The 506th Infantry Regiment, originally designated the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment during World War II, is an airborne light infantry regiment of the United States Army. Currently a parent regiment under the U.S. Army Regimental System, the regiment has two active battalions: the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment is assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, and the 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment is assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.
Sebastian Junger is an American journalist, author and filmmaker who has reported in-the-field on dirty, dangerous and demanding occupations and the experience of infantry combat. He is the author of The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea (1997) which was adapted into a major motion picture and led to a resurgence in adventure creative nonfiction writing. He covered the War in Afghanistan for more than a decade, often embedded in dangerous and remote military outposts. The book War (2010) was drawn from his field reporting for Vanity Fair, that also served as the background for the documentary film Restrepo (2010) which received the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Junger's works explore themes such as brotherhood, trauma, and the relationship of the individual to society as told from the far reaches of human experience.
The 503rd Infantry Regiment, formerly the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment and the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, is an airborne infantry regiment of the United States Army. The regiment served as an independent regiment in the Pacific War during World War II; at Fort Campbell, Kentucky; in Okinawa, Japan; and in Germany. Regimental elements have been assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division, the 11th Airborne Division, the 24th Infantry Division, 25th Infantry Division, the 82nd Airborne Division, 101st Airborne Division, and the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team. Regimental elements have participated in campaigns in the Vietnam War, Operation Enduring Freedom–Afghanistan, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The regiment claims 15 Medal of Honor recipients: two from World War II, ten from Vietnam, and three from Afghanistan. A parent regiment under the U.S. Army Regimental System. The regiment's 1st and 2nd Battalions are active, assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade, based at Caserma Ederle, Vicenza, Italy. The 3rd and 4th Battalions as well as Companies E, F, G, H, and I have been inactived.
Dexter Price Filkins is an American journalist known primarily for his coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for The New York Times. He was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for his dispatches from Afghanistan, and won a Pulitzer in 2009 as part of a team of Times reporters for their dispatches from Pakistan and Afghanistan. He has been called "the premier combat journalist of his generation". He currently writes for The New Yorker.
Alan Huffman is an American author and journalist. He is the author of five nonfiction books, three of which deal with history related to the American South. He is notable as an opposition researcher.
Korangal Valley, also nicknamed "The Valley of Death" is a valley in the Dara-I-Pech District of Kunar Province, eastern Afghanistan.
The 54th Brigade Engineer Battalion is a combat engineer battalion of the United States Army headquartered at Caserma Ederle in Vicenza, Italy.
Timothy Alistair Telemachus Hetherington was a British photojournalist. He produced books, films and other work that "ranged from multi-screen installations, to fly-poster exhibitions, to handheld device downloads" and was a regular contributor to Vanity Fair.
The Forever War is a non-fiction book by American journalist Dexter Filkins about his observations on assignment in Afghanistan and Iraq during the 2001 War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War.
The 173rd Brigade Support Battalion (Airborne) is a subordinate unit of the 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) in the United States Army based in Vicenza, Italy.
Restrepo is a 2010 American documentary film about the Afghanistan war, directed by American journalist Sebastian Junger and British photojournalist Tim Hetherington.
Salvatore Augustine Giunta is a former United States Army soldier and the first living person since the Vietnam War to receive the United States Armed Forces' highest decoration for valor, the Medal of Honor. Giunta was cited for saving the lives of members of his squad on October 25, 2007, during the War in Afghanistan. He left the United States Army in June 2011.
The Korangal Valley campaign was a series of military operations conducted by ISAF forces against Taliban and other local insurgents in the Korangal Valley in Kunar province, Afghanistan, from October 2004 to April 2010. The campaign ended with a US withdrawal from the valley, after suffering heavy casualties, and a Taliban takeover of the area.
Operation Rock Avalanche was a six-day, US-led offensive from 19 to 25 October 2007, with the purpose of hunting Taliban fighters in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan. The mission also aimed to establish a peace with the local populace so that a road could be safely built through the area by the Afghan government. Over the course of the operation, a series of running battles occurred with members of the Taliban, as well as with local tribesmen. U.S. Army Paratrooper Salvatore Giunta would be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during combat between U.S. forces and local Afghans.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade is an airborne infantry brigade combat team (IBCT) of the United States Army based in Vicenza, Italy. It is the United States European Command's conventional airborne strategic response force for Europe.
Juan Sebastián Restrepo was a Colombian American soldier and medic. Restrepo was killed in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan, of neck wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small-arms fire. He was honored in Restrepo, nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 83rd Academy Awards.
Idil Ibrahim is a Somali-American independent film director, producer, actress, writer.
Korengal is a 2014 documentary that picks up where the film Restrepo left off, taking the viewer deeper into soldiers' experiences of war in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan. The film consists of closeup interviews with soldiers in a platoon stationed at outpost Restrepo, during and after their deployment. Most of the reviews of the documentary have been favorable.
Nicholas Quested is an award-winning British filmmaker and producer of documentary films, music videos, and TV commercials. He is the executive director and owner of Goldcrest Films.
Freedom is a creative nonfiction book written by Sebastian Junger and published by Simon & Schuster in 2021.
Junger with Tim Hetherington in 2011.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade.
Medal of honor recipient Sgt. Salvatore Giunta and President Barack Obama.
