Ross Kemp in Afganistan

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Has anyone been watching this. On Sky 1 on mondays 9pm, repeated various times through the week.

A riveting documentary of Ross on the front line with troops in Helmand Province.

Now i'm going to cut to the chase. Obviously our boys in the army are doing a great job in difficult circumstances. But i think that Ross Kemp and his camera/sound team deserve huge awards for this series.

When the time comes to hand out the shiny trophies i don't think Ross can be ignored.
 
I have been watching this and i am rivited! I cannot wait for the next one and think it is nail biting and terrifying and also amazing to watch and great footage. Not only Ross and his crew but our boys all deserve medals for the work they are doing over there. Whether you agree with it all or not, they are doing a job which I think we don't realise is that difficult. It really gives a better impression than any news story just what they are up against and how brave they truely are.

Safe home Boys.
 
I am sorry if you feel this is not right for here, but I think in some way it is a good topic that I feel strongly about.

Ok. Has any one seen Ross Kemp In Afghanistan?

First 2 points.

1) I respect so so much our soldiers, personel, their families and our late soldiers out in conflict.
2) I take my hat off to Ross Kemp, the camera crew and anyone who wants to go out to a war zone and risk their life keeping the world informed.

Ok the post.

I would be very scared and very mad if I put my self out there to take photos but I would do it. Would you?

SB
 
mattyh said:
there's at least one army 'tog on here
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Id love to hear from him/her.....

What kind of setup would you need? I mean freezing at night, ultra hot, and not exactly your average job....
 
ah gallery closed till the morning. Something to look at, at work :LOL:
 
I just left the Army in May, I was in Afghanistan, Helmand Province for my last year of service. Now getting into Photography, I wish that I was out there again, but with a camera not a rifle.

I haven't seen the Ross Kemp doc, i chose not to watch it. I know from my expeirience of being a section comander, leading fighting patrols that hands down, i would have told my boss to sod off if he said i had to take along a camera crew! You have so much stuff to worry about with your own blokes, let a lone a bunch of guys and girls that don't know how to look after themselves!

At the end of the day, the only time you know how people will react to being shot as, is when it happens. A very dangerous situation!

But yeah, warzone camera people/photographers very exciting line of work i imagine! I'd love to get into it!
 
He he looks like we posted duplicate posts about the same time. I was also commenting on how Ross and the team should be up for some awards. Lets make it happen!!

Mods:: my post is in the out of focus area, merge at will!!
 
IanC_UK said:
Rob is actually in the Army, so isnt being carried along by the soldiers out there, he has to carry a gun as well several cameras and lenses lol
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Hi,
yeah i got that, i don't mean the "combat camera crews" i know they are armed, can sometimes still be a pain in the arse though lol! I just mean civvy camera crews, that rely on the protection fromt the soldiers
 
justin1 said:
Hi,
yeah i got that, i don't mean the "combat camera crews" i know they are armed, can sometimes still be a pain in the arse though lol! I just mean civvy camera crews, that rely on the protection fromt the soldiers
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Oh yeah, sorry wasnt having a dig, just wanted to explain in case people got the wrong end of the stick :) I work with an ex para and an ex marine (both served in the Gulf) what a mix heh lol and they both watched it and said they were impressed actually. The only bit i thought was a bit uncomfortable was Ross trying to play UN ambassador and tell the locals whats what lol or maybe i imagined that bit ;)
 
I found Ross playing ambassador a bit strange too, but he obviously feels a passion for what he is doing. Maybe he thought coz he was a 'civvy' the natives may have listened to him.

Referring to the 'protection' relationship of the soldiers and crew. Did you see the first episode where he did the training with them? Ross was adament that he did not want to be carried through the series (and the army were adament they weren't gonna carry him!!). He even got some firearms training just incase the s**t hit the fan and he needed to pick up a weapon to defend himmself.
 
IanC_UK said:
The only bit i thought was a bit uncomfortable was Ross trying to play UN ambassador and tell the locals whats what lol or maybe i imagined that bit ;)
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heh yeah I know what you mean but I guess you can get caught up in the moment.

Justin1 - I know what you mean. As an ex serving police officer it was hard to cater for Press when your trying to do your job. When your trying to judge if an addict is going to stick his needle in you while showing them about. Im not comparing our roles, just the principles.

I hated and still do all the sky channels etc showing the Police Shows as theres something just not right, but I watched this one as I have friends in Afghan and Iraq and wanted to get a glimpse of anything I could to try (i mean try) and relate to them on the sat phone or down the pub WHEN they are home!

I got more than I thought. So thanks to that regiment in combat and press for the doc.

But what about the gear a 'tog would need??!
SB
 
Iv only managed to see the first show.. im on Cable!! anyway, it was quite good.. it showed the boys training in FIBUA and making an arse of them selves.. well, one in particular.. anyway, this is a good thing as its showing that some of the boys going over are only Teenagers.. and not all Rambo's but good lads giving their all..
I was in the Stan in the 80's.. and in the Gulf in 91.. it was my unit that got shot up by A10's and my mates that got ripped to shreds..
I for one would love the opertunity to go back with a camera.. AND A GUN!!!! lol.. im not sure id be happy without some personal protection or the ability to pay my way by duffing them up with the rest of the Platoon/Section..

So, Kemp is a wooden actor, but he's got ball's.. i think it'd be scarier doing the GANG proggy he did before..
 
just imagine the war photographers in the second world war, imagine doing that for a job.
 
i like the show so far

wish he would stop worrying about his sunglasses though.

we are probably still only seeing a sanitised version of things though. For operational reasons (I dont believe I actually said that) you are not going to see anything that may be of any real use to the taliban or others.

