...the reason I say my tribute, is selfish, I had no part in the fire fight, the filming, the appreciation of their situation, and I was IGNORANT! This footage most probably has been shown before, but never the way I see it... now.

I was going to 'edit' this footage, add a few different clips, put some comedy on it, make the 'enemy' look silly, and cut the blatantly obvious... the yanks did more in this clip than any other I've seen.

I was cutting the sound to add some silly music, because I took the clip at 'face value'. It's usually pushed as, 'US Troops In Fire-Fight - Directed By Funny Afghan Kid', (or very similar!) The boy in the clip is shouting, brazen as hell, "Shoot dis mudderfucker... shoot 'im!" - Good on the kid, he showed 'balls'.

Then, I replayed it with NO sound (please, if you have a spare couple of minutes, do the same?)... and I watched his eyes.

The child is terrified. I thought, 'He does well to 'pretend' that he has no fear!' I was wrong.

The reason he has no fear, is through the pure, undiluted, caring, and fantastic professionalism, that the US soldiers GIVE TO HIM! They distract him by 'giving him a '''task''' of filming', give him anger to take that edge off his terror... yes, that includes 'swearing' and acting 'gung-ho', they maintain their focus in the operation at hand, encourage him to 'take a role' in 'spotting' the enemy, smile, make eye contact, talk to him, laugh with him...

... all whilst they must be absolutely terrified themselves.

I'm SORRY I doubted that humanity, Gentlemen... YOU ARE THE DOGS BOLLOCKS! And Thank you...