(July 23, 2017 – Source: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images North America/ZIMBIO)
*NatGeo’s Iraq War miniseries “The Long Road Home” revisits “Black Sunday,” the day the 1st Cavalry Division from Fort Hood was ambushed on April 4, 2004, in Sadr City, Baghdad.
From executive producer Mike Medavoy and based on Martha Raddatz’s New York Times best-selling book, the story is told through the eyes of various veterans and unfolds over eight episodes. The event series cuts between the action on the ground in Iraq and that on the homefront back in Texas, where wives and families await news for 48 hours, expecting the worst.
The cast includes two-time Emmy-nominated actor Michael Kelly as Lt. Col. Gary Volesky; Emmy-nominated actor Jason Ritter as Capt. Troy Denomy; Kate Bosworth as Capt. Denomy’s wife, Gina; Sarah Wayne Callies as LeAnn Volesky, wife of Lt. Col. Volesky; Noel Fisher as Pfc. Tomas Young; and Jeremy Sisto as Staff Sgt. Robert Miltenberger.
“I’m not sure any of the survivors of the battle of Sadr City will ever really be home again. It is indeed a long road,” SFC Eric Bourquin wrote for rallypoint.com. “But the series taught me a lot about myself, a lot about others and helped me come to grip with who I am and where I want to go next,” he added.
As a 23-year-old sergeant, Bourquin was part of a four-vehicle convoy attacked in Sadr City just outside of Baghdad on Black Sunday. Over the next 48 hours, the ambush left eight of his fellow Soldiers dead and wounded him and about 50 others.
“We were pinned down and isolated for a little over four hours. We were fighting from the rooftop,” Mr. Bourquin told EUR/Electronic Urban Report during Summer TCA, noting that the filming took place out of Fort Hood.
“It was really awesome because that’s where we trained at in order to just go on deployment. I’d spent numerous hours there training,” he added. “It was a good boon for the local community, especially with all the money they bring in with all of that.”
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He gives props to the art department for doing “tons and tons of work and fabulous research in order to make it as authentic as possible and they had different types of sand to put around the set just to replicate what was going on over there.”
As a consultant on the production, Bourquin shared his first account experience and provided photos, memories and helped “set up the gear to make it as technically correct as it could be and true to the era.”
“I’m still wondering how I’m even involved in all of this. I’m so far from the end of my normal spectrum,” he said when asked how he came to get involved with the series.
“You know the book’s written by Martha Raddatz. It’s a bestseller. A fantastic book. Since she wrote it, she’s been doing a lot of research and she stayed in contact with me throughout the years and it’s just been one wild roller coaster ride after another. It’s just turned into great things because without her writing the book, how would people know that 8 men died, over six were wounded and their sacrifice is what’s making all of this possible.”
Watch:
Watch the season finale of #LongRoadHome, tomorrow at 10/9c. pic.twitter.com/1e9V1OMIG3
— National Geographic (@NatGeo) December 19, 2017
Mr. Bourquin revealed that the challenges with recreating the harrowing events on Black Sunday for NatGeo helped with his overall “healing” process.
“I lived through the moment once. I’ve reprocessed it hundreds of thousands of times in my own head and talking to my buddies about it, we’ve all processed it and talked about it too. But going into it, seeing it day in and day out, everybody’s all like, “Hey man, how are you dealing with redoing the worst day of your life over and over?” Well, this isn’t my worst day. This is one in a string of many. This is just a day at work. Happened to be my first day but there’s so many things that have happened and benefitted from this and helped with my healing all the way around,” he shared.
“So it being the worst day…not even a factor. But the fact that I’m being able to live through this day over and over has been a considerable boon. It’s been an amazing experience that’s impacted me profoundly.”
(Source: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images North America/ZIMBIO)
The series “portrays sacrifice,” Bourquin said, and not a day goes by that he doesn’t acknowledge this sacrifice as the reason why he’s still alive.
“The gravity of the situation didn’t really dawn on me,” the day of the ambush, but still, he said, “every day it dawns on me how serious it actually was because again, how many times I have referenced the reason why I’m still breathing? It gets bigger every day,” he added.
“I know 8 people just on that one day that no longer will be able to have all those trials and tribulations of being a human, and that’s been my guiding principal the entire time. I don’t have a lot of influence over a lot of this. I’ve got to technically consult and give answers but these guys just knocked it out of the park. The actors opened up their hearts so when these families (of the fallen soldiers) see this, they’re going to be able to feel it.”
Watch the climactic final chapter of “The Long Road Home” Tuesday (Dec 19) at 10/9c on The History Channel. Then stay for “Heroes of The Long Road Home” at 11/10c and meet the incredible people whose stories were told.
Get caught up with full episodes using your participating TV provider subscription here.
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