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VOLUME LXXXXI ISSUE 3
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STUDENT SOLDIER DOCUMENTS THE REALITY OF WAR bebernes@mail.sfsu.edu
THERE ARE MORE THAN 7,000 MILES BETWEEN SAN FRANCISCO AND KABUL.
At times, it seems like the distance between civilians and soldiers is just as vast. No number of news reports, political speeches or second-hand stories can ever really capture the intensity of life on the ground. The military knows a completely different
between public understanding of the war in Afghanistan and its reality. His goal, however, is not to rather to show the raw, human side of the men and “I’m not advocating pro-war or anti-war or anything - I’m not even commenting on the war. I’m commenting on the experience,” he said. “It’s hard to let other people understand what goes on when a kid gets scared and shoots up a car full of a family. I think the best thing that we can do is show people and talk about it and bring it up.” He believes there is wide misunderstanding of a perception about, you know, maybe how bad ass
ployed on a seven-month tour to southern Af-
spective. The result is the most intimate possible portrayal of war. cess, is called “Removed From Reality.” It follows Alpha Company on the long road from his civilian home in Daly City across a war zone, and back.
those ideas of what we do out there,” Gelesko said. “In any infantry service there’s very raw ups and downs of being in that kind of situation.” vehicles, helmets, backpacks, guns - anything he could think of. The resulting footage is visceral. It’s everything reality TV wants to be. There’s a sincerity present that can’t be mimicked. It’s there in a soldier’s heavy breathing as his team storms a contested village. It’s there in the off-the-cuff humor of
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people to experience the terror, joy, awe and sorrow of a grunt’s-eye view of war.
is not a witness, but a participant.
noyed … he was pretty persistent with questions and pictures,” Gelesko said.
those involved, without journalists as middlemen.
than a documentary. For a journalist focusing entirely on the project,
you’re capable, with digital production, to be on the ground, to be one of the guys and share that story
also tasked with the life and death duties of being a
It’s hard to let other people understand what goes on when a kid gets scared and shoots up a car full of a family. I think the best thing that we can do is show people and talk about it and bring it up. U.S. MARINE CORPS SERGEANT AND SF STATE STUDENT