When this documentary started, I'm not going to lie, I didn't take to Michael Enright. Being ex-military myself for over 20 years (and having served in some scary places) I knew people like him. Billy Bulls**tters. If you've been to Timbuktu, he's been to Timbukthree, Been to Tenerife? He's been to Eleven-erife. But I think that was the point at the start of the documentary.
The first half puts that doubt in your mind that he's a Walter Mitty. That he's making a lot of it up. Then the detractors speak (one US ex-soldier in particular) to further reinforce that opinion.
But bear with it. It does a whole 180 degree spin. What unfolds proves he has seen things many will never see and he suffers as a consequence. The head-cam footage is terrifying and horrific. One interaction following an ISIS attack almost breaks him and genuinely had me in pieces.
Was he lied to by officials (I'll not give any more away)? I don't know. It's in his interest to lie about this, but he seems reasonably credible. What I do know (and again I'll not spoil things but if you know anything about the Kurds you'll know already), betrayal features highly here. Regardless of your politics, what happens sticks in the craw and makes you feel guilty and embarrassed. He can't go back to the UK (similar fighters against ISIS have been prosecuted) and returning the US seems a futile dream. Sobering stuff.
