VIDEO from the Afghan war in the style of Call of Duty glorified the American soldier and broke his life
Private First Class US Army Ted Daniels suddenly became a celebrity after he uploaded to the Internet a video of the battle with the Taliban, made by him in the midst of a shootout. But then disappointment followed - the publication of such materials was not approved either by the military command or by a substantial part of American society.
It all started last April, when on one of the days, the Daniels unit fought in the Afghan province of Kunar, writes The Washington Post. At some point, the soldier - the oldest in the unit, the 37-year-old ex-policeman - turned on the video camera located on the helmet. The battery lasted for a short time, but the camera managed to capture part of the battle in the first person, the moment the soldier was injured, his calls for help.
"I'm going down!" - shouts Daniels, and to the sounds of shooting, he begins to cautiously move down the rocky slope, falls, rises, crawls to a small rock, fires in bursts. "They hit me ... They hit me!" - the soldier shouts, repeats the phrase several times, louder and louder. However, no one around his comrades can be seen around, no one is in a hurry to help - only a bare slope, stones flying up from shots.
The camera, fixed on the helmet, made it possible to take pictures of what was happening as if from the first person: weapon, all movements are perceived as their own. It creates a presence effect, as in shooters like Call of Duty. This Daniels and became famous when the day after the battle posted the video on YouTube. True, there was immediately a mass of opposing comments in which users criticized the soldier’s manner of holding a weapon, the senselessness of the decision to go down alone on the slope viewed from all sides, unworthy, according to some, cries for help.
Daniels’s real problems began a few months later - on his return to the United States after injuring his leg. By the time his video has spread on the web, the journalists managed to install a unit that participated in that fight, and in every way exaggerated the topic: "This is not your Xbox!". And the military authorities came out on the video fan himself. The essence of discontent boiled down to the fact that the soldier had spread information defaming the honor of the American soldier: shouting, defeated by the enemy. Besides on the record, it seems that the comrades do not care about the wounded. In particular, the spokesman for the US Army Command in Afghanistan said: "If I were a propagandist from the Taliban, I would be very grateful to this soldier."
"I went to the line of fire to take it upon myself, save my comrades," Daniels later explained his behavior in battle. As for recording it on video, there was only a desire to leave a memory about it, so that later the children and the father could show it, says the serviceman.
How the family moved viewing the record is not known for sure. But in the home of Daniels did not support many. The number of commentators who have advised him to "stay at home, play shooters, and not go to war" has multiplied on the Internet. And the Ice Cube rapper even used excerpts from this video for his clip, which depicts a soldier as a pawn in the hands of universal evil - corrupt politicians who unleashed a war. “Noted” in the clip, by the way, and Pussy Riot, but, I suppose, with a plus sign.
Meanwhile, one cannot say that the Daniels case is unique. For example, on the specialized YouTube channel funker530 alone, where this video has almost 24 million views and thousands of comments, there are several more videos from Afghanistan made with a portable camera. This device is extremely popular among the US military, the manufacturer of GoPro in 2011, even launched into production a separate line of video cameras designed specifically for the military. And the severity of the ban on their use varies greatly in parts, notes The Washington Post.
By the way, Daniels appealed to the owner of the channel funker530 with a request to remove his video, when problems started with the boss and that the media finally fell behind him, but there was no answer. This user continues to host similar records that are very popular. And for this, according to preliminary estimates, it receives up to 150 thousand dollars a year from advertisers.
Now Daniels, the twice-divorced father of two sons, is undergoing treatment after being injured, living in a small house in Fort Castle in Colorado with a former workmate. Together they are trying to start a joint business - something like a hand-to-hand school. A former soldier tries to not view his video anymore and do not answer questions related to it.
It all started last April, when on one of the days, the Daniels unit fought in the Afghan province of Kunar, writes The Washington Post. At some point, the soldier - the oldest in the unit, the 37-year-old ex-policeman - turned on the video camera located on the helmet. The battery lasted for a short time, but the camera managed to capture part of the battle in the first person, the moment the soldier was injured, his calls for help.
"I'm going down!" - shouts Daniels, and to the sounds of shooting, he begins to cautiously move down the rocky slope, falls, rises, crawls to a small rock, fires in bursts. "They hit me ... They hit me!" - the soldier shouts, repeats the phrase several times, louder and louder. However, no one around his comrades can be seen around, no one is in a hurry to help - only a bare slope, stones flying up from shots.
The camera, fixed on the helmet, made it possible to take pictures of what was happening as if from the first person: weapon, all movements are perceived as their own. It creates a presence effect, as in shooters like Call of Duty. This Daniels and became famous when the day after the battle posted the video on YouTube. True, there was immediately a mass of opposing comments in which users criticized the soldier’s manner of holding a weapon, the senselessness of the decision to go down alone on the slope viewed from all sides, unworthy, according to some, cries for help.
Daniels’s real problems began a few months later - on his return to the United States after injuring his leg. By the time his video has spread on the web, the journalists managed to install a unit that participated in that fight, and in every way exaggerated the topic: "This is not your Xbox!". And the military authorities came out on the video fan himself. The essence of discontent boiled down to the fact that the soldier had spread information defaming the honor of the American soldier: shouting, defeated by the enemy. Besides on the record, it seems that the comrades do not care about the wounded. In particular, the spokesman for the US Army Command in Afghanistan said: "If I were a propagandist from the Taliban, I would be very grateful to this soldier."
"I went to the line of fire to take it upon myself, save my comrades," Daniels later explained his behavior in battle. As for recording it on video, there was only a desire to leave a memory about it, so that later the children and the father could show it, says the serviceman.
How the family moved viewing the record is not known for sure. But in the home of Daniels did not support many. The number of commentators who have advised him to "stay at home, play shooters, and not go to war" has multiplied on the Internet. And the Ice Cube rapper even used excerpts from this video for his clip, which depicts a soldier as a pawn in the hands of universal evil - corrupt politicians who unleashed a war. “Noted” in the clip, by the way, and Pussy Riot, but, I suppose, with a plus sign.
Meanwhile, one cannot say that the Daniels case is unique. For example, on the specialized YouTube channel funker530 alone, where this video has almost 24 million views and thousands of comments, there are several more videos from Afghanistan made with a portable camera. This device is extremely popular among the US military, the manufacturer of GoPro in 2011, even launched into production a separate line of video cameras designed specifically for the military. And the severity of the ban on their use varies greatly in parts, notes The Washington Post.
By the way, Daniels appealed to the owner of the channel funker530 with a request to remove his video, when problems started with the boss and that the media finally fell behind him, but there was no answer. This user continues to host similar records that are very popular. And for this, according to preliminary estimates, it receives up to 150 thousand dollars a year from advertisers.
Now Daniels, the twice-divorced father of two sons, is undergoing treatment after being injured, living in a small house in Fort Castle in Colorado with a former workmate. Together they are trying to start a joint business - something like a hand-to-hand school. A former soldier tries to not view his video anymore and do not answer questions related to it.
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