Citizen Soldier (2016)

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

In the documentary Citizen Soldier, Directors David Salzberg and Christian Tureaud deliver an astonishing film about the Oklahoma National Guard's deployment in one of the harshest regions of Afghanistan. This film transcends the boundaries of a typical military film by using footage from helmet cameras to provide audiences with an immersive look at life and war overseas. As I watched from their perspectives, I couldn't help but feel like I was a part of their fight. Audiences get to see seemingly ordinary citizens transform themselves from strangers into a family of brave men and women known as "Citizen Soldiers". It amazed me to see what these men and women experience while deployed. They're thrown into hostile environments and must deal with adversity as a team. The most moving part of this film was watching these real people, in real combat, willing to put their lives on the line for their fellow soldiers. Through all of the victories and losses, they form an unbreakable bond that lasts long after they return home to their civilian lives. Not only is Citizen Soldier a moving documentary, but I think it's also an outstanding way to show appreciation to these soldiers, and all citizen soldiers. It's a fantastic film and I highly recommend it.

Whether you are a bleeding liberal or a conservative, this documentary will provide more education about war, about troops serving overseas, about what happens after war, and the bond forged by our men and women who serve than any history book or newscast. This should be added to curriculum taught in schools so students and people in general see an unbiased version of what war is - not the politics, but the day-to-day events. I will watch any documentary I can find to get an unfiltered understanding of war so I better appreciate the freedoms I have because of the volunteers (full time and civilian troops). I gave this documentary 8 stars because I feel like some things might be missing (possible op sec), but I really enjoyed the honesty the film makers demonstrated.

Current war narrative focuses almost exclusively on the plight of the armed forces juxtaposed with the plight of the civilians trapped in the war zones we in the West vote for. As far as I know, this is the only film that focuses on the ever growing Civil defense force, those people who used to be "Weekend Warriors", but who are now thrown into the hell holes of the world for months at a time.These are people who used to spend their Saturday nights doing pointless drills and occasional firing range sessions, now suddenly finding themselves sent to the far end of a horrifying firefights for half a year at a time. This film had me in tears so many times I cant count. It's the single most powerful and moving documentary I have ever watched. These are real civilians, driven by selfless need to provide service, suddenly thrown into the meat grinder for months at a time with a 10th of the training professional soldiers receive, yet thrown into the same grinder as our professional soldiers. If every Trump Tastic war mongering armchair General around the world was shown this, we'd have world peace by the weekend. These are "normal" relateable people like you and I, facing a hell we should pray each night we never have to see, and facing it with the kind of courage we should be thankful we don't have to find. This is the only film I will ever give 10/10 and I do that with the utmost respect to the people I have watched die tonight. Don't watch this film - BUY this film as many times as you can afford and donate to the charities supporting veterans with PTSD. Review written by a UK Pacifist who hopes for the day Afghan and Western can join together and stop being killed for the benefit of Wall Street. I'm not some jingoistic Trump wallah, this film is important and should be required viewing.

What we saw in this film were just endless shaky camera works, even worse than those "Jason Bourne" movies or "Hardcore Henry". Guess the two so-called journalists following these soldiers into the battleground were also feared for their lives, other than had to climb up and down in the mountain rocky terrains.We saw a bunch of civilians, a group of the National Guards of America, called for duty to go to war against the insurgents in Afghanistan. These guys only had about 39 days each year to re-familiarize their memory about the military training. They were just a bunch of family guys wearing uniforms and holding rifles. When they went into the war zone, they usually panic and didn't actually know how to deal with the firefights. All they knew was keep shooting to certain direction without any specific target, they just blindly pull their rifle or machine guns' triggers without knowing anything. They just wasted lot of bullets to get the low return of American tax payers' hard earned money. Most of the time, they needed air support to suppress the enemy's fire. One of their guys died by bullets shot from remote insurgent hideout. They felt so sorry about the death....This documentary film is no better than most of the others that tried to portray and record American soldiers battle experiences. What we saw in these films were just bunch of poorly trained and always scared-to-death American young or middle aged soldiers shooting blindly to some opposite directions and nothing else.When watching this film, it reminds me the script of another 'Based on True Event" then dramatized 2016 film, "War dogs". I just quote part of it to let you know how we are so naive about freedom, patriotism, sacrifice for your country, etc, etc: Quote~~"What do you know about war?They'll tell you it's about patriotism, democracy… Or some sh@t about the other guy hating our freedom.But you want to know what it's really about? What you see? A kid from Arkansas doing his patriotic duty to defend his country? I see a helmet($578), fire-retardant gloves ($165), upper-body armor($1,585), lower extremity body armor(LEBA) and a M16($6,275), tier 2 pelvic protection system, Kevlar upper legs protectors, thermal weapon sight, ammunition, boots, backpack…Machine gun($6,800), Abram tank($8.58 million)… I see $17,500 on each and every soldier's body.That's what it costs to outfit one American soldier.Over two million soldiers fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.It cost the American taxpayer $4.5 billion each year just to pay the air conditioning bills for those wars.And that's what war is really about.War is an economy.Anybody who tells you otherwise is either in on it or stupid.But I didn't know that yet.Back then, I didn't know anything." ~~Unquote I have nothing further to say. Amen.