In Hollywood, I learned there’s only so much you can shove into an 87-minute film, despite working with an amazing editing team.
My 300 hours of combat footage, shot while reporting as a one-man-band covering Special Forces downrange, was condensed to create “Danger Close,” which premieres at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on April 18 and in theaters later this month. Military Times asked me to share some of the stories that were left on the editing-room floor.One of the film’s main story lines involves Green Beret Staff Sgt. Rob Pirelli, who was killed in action, and my promise to his family and his Operational Detachment Alpha, or “A-team,” to return to the combat outpost he built in Iraq, to make sure his legacy hadn’t been forgotten.
While “Danger Close” shows me leaving Afghanistan to link up with ODA-072 in Iraq, it doesn’t show all the missions with the ODAs of 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) I’d covered previously, including a Special Forces company air assault near Muqdadiyah, in the heart of al-Qaida controlled territory at the time.
To read more, visit Military Times.
