Ross Kemp in Afghanistan documentary series

[Jayems]

First, I hope this is fine to post here. If not, I'll take it down.

I am incredibly fascinated by this documentary series by Ross Kemp who follows the British forces fighting in Afghanistan. Kemp is known for going into dangerous places and recently did a show on the gangs in South America. Anyway, there are two separate occasions when he goes. Once in 2007 and again in 2008. There are about 5 episodes per year. I've been watching them when I can. Each episode they get into some sort of contact and it really shows you what they're up against. Well filmed, Kemp interviews officers and soldiers during firefights, shows what life is generally like.

Ross Kemp in Afghanistan (2008) and Ross Kemp: Return to Afghanistan (2009) are two 5 part Sky One British documentary series fronted by actor Ross Kemp about the British soldiers fighting in the War in Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission against the Taliban. The two series involved Kemp and a small embedded film crew following troops fighting in Helmand Province, documenting their part in the ongoing Operation Herrick.

This is hosted on LiveLeak (NSFW), which some posters may find has questionable videos on it. So don't go there if you don't want to. But I'm direct links, so it should be fine.

It's hard to find them in order as they're named somewhat differently and not organized. So I'll just post the direct links to make it easy.

Enjoy.

Ross Kemp in Afghanistan (2007)



Episode 1
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Episode 2
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

Episode 3
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Episode 4
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Episode 5
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Ross Kemp returns to Afghanistan (2008)



Episode 1
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Episode 2
Part 1 (Trying to find part 1, seems to be missing)
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Episode 3
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Episode 4
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Episode 5
Will post when available.

[metallicat]

Great post. I have watched his series on gangs, and found it fascinating.

[J pold]

I watched the stuff he did on gangs, it was fantastic.

[flylock shox]

This dude is bananas.

I'm watching his bit on Russian neonazis at the moment. Yeep.

[Jayems]

You can really tell the difference between how Kemp acts when bullets start flying to how the battle-hardened soldiers do. You can just hear how scared he is in his voice. I was surprised at just how back-and-forth the battles were. How they'd go out for a couple days, fight, then go home... then do it all again next week with seemingly little gains.

[Jayems]

bump

[ok, ok,....I get it]

Originally Posted by Jayems

You can really tell the difference between how Kemp acts when bullets start flying to how the battle-hardened soldiers do. You can just hear how scared he is in his voice. I was surprised at just how back-and-forth the battles were. How they'd go out for a couple days, fight, then go home... then do it all again next week with seemingly little gains.

what were you expecting?

[Jayems]

Originally Posted by ok, ok,....I get it

what were you expecting?

I guess I didn't expect a frontline. I didn't think the Taliban controlled so many towns. I'm fairly versed on the happenings there, I just expected battles to be much more one sided.

[ShaolinFlame]

Is this mainly a military/combat oriented documentary, or does Kemp deal a lot with the socio-political problems facing Afghanistan? (Infrastructure, poppy industry, government policies, etc.)

I am really interested in how to make Afghanistan a better place. Legal poppies (see Turkey), better infrastructure and security (to encourage alternative crops), and the reduction of food aid (to create a reasonable price of grain) are all things that I have learned they need (Sorry to get a litttle OT).

Check out the Senlis (SP) council if you want to learn more about a sustainable poppy industry (to make morphine of course).

[CaptainCrunch]

As a side note to those that are interested, I'm currently plowing my way through the book "Contact Charlie, the Canadian Army, the Taliban and the battle that saved Afghanistan"

Its a pretty much a view at a running between Canada and the Taliban that went for 3 months just outside of khandihar (sp?)"

I'd strongly recommend it, its a well written book, and gives a good insight into life on the ground.