However what we have seen so far is close enough and doesnt glorify whats happening or try to be sensationalist. Which is a good thing. It does clearly have a propaganda angle to it but on the whole I think it works reasonably well.

the media in a combat situation can really get in the way and tbh they are not going to take him anywhere where its going to get too squitty. Just enough to show that modern fighting isnt like in the films and if you actually see the person shooting at you then you are probably too close :)

Fair doos to the guy and his team though. Would have been great to be a fly on the wall when the series outline was presented to him... can see the expression going from "yeah!" to "you fcuking wot?"

hope if any of his team have to pick up a gun that none of them are left handed..
 
pingu said:
i like the show so far


hope if any of his team have to pick up a gun that none of them are left handed..
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^^^:LOL::LOL:^^^ a face full of hot cartridge can spoil a boys looks what...
 
Ashers said:
just imagine the war photographers in the second world war, imagine doing that for a job.
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Ashers,

You should read about a bloke called Robert Capa an truly acclaimed war photographer - he was with the US Army when they went ashore in Omaha Beach in Normandy (as a start!), as well as covering the Spanish Civil War, the whole of WWII and died when covering the first vietnam war. Don't forget there were no of the auto focus/auto exposure cameras we have now - it all was all manual with bullets and lord knows what else flying around the place.

I've read, seen and heard some of the stuff he said about Omaha beach -- and he paints a scene of nightmares - and the photos convey that. I know I for one couldn't have survived a situation like that - I think it takes a special type of person to do that.

I mean it's a hell of a job nowdays -and there probably aren't too many differences to then - but still - with the 24 hours news culture we have now days there's a very "clean" image of war compared to the maelstrom of the wars gone bay.

Sorry - will get off my soapbox now! :)

Matt
 
The thing is, War is different now.. if we fought the same battle today the sea defences would have been taken out with Cruise missles.. they would have checked the bloody weather forcast!!! FIRST!!!! we would have had SF painting targets for days or weeks before any landings.. Smart Bombs would have leveled the place and not a shot would have been fired by the soldiers landing.. But thats only if we had achieved Air Supremacy first!! but dont be fooled, there are battles going on that ARE somewhat nearer to the D Day landings in the horrific sense.. There are bloody hand to hand battles that have been fought in recent years!! SF fought with pistols and combat knifes/ Bayonets in the Caves in the Stan.. It dont get much worse than that..

Our regular forces are fighting an Irregular force.. they dress like civvies and hide in built up areas.. the invisable enemy if you like.. its a tough job.. in the old days you could tell the difference between whos going to kill you or whos going to make you a cuppa!! Mk1 Eyeballs in the back of your head are NOT issued!! shame..

I wish these... *Censored* would come out into the open and FIGHT!!! it would be over in no time..

Soap box is now free for the next user...(y)
 
I have read somewhere the he is in Iraq atm filming the same sort of series i will try and find the link
 
Well... I watched it and thought it was pretty good, all in all - we don't get Sky in the Blocks, but BFBS are repeating it a few days later.
It was kind of spooky watching the same trails and bund-lines that I walked along and took cover behind when we were there with 16 Air-Assault (3 Para Battlegroup) in the summer of 2006...
I don't have a problem with Ross telling the villagers the facts of life - everything he said was dead right in my opinion...the villagers all blame us for not providing security, but do nothing to help us oust the Taliban - in some cases they even steer us into ambushes - as happened with my team and some journos from the Sunday Times, accompanying a patrol from the Royal Irish... Stick it to 'em, I say...It's their country but they take no responsibility for anything that happens in it - it's always someone else's fault or problem...

As to a number of points here - Section Commanders do as they're told by the Company Commanders, COs etc. like it or not - if you've got 'embeds', tough...deal with it. As to Military Combat Camera Teams (CCTs), yes, they do come in all shapes and sizes, so bear in mind that it's a Tri-Service committment with RN and RAF personnel deploying as well as the Army. The Army only take applicants from Teeth Arms (i.e. the Infantry) so as to make us more deployable and less of a burden on host units - the RAF and RN have (some) fat lardy gits instead and it has been a problem deploying some of them to 'Hot' places in the past. In fairness, most blokes (and girls) don't join the Navy thinking that they'll be deployed to Southern Afghanistan...
As to the kit, it fares very well - we use Nikons without exception as they're literally battle-proven (in my case) - in Helmand it was occasionally +60C (yes, that's +60C...) and the cameras were too hot to touch with bare hands (I wore thin leather flying gloves!), but functioned faultlessly despite the heat and dust. I personally saw two Canons that died as a result of the conditions - one had all of its LCD screens go black, never to recover, the other one's seals failed and dust clogged up the works, rendering it inoperable. To be fair, even Nikon only guarantee the cameras will function up to +40C... I was a little worried that the cement holding the lens elements in place would hold in that heat - visions of my 70-200 having a lot of rattly glass lumps all piling to one end...lol

In May, my Brigade (7th Armoured - The Desert Rats) will deploy again to Iraq on Op TELIC XII, so watch out for photos from the COB of lots of blokes on 'Op BRONZE' (sunbathing!!!).
 
I agree with the original post. Ross and the crew should get some award for the series. its a gripping programme and to me, does not seem to be filmed through rose tinted glasses.

Eoghan
 
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