Camp Victory, Afghanistan

We have been at war for sometime now, but because the war is not being fought on our soil, we remain unaware of many details and specifics. We know that Al Qaeda terrorized our nation in 2001 when they flew planes into the World Trade Center. It was thought that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and it was known that Saddam Hussein was a cruel dictator and dangerous threat. What we did not know—or perhaps did not consciously realize—was that in starting a “war on terror,” we were talking about a lot of different countries, cultures, languages, and challenges. In this documentary, we follow director Carol Dysinger into Herat, Afghanistan, where she is following the stories of several U.S. National Guardsmen assigned there to build and train the 207th Corps of the Afghan National Army.

Dysinger travels for months at a time over a six year period to Afghanistan in order to develop relationships and trust with the men working in Herat and to gain a real understanding of the situation. In doing so, she captures the unknown and complex challenges that prevent our military from coming home and leaving the task of rebuilding the country to the locals. She fearlessly (or so it seems) ventures out of the camp with the men, takes footage between officer meetings, and films the Afghan men training to provide their nation with stability and peace in the middle of a tempermental time. We quickly realize how little we know about what is going on, and how quick everyone, no matter their political affiliations or moral beliefs, has been to judge.

Imagine an army today where 80% of the men enlisted are poor and illiterate with used supplies and weapons to fight against one of the most dangerous and evasive enemies possible. That is the situation here, and in the middle of it, we are presented with this encouraging example of American and Afghan men who find that they have a lot in common as they work together toward an imperative goal and even form friendships along the way.

Dysinger manages to shine light upon an unknown but hopeful truth about this war without overlooking the difficulty or over exaggerating the importance of this camp in Herat, Afghanistan—not an easy task. You will find yourself blown away by the facts of which you were previously unaware, uplifted by the human connections and possibilities, attached to the people working so hard, and overwhelmed by the never ending challenge, all at the same time.