The Line

This is a great examination of the mental price of war, and what our American soldiers toil with mentally from the horror of combat. Although it uses the Gallagher case as the backdrop, it examines a much broader part of military experiences, especially for those on the front lines. I don't like how the filmmakers, at the end, slyly took a side/opinion. Otherwise this did a great job telling this particular story, and more importantly the overall issues at the heart of the matter. The one guy who was in "operations", in my opinion, was the only one who had a clear thought process about the whole situation. I have a real problem with training our people to defend us/go to war, and then bring them home to accuse/try them for crimes. Burden of proof better be beyond and mountainous.

This is a great documentary. I nearly stopped watching it halfway through episode three however I decided to stick it out. The reason I nearly pulled the plug was how disgusted I was at the course of events once Eddie Gallagher's social media/marketing savvy wife started a PR campaign which ultimately ended up with Trump involved and blindly supporting Gallagher and his actions. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that though - that's essentially how the Apprentice guy became president right? Only in America. Anyhoo, while Gallagher's story and his acquittal is public domain, this documentary gives depth to how that occurred - sadly the seal team members who had the moral courage to expose this did so at great personal expense ultimately. But we can all see they did the right thing and I hope they are sleeping well at night - they deserve to be.

This came out about 3 yrs ago. Im just getting into it now through the mini series doc. The series good in setting the stage but was slanted toward the accusers. It left me empty with no solid conclusion. I did a deeper dive and read Eddies book and watched a 5 hour interview on a podcast that was more interesting that any streaming movies I have saved.

I felt there was so much more to hear on this and found that to be the case. There is SO much more going on behind the scenes that it is incredible this case even went to court. This never would have made the evidentiary standard in civilian court. Im amazed at how bad the Navy and the military treated Eddie without a conviction and the massive effort to convict him by fraudulent means. The things they did to him and his family deserves a full on docudrama unleashing all the dirt they tried to pull on him and his defense. The was a third world court trial and the prosecution should ashamed of themselves. In fact they deserve to be prosecuted for misconduct. The bottom line is even if someone did it- the prosecution must prove it. It is there job to do so legally and ethically. None of these were done in this case. Some cases are not provable for conviction. Once again Trump was found to be right on this. Riveting case for sure since you cannot believe this is happening in the US Military. Gratitude to Eddie and his family for their sacrifice in the service of our country. Watch the doc, but did deeper. Read the book and listen to the 5 hr podcast.

In the end, Gallagher showed us he wasn't a warrior not even a soldier. Real warriors don't needlessly put their men at risk. Real warriors don't chase medals. And they certainly don't murder unarmed prisoners or terrorize civilian populations. The joke is, he couldn't even admit bravely his believes and that makes him more coward than ISIS members who are at least proud of their ideology. What a shame!

A well-told story about real fur seals, for whom moral principles are important, corrupt politicians who help military assassins, a nasty galagher and his wife, I hope the navy will reopen the case.