: What surprised you the most virtually the picture show when you start saw the completed project?
TAPPER: Rod did such a fantastic chore of just immersing the viewer in the camp, so you experience similar you lot're there. And information technology has that quality of, almost like the first of Saving Private Ryan, where you but really feel similar you're on i of those ships. ane of those boats coming to the to the embankment.
There is some conflation of characters, but I guess what surprises me the most is how much is just true, how much simply happened, how much is accurate. I was watching the trailer terminal night, with some friends, and at the very end of the trailer, where Clinton Romesha'southward grapheme, played past Scott Eastwood, says in the throes of battle afterward losing the campsite, 'Nosotros're taking this bowwow back.' That sounds similar a motion picture line, only Clint Romesha actually said that.
DEADLINE: This movie is also going be released in theaters — one of the first after reopenings. What is your accept on that?
TAPPER: I don't know, I mean it really depends on the theater. … Nosotros're in the middle of a wellness crisis, then it'due south tough to mutter about a film not getting the broad release that you lot want information technology to because 120,000 Americans are dead. That's seems like a minor complaint given the overall event. I merely hope people follow health officials' communication, wherever they are, and and then see the film.
DEADLINE: What do you think it'south of import to tell the story now? The reason I ask is you tin can make the case that there is even less attention to the fact that the U.Southward. is still over in that location than in that location was in 2012 or in 2009.
TAPPER: Amazingly, I think you're right. One of the reasons I wrote the volume was, even though I was a White House correspondent and covering the Afghanistan war, it wasn't getting a lot of coverage. And now [we are] in the midst of everything going on in this country, with the pandemic, and policing reform, and unrest and of course the 2022 election. And to be honest, a lot of politicians are not talking about Afghanistan. I don't think it's getting every bit much attention as it should. My impression is President Trump and Vice President Biden, probably given their druthers, would land basically in the same place on the war, which is to say they would they would basically like to have some sort of peace process completed and leave behind some sort of counterterrorism strength, but a very small footprint in Bagram [Air Base], and then withdraw most of the other troops.
I'yard non saying that that's hundred percent what'southward going to happen, but honestly a few months agone, when I had Vice President Biden on my bear witness, I asked him nearly the latest developments on the peace process, and he wasn't up to speed on it. And he used to be chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate, and obviously has a lot of foreign policy chops, and so I do retrieve that it'south something to note. And not to selection on Biden. I don't hear President Trump talking most Afghanistan very much and he is commander in chief. Then I exercise think that it's something that has fallen by the wayside, which is a shame because we withal have thousands of Americans over there.
DEADLINE: How difficult is it getting the network to do segments on Afghanistan.
TAPPER: It is not hard. I can practise information technology any time I want. The truth is, I practise spend a lot of time focused on the war when it comes to social media. But at that place haven't been major developments out of that country, and the peace process has still been ebbing and flowing with no major achievements. There haven't been any major battles in recent weeks. So I do cover it when I can, but there haven't been any major developments, partly I remember because the footprint has been reduced every bit much as information technology has. Just it shouldn't exist blamed on [CNN master Jeff] Zucker. I mean, I have two shows and I can cover information technology anytime I want. So that's on me. That'southward not on that'south not on anyone else.
Borderline: In writing your volume, what did you larn most what questions to enquire these veterans and how to ask them?
TAPPER: The volume remains the single piece of journalism I am proudest of in my life, menstruum. Not even close. Null else comes shut. And it was well-nigh educating my readers but too educating myself, and getting to know a culture that I take not really been in any way a role of. It's tough talking to a stranger, me, almost the worst solar day of your life. Function of journalism to a degree is finding people, and talking to them well-nigh the worst things that have ever happened to them. So that wasn't new. But then just also trying to respect the boundaries that they had and moments that they had where they were vulnerable. I mean it's humbling for somebody, like myself, who has not served, to be talking on the phone with somebody who has, and having them weep on the telephone, telling me their story. And that happened a number of times.
Let me put it this way. One day I came back from a dejeuner. I went to lunch with two guys who served with the 101st Airborne, David Roller and Alex Newsom, who are in the book, and they were telling me nigh their friends they have lost and in beingness in that location from 2007 to 2008. And I came back and I told my wife, 'These guys, I'm but garbage.' The affair about Dave and Alex is, they came from relatively privileged backgrounds. Coral Gables Florida and Beverly Hills, California. And so these guys have sacrificed everything, and I've done zippo. I've done nix. Everything I've washed has only been for my own career. And these guys were doing this for their country, not even knowing if their country knew what they were doing. My wife said that you can tell their stories. You tin can make sure that people know about them. So there is some solace in feeling like, 'OK, well that is my role.' Here are these brave people doing these wonderful things and courageous things. And aye, I'grand non them. Simply I tin can make certain my platform that that people know the names of Ben Keating and Clint Romesha and the others.
Deadline: Y'all have non been to see the actual location of Outpost Keating. Exercise y'all think there will exist a time when you lot will get to that area?
TAPPER: I've been [to Afghanistan] twice now while researching the book. In one case with President Obama on Air Force Ane, and and then another time, I was embedded, and I got as close as I could. I got to Forward Operating Base Bostick, which has since been turned over to the Afghans. … I asked one of the guys, Captain Matthew Schachman, if we could become there. He said, 'Well, in Afghanistan, you can go anywhere. Y'all simply tin can't go back.' Then I don't know is the short answer. I hateful that part of the land, that part of Afghanistan, is and so beautiful. And if in that location always were peace and prosperity in that region, information technology would be an amazing place for people to become on vacations. Merely I don't know that that's gonna happen in my lifetime.
DEADLINE: Did you get to the set?
TAPPER: They were filming in Republic of bulgaria [in 2018]. They found this place exterior of the urban center of Sofia. And they recreated the entire base at the base of operations of 1 mount. The other two mountains are CGI. It was incredible, considering I never got to meet the outpost. I never got to meet it. It was gone by the time I really even heard of that story. But there were iii soldiers who served as actors and consultants on the motion picture — Ty Carter, Hank Hughes and Dan Rodriguez — and all three of them said information technology was so like that it was eerie, but likewise cathartic to be there.
Simply aye, it was weird because the whole origin of my interest in the story was, my son was born October 2, 2009, and the outpost was attacked October iii, 2009. And then sometime in that week, I was sitting in the hospital with my wife in her room holding my son, and watching the news and hearing most 8 other sons taken from this planet. In that location was something very poignant in the moment, that set me on this path to tell the story. And so flash frontward to 2018, nine years afterwards, and Dan Rodriguez, who was the first i fired upon that morning, at 6 AM he'due south walking across the [army camp] and the Taliban beginning firing, and he runs. And I'one thousand watching Dan Rodriguez recreate that run with my son. I was just, 'Wow, I couldn't even believe I was watching this.' The whole feel had come full circle, where that son that I was holding was at present learning this story first hand, in the recreation of the combat outposts. It was just so meaningful because I want my family unit, I want my children to empathize, in a way that I not did non sympathize when I was their historic period, what the cede of these people, who served for us, what they get through.
DEADLINE: What practise you hope people accept abroad from this?
TAPPER: I hope that people simply learn their names. Ben Keating and Rob Yllescas and Stephan Mace and Josh Kirk and Josh Hardt and all the others out there. Learn more almost their stories. And at the very least I promise that they just think well-nigh the fact that nosotros transport these men and women to these places for our security, and that we should exist paying more attending to what nosotros're asking them to do.
Source: https://deadline.com/2020/06/jake-tapper-the-outpost-movie-rod-lurie-1202970746/
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