Michael Tucker had just gotten back from Iraq a few days before and was “glad to be out of there.” Tucker had directed “Gunner Palace,” an eye-opening documentary about a group of soldiers – the
U.S. Army’s 2/3 Field Artillery Division (known as the Gunners) – who were headquartered in a palace that once belonged to Uday Hussein in late 2003 and early 2004.
He had returned to Iraq to get some photos to help out one of those soldiers – retired Army Capt. Jonathan Powers – who, with the backing of the Vietnam Veterans Foundation of America, had begun a project to help the orphans and children of Iraq.
In “Gunner Palace” ($24.99), Tucker makes no attempt to inject a political agenda into his portrait of the day-to-day lives of the soldiers that ranges from moments of levity and fun when some of them do their raps, to the danger they encounter on nighttime patrols in hostile neighborhoods.
Tucker says that the reaction to the film has been “emotional” from the families involved. “The two families whose sons had died told (Tucker) they were grateful for the film because it gave them some picture of what it was like there.”
While the film tried to be neutral, Tucker says, “I think if I made the film now, it might be harder to walk that line,” especially as the tours of duty have been extended for our troops.
“The vast majority of those soldiers are pretty supportive of the (Bush) administration. They may have their doubts and complaints, but they’re pretty mission-focused.” Realizing there is little they can do about the politics, most of the soldiers’ complaints are “Ernie Pyle stuff. I only have two sets of uniforms, or the armor issues, better equipment, how can I do my job better, how can I stay alive, how can I make this go faster.”
But Tucker says the mood there among the soldiers is “grumpier” than when he was with the gunners.
He said on his recent trip he saw a soldier walking around in a flame-retardant flight suit and asked him why. The soldier told him that every gunner on a convoy now has to wear one because the insurgents are putting homemade napalm in their explosives.
Tucker also thinks there’s “this huge public disconnect about the war.”
“I just came out of Baghdad, and you’re seeing children living in horrible conditions, seeing people living in a complete state of terror and soldiers that are terrified, there is violence all around you. Then you look at Google News, and there are 780 references to Tom Cruise getting sprayed in the face with water.
“It’s revolting. … There’s not a sense that we’re a country at war.”
A portion of the sales of the “Gunner Palace” DVD will go to the Fisher House Foundation, which provides housing for families of wounded and ill soldiers.
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