Ross Kemp in Afghanistan [DVD]

This has to be the best programme i have ever watched on TV in my life, It was a true account of what really goes on.
Not many people can actually say they know why our boys are there or what it is they do, this dvd will show you really what life is like for them.......
Hat off to Ross and his crew for getting out there and risking their lives too.
My Brother Cpl Darren Bonner died out in Afghan last year A true hero like all the others,
I have copies of the programmes yet have still placed an order for my official copy
.*.*.*.*.*.* an absolute must buy .*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Ross Kemp is primarily an actor just edging into journalism, rather than being a long-in-the-tooth journalist. As I don't subscribe to Sky I hadn't seen this series on television, nor seen his other series about gangs. However, given the complete absence of anything about the experience of troops on the ground on terrestrial television I felt compelled to buy this DVD set.

Needless to say, Ross doesn't do clever commentary or great depth. But I suspect that, other than war correspondents who have been in the field for years, there are very few people who could do clever and in-depth when a fire-fight is going on around them in an inhospitable environment far from home. Even then, if they stopped to do in-depth in that environment, they'd be an easy target, putting themselves and those around them at risk. So it's a bit superficial in some respects, but it also gets into danger and emotion enough that I suspect many viewers will shed a tear watching.

What Ross does do is to convey the dangers that the troops on the ground face, the hardships they face daily, the gamut of emotions faced surviving the day and surviving a tour, what effect it has on the families back home etc. What he also conveys is the huge admiration he has for the troops. He can be heard saying how humbled he feels being with them and it's absolutely believable. This is a man who has put himself at risk to show the public what risks the troops are taking on behalf of Queen and country (although, as they say, on a daily basis they are fighting for the friends around them rather than fighting for their government etc). With the caveat about the commentary, I'd say he has done a very fine job.

He doesn't delve deeply into why our troops are in Afghanistan in the first place, nor question whether their presence is going to improve things, either locally or in the wider world. Other people can ask those questions, the foreign correspondents and the war correspondents of this world. He certainly doesn't question the government minister who said that he hoped (expected?) that the troops would enter and leave Afghanistan without a shot being fired, nor question the sense of sending a small force into a country where the Soviets were forced out and where Britain has had previous bad experience. What Ross does is to see what life is like for the guys on the ground and he probably brings this to an audience who wouldn't normally watch John Simpson and co. One or two other reviews have mentioned (complained about?) Ross being intoxicated by the adrenalin of war. And that is probably true, but adrenalin affects everybody in different ways at different times - people get excited, giggle, laugh, go stony silent, you name it, when adrenalin kicks in. If he'd been a war correspondent for years he'd probably manage it a bit better and probably attempt to show both sides of the conflict, but he isn't. He's seems a fairly normal guy, in an abnormal situation, trying to show the rest of us in the safety of our homes what things are like at the front for UK forces. That's what he has done. Hats off to him.

You don't have to agree with UK forces being in Afghanistan to find this compelling viewing. On the other hand, if you will find difficult the thought of an explosion that you see in the distance being the cause of multiple people being killed, then this might not be for you. At least you know what to expect.

If you do find this interesting then you might also want to read an Apache pilot's experiences of Afghanistan, for which I recommend "Dressed to Kill" by Charlotte Madison.

Ross Kemp, does a very good job has a reporter that it almost feels that you are there with him. He talks with everyone soo he/we can hear the "both sides of the story".

Buy this and the DVD when he goes back to Afghanistan.