Citizen Soldier
Citizen Soldier
| 05 August 2016 (USA)
Citizen Soldier Trailers

CITIZEN SOLDIER is a dramatic feature film, told from the point of view of a group of Soldiers in the Oklahoma Army National Guard's 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, known since World War II as the "Thunderbirds.” Set in one of the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan at the height of the surge, it is a heart-pounding, heartfelt grunts' eye-view of the war. A modern day Band of Brothers, Citizen Soldier tells the true story of a group of young Soldiers and their life-changing tour of duty in Afghanistan, offering an excruciatingly personal look into modern warfare, brotherhood, and patriotism. Using real footage from multiple cameras, including helmet cams, these Citizen Soldiers give the audience an intimate view into the chaos and horrors of combat and, in the process, display their bravery and valor under the most hellish of conditions.

Reviews
IslandGuru Who payed the critics
Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!
Palaest recommended
Protraph Lack of good storyline.
mummyzandpeteyz I loved both The Hornet's Nest & Citizen Soldier & rated them 10/10 The only "parts" I did not like are where young brave soldiers tragically lost their lives at too young an age.I have super respect for anyone who has the bravery to go & defend their country & fight for those they love. David Salzberg & Christian Tureaud are wonderful Christian men & produced excellent documentaries with these 2 movies.This movie is very haunting & leaves footprints in your heart when you remember each soul that died.They were so very brave & when the song "Chariot Awaits" plays I my heart breaks & I cry every time.You should respect & honor all those who were in both movies.They walked away from their families & from their children & from their loved ones to go on a dangerous mission to protect & serve.Not many choose to walk that path as stated in the Bible. John 15:13 There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.Imagine how these soldiers felt on the battleground.Imagine how they felt as their eyes were closing to this world & they left all those they loved behind.Imagine how their families friends & children feel now that their loved one is no longer with us.I have watched many a war documentary & none are as powerful as these 2 movies.God bless everyone in both movies & keep you safe.Thank you for taking time out of your lives to share your stories with all of us.You will always be loved & will never be forgotten.
bigparao Would rate this a definite worth a watch, let's say 7 (put a 10 in to offset Mr 1/10 who clearly doesn't u sweat and the point of a review- just that he thinks war is a waste of money which is a different question)But yea a refreshing no bs account of what wars are really like told from the human perspective (albeit from one sides perspective only). The pov footage was not detrimental at all in my opinion and really did immerse you in the situation at least as much as possible from the couch. Gripping for the most part and completely devoid of the standard 'murica yeah! mentality that is often conveyed in war documentaries/movies. And no I'm not American.
scoopdiddle-480-333112 Current war narrative focuses almost exclusively on the plight of the armed forces juxtaposed with the plight of the civilians trapped in the war zones we in the West vote for. As far as I know, this is the only film that focuses on the ever growing Civil defense force, those people who used to be "Weekend Warriors", but who are now thrown into the hell holes of the world for months at a time.These are people who used to spend their Saturday nights doing pointless drills and occasional firing range sessions, now suddenly finding themselves sent to the far end of a horrifying firefights for half a year at a time. This film had me in tears so many times I cant count. It's the single most powerful and moving documentary I have ever watched. These are real civilians, driven by selfless need to provide service, suddenly thrown into the meat grinder for months at a time with a 10th of the training professional soldiers receive, yet thrown into the same grinder as our professional soldiers. If every Trump Tastic war mongering armchair General around the world was shown this, we'd have world peace by the weekend. These are "normal" relateable people like you and I, facing a hell we should pray each night we never have to see, and facing it with the kind of courage we should be thankful we don't have to find. This is the only film I will ever give 10/10 and I do that with the utmost respect to the people I have watched die tonight. Don't watch this film - BUY this film as many times as you can afford and donate to the charities supporting veterans with PTSD. Review written by a UK Pacifist who hopes for the day Afghan and Western can join together and stop being killed for the benefit of Wall Street. I'm not some jingoistic Trump wallah, this film is important and should be required viewing.
BasicLogic What we saw in this film were just endless shaky camera works, even worse than those "Jason Bourne" movies or "Hardcore Henry". Guess the two so-called journalists following these soldiers into the battleground were also feared for their lives, other than had to climb up and down in the mountain rocky terrains.We saw a bunch of civilians, a group of the National Guards of America, called for duty to go to war against the insurgents in Afghanistan. These guys only had about 39 days each year to re-familiarize their memory about the military training. They were just a bunch of family guys wearing uniforms and holding rifles. When they went into the war zone, they usually panic and didn't actually know how to deal with the firefights. All they knew was keep shooting to certain direction without any specific target, they just blindly pull their rifle or machine guns' triggers without knowing anything. They just wasted lot of bullets to get the low return of American tax payers' hard earned money. Most of the time, they needed air support to suppress the enemy's fire. One of their guys died by bullets shot from remote insurgent hideout. They felt so sorry about the death....This documentary film is no better than most of the others that tried to portray and record American soldiers battle experiences. What we saw in these films were just bunch of poorly trained and always scared-to-death American young or middle aged soldiers shooting blindly to some opposite directions and nothing else.When watching this film, it reminds me the script of another 'Based on True Event" then dramatized 2016 film, "War dogs". I just quote part of it to let you know how we are so naive about freedom, patriotism, sacrifice for your country, etc, etc: Quote~~"What do you know about war?They'll tell you it's about patriotism, democracy… Or some sh@t about the other guy hating our freedom.But you want to know what it's really about? What you see? A kid from Arkansas doing his patriotic duty to defend his country? I see a helmet($578), fire-retardant gloves ($165), upper-body armor($1,585), lower extremity body armor(LEBA) and a M16($6,275), tier 2 pelvic protection system, Kevlar upper legs protectors, thermal weapon sight, ammunition, boots, backpack…Machine gun($6,800), Abram tank($8.58 million)… I see $17,500 on each and every soldier's body.That's what it costs to outfit one American soldier.Over two million soldiers fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.It cost the American taxpayer $4.5 billion each year just to pay the air conditioning bills for those wars.And that's what war is really about.War is an economy.Anybody who tells you otherwise is either in on it or stupid.But I didn't know that yet.Back then, I didn't know anything." ~~Unquote I have nothing further to say. Amen.