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GIna Denomy

The Long Road Home Ep. 4 – Faith in Uncertainty

November 27, 2017 by J. Alan Sharrer Leave a Comment

(Photo: National Geographic/Van Redin)

The situation in Sadr City wasn’t getting any better for the soldiers depicted in National Geographic’s The Long Road Home (Tuesdays 10 PM/9 PM CT and on demand).  In fact, it was getting significantly worse. All three platoons had come under heavy fire and numerous men have been injured or killed.  What do you do when the threat of death is pervasive in the air?

The fourth episode focused on Staff Sgt. Robert Miltenberger (Jeremy Sisto), who was called back to duty beyond his contract date (known as stop-lossing). He was portrayed in the earlier programs as a calm veteran who seems to have a laissez-faire attitude about the whole concept of war. In fact, that was far from the truth.  Miltenberger was on duty in Kosovo during an earlier tour of duty and watched helplessly as a woman carrying her dead baby walked directly towards him, then headed into a live minefield.  As a result, he had numerous dreams about the lady and developed a fatalistic outlook on the whole mission, even going so far as to write a letter his wife was supposed to find after he died in battle.

Miltenberger’s brigade in Iraq was dealing with numerous issues—notably driving into the middle of a city under attack with an unarmored vehicle and no radio communication (big no-nos). He sensed an ambush and got the squadron out of certain death, only to have the truck’s radiator crack a short while later.  While attempting a patch, he saw a group of unarmed residents—one who looked eerily like the lady he saw in Kosovo.  Was this a premonition of something?

As for the original platoon, led by Lt. Shane Aguero (EJ Bonilla), they were still hunkered down, but the militia against them was slowly closing in.  The soldiers were running out of ammunition and had no night vision gear as the sun slowly set.  You could sense fear in theiir eyes.  The head od the forces, Lt. Col. Volesky (Michael Kelly), had his life flash before his eyes after being trapped by insurgents, only to be spared at the last minute.  Some of the wounded, thankfully, were evacuated to base camp to receive treatment for their injuries.

(Photo: National Geographic/Van Redin)

Back in the US, the news outlets reported fighting in Sadr City, understandably causing the soldiers’ wives to panic. Gina Denomy (Kate Bosworth) and LeAnn Volesky (Sarah Wayne Callies) were the point people but were limited as to what could be shared due to Army regulations, infuriating some of the wives.  Lt. Aguero’s wife later learned of the attack, causing her son Elijah to run to his room and cry, “Dad’s going to die and it’s all my fault.”  It’s heartbreaking, considering his reaction to the deployment in the first episode. Uncertainty hangs in the air, with lots of men still in harm’s way and darkness closing in . . .

Though they’ve played a small role in the program, the army wives have fascinated me. They had unknown fears going into the deployment.  Some were new mothers while some were expecting a child in a matter of months.  All were trying to keep life as normal as possible–not only for their children, but for themselves.  When the news began reporting on the situation in Iraq, it understandably caused the wives to worry: Were there casualties?  If so, was my husband one of them?  If so, how am I going to live life without them by my side? If they’re hurt, can I deal with taking care of them, no matter what the injury (physical or mental)?   The hardest thing in those moments is faith–faith in God, faith in the commanders, faith that all will be okay. The Bible says faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 NASB).   That’s incredibly difficult for most of us in ordinary life, much less people in the military.  However, without faith in something to stand on, we just exist.  In the case of the military wives, faith is all they had to hold on to even with the swirling winds of conflicting news reports all about them.

Tomorrow evening’s episode will look at the situation in Sadr City from the eyes of an unlikely person—the interpreter.  It should be quite interesting.

Filed Under: Reviews, Television Tagged With: Army, death, EJ Bonilla, Faith, Gary Volesky, GIna Denomy, Hebrews, Iraq, Jeremy Sisto, Kate Bosworth, Kosovo, LeAnn Volesky, Michael Kelly, National Geographic, Robert Miltenberger, Sadr City, Sarah Wayne Callies, Shane Aguero, The Long Road Home, uncertainty

The Long Road Home Ep. 3: War Challenges

November 14, 2017 by J. Alan Sharrer Leave a Comment

Captain Troy Denomy has no clue his unit is about to be ambushed (Photo courtesy National Geographic).

When we last left the members of the First Calvary Division, Fort Hood in the National Geographic series The Long Road Home (Tuesdays 10PM/9 CT [note the time change] and on demand), two separate divisions of the brigade were heading into Sadr City to rescue an ambushed unit.  The third episode brings the viewer closer to the fighting—and it’s not pretty to watch.

First Lt. Shane Aguero (EJ Bonilla) and his men are attempting to hang on until rescuers arrive.  That means going back into harm’s way to retrieve flares to indicate their position to the other units.  The problems are many–first, the attack is well-conceived and each of the other units are walking into a trap.  In addition, the units are ill-prepared for conflict of this nature, be it communication (some vehicles have no radios), armor (one truck is completely open, leaving at least twelve soldiers in the line of potential fire), or experience (the fear some of the soldiers display is palpable). Camp War Eagle knows it’s not going to be pretty, so they start preparing a medical unit for treating injuries.  Problems exist there as well—their main doctor is a pediatrician and there are no units of blood available in case something happens.

Troy and Gina Denomy (Photo courtesy of National Geographic).

The focus of this episode is Captain Troy Denomy (Jason Ritter), who feels remorse for sending Aguero’s unit out and learning one of their own has died in the process.  He’s married to Gina (Kate Bosworth), who sits at home with a newborn while trying to recover from a C-Section.  Troy does what he’s been trained to do: rushing into the middle of the fray in order to rescue people. However, he soon finds his group pinned down as bullets rain through the sky, injuring himself and multiple members of his vehicle.

Gina knows being the head of the Family Readiness Group has its blessings as she finds out what’s happening before the rest of the wives.  Then again, it has its trials when she learns the team has been attacked. Because of her husband’s status, she knows Troy is going into harm’s way, but she no clue that he’s been wounded in battle.  However, she has to stay calm and let the rest of the wives know an attack has occurred–something nobody on base expected or wanted to occur.

I struggled with this episode, especially one scene where one of Aguero’s men keeps watch while on the top of a building.  He sees a young boy playing with a machine gun, then watches in horror as he points it directly at the soldier.  When the gun is fired, the soldier shoots the kid.  His father hears the commotion, sees what is going on, then takes up the gun to fight—he is also killed.  Finally, the grandfather grabs the gun and is killed.  There’s significant remorse in the soldier’s voice as he laments he killed three generations of a family.  In split-second decisions, how do you know what’s the right thing to do when neither option is truly acceptable?  This is where moral wounds arise.  I could imagine this being the reason why so many of the soldiers found a measure of comfort from the words of David in the Psalms.  Green pastures and still waters (Psalm 23:2-3) are a whole lot peaceful than desert sands and dry streams. But the soldiers have to be vigilant, knowing one wrong move could be their last.  That vigilance will be further tested in the next episode; that’s for sure.

Filed Under: Current Events, Reviews, Television Tagged With: Ambush, EJ Bonilla, First Calvary, Fort Hood, Gary Volesky, GIna Denomy, Jason Ritter, Kate Bosworth, Michael Kelly, Moral Injuries, National Geographic, Psalm 23, Sadr City, Shane Aguero, The Long Road Home, Troy Denomy, war

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