Afghanistan: The Soldiers' Story

Afghanistan: The Soldier’s Story, was the original idea of Corporal Aaron Horrell, a patrol2IC who was on his second New Zealand Defence Force deployment to Afghanistan in2012. He approached Dave Asher, of South Coast Productions, to see if a film could be made ofthe 20th rotation of our soldiers, to document what the modern day era of soldiers’contri­butions and sacrifice looked like.While our request to visit Afghanistan was declined, we were able to supply Aaron withcamera equipment to film his tour that was approved by the New Zealand Defence Force. As Aaron’s tour evolved, he recorded footage of day-to-day life for our soldiers.However halfway in to his tour, tragedy struck – twice – with the deaths of five of his comrades and the serious wounding of six of his fellow soldiers in two separate incidents.They were to be defining moments for his deployment. Strong images from these incidents were captured.When Aaron’s deployment finished and he returned to New Zealand, we had to re-evaluate the storyline. We had valuable footage from before these fatal events, so now had to look at how wecould integrate the families of the fallen to show the full level of loss, both for the country and within their family unit. We agreed the brief was to remain focused on the input of this generation of servicemen and women to this country and the ramification of that service.What ensued was a two-year negotiation with the New Zealand Defence Force to release the footage, of which they held the copyright for.Approval to continue was received at the beginning of 2016 and final sign off in May 2016.

The documentary is told through first-person accounts, backed by footage from the actual engagements and re-enactments vetted by the soldiers to remain true to the event, linked by narration. Families are involved through interviews, re-living the emotions surrounding their familymember’s de­parture to Afghanistan, and the inevitable complexities for the families of those that returned and those that did not. As the documentary timeframe extended, one of the soldiers involved in the Battle ofBaghak tragically took his own life in 2015.This added to the intricacy of the story, bringing in the element of the ongoing menta lhealth of our soldiers. Another focus of the documentary is on the physical difference that Kiwi forces made to the region in which they served. This included focusing on regional improvements, increased safety and overall stability of Bamiyan, attributed directly to our soldiers’ contribution. We believe that Afghanistan: The Soldiers’ Story has remained true to the original briefand that it will show that New Zealand has a proud past military history and a strongcurrent record of service.We have tested the story to assess this, showing it to diverse groups such as Probus,Rotary and school principals, as well as those who feature in the documentary – both soldiers and families – with the strength of comment showing us we have treated the story and material with the respect it is due.This documentary has allowed closure for not only those involved in this tour toAfghanistan, but also the many others over a decade’s worth of deployments.Lives have been lost and others’ changed forever, but the importance of ensuring the NewZealand public has a true account of what occurred in Afghanistan – from the mouths of those who served – means their sacrifice will not be forgotten.