Author: Scott Ginther

**Editor’s Note: Last Monday, 22 September, Author/Director Sebastian Junger, along with Major Dan Kearney and Producer Nick Quested of Goldcrest Films, visited West Point to screen their film, Korengal.  In one of the question and answer sessions, Kearney mentioned how difficult the terrain was in Afghanistan – in specific, that his unit had a number of rolled/broken ankles in the Korengal Valley.  This comment reminded me of First Lieutenant Scott Ginther’s excellent post in describing his experience thus far as a junior officer.  The film, I think, does well explaining Afghanistan’s tough geography. More importantly, it describes the moral and human terrain of solders that have served in combat.  For soon to be second lieutenants: you will lead in an organization comprised of men and women with these experiences.  You will soon perform a “movement to contact” to them in the Army – learning about them and what combat was like for them – is a great piece of intelligence about, perhaps, your future squad leaders and platoon sergeants.  

What follows is a (powerful) clip from the film, as well as First Lieutenant Ginther’s original post.

Image of Logar Province courtesy of Flikr user isafmedia. By First Lieutenant Scott Ginther FOB...