Part 2: Interview with 'Brothers at War' Director, Jake Rademacher

Cpt. Isaac Rademacