Product Description

ONE TRAGIC MISSION. SEEN THROUGH THEIR CAMERAS. DESCRIBED IN THEIR WORDS. A war exposé unlike any other, COMBAT DIARY: THE MARINES OF LIMA COMPANY provides an unprecedented and harrowing firsthand account of life and death on the front lines of battle. Shot on home video cameras by the very soldiers who were part of the hardest hit combat unit of the Iraq War, this remarkable program weaves heart-pounding digital camera footage with revealing interviews following the action. From the initial enthusiasm of the newly deployed troops to the dramatic outcomes of their combat missions, the Marines of Lima Company bring the war home from the very heart of battle. Distinguished by powerful, unflinching imagery and the frank, heartfelt, and poignant words of the soldiers speaking directly to the viewer, COMBAT DIARY: THE MARINES OF LIMA COMPANY offers an honest and heartbreaking glimpse at the terrifying reality of war. DVD Features: Extended Footage with Commentary; Slide Show; Director’s Biography and Filmography

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10411 in DVD
• Brand: A&E
• Released on: 2006-09-26
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 91 minutes

Amazon.com
Everyone nods and agrees that war is brutal; rarely is that brutality glimpsed as vividly as in Combat Diary - The Marines of Lima Company. During their 2005 tour of duty in Iraq, Lima Company--a unit of Marines, all from Ohio--lost 23 men on the front lines. Combat Diary combines footage shot by the Marines themselves with home digital cameras and interviews with many of the surviving soldiers and parents and wives of men who died. The soldier's footage ranges from bored hijinks to actual firefights, including a troubling, surreal scene of men in full gear with rifles ready patrolling through a crowded Iraqi bazaar. In frank, uncensored language, the men describe how excitement turns to terror and misery, how their friends were shot or set on fire; but even before these jolting stories are told, the price of war can be heard in their voices and seen in their faces. This, combined with interviews with a mother who's kept an answering machine message from her dead son and with a wife who was pregnant with her second child when she learned her husband had been killed, creates a potent documentary. Combat Duty makes no political statements; conservatives and liberals can read their own messages into the movie's stark, simple remembrances. But every American should watch Combat Diary and see, in the eyes of these men, what happens on the ground when a nation decides to go to war. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

Highly Recommended
This is an excellent documentary that tells the story of not only Lima Company but of the 3/25. This DVD contains footage not seen in the A&E special (tracks their time in 29 Palms prior to their deployment to Iraq and others). Well worth the money and is highly recommended to all who want a small glimpse of combat in Iraq and its effect on a community.

real soldiers, real war, via home video
This video diary is by soldiers and about soldiers, specifically, the 184 marines of Lima Company, a reserve unit from Columbus, Ohio, that was deployed to Iraq from February 28, 2005 to September 30, 2005. The film begins with their jaunty send-off and ends with their tearful reunions amongst a flag-waving crowd waiting for them in the rain. "No one told us we couldn't," remarked one marine about filming their war experiences on home video cameras, "so we did." Many of the reservists thought they might be sidelined to some insignificant duty where they wouldn't screw up the real war. That was not to be. Lima Company saw significant battle and lost 23 comrades during their seven month tour. You see first hand how and why. The film alternates between their home videos of the war and their commentaries about their experiences once they got home. We also hear several families relive how and when they heard that they had lost a son in Lima Company. This is no Hollywood production, and that, along with learning what life is like for a soldier in battle, are the film's greatest strengths.

Mandatory viewing
The fate that befalls Lima Co's deployment, contrary to word of an easy rotation from returning Marines, displays not only the reality of war, but the effects it has on both fellow Marines and family members stateside. This movie puts faces to the otherwise growing figure of fallen heroes we read about on an almost daily basis. We get an intimate account of the events of their deployment, both of their fighting and their crazy, but innocent antics during down time. The editing is superb, keeping us totally engrossed. I have watched this movie repeatedly, hoping the outcome for some in the end, will be different. Alas, the sad reality is the losses remain the same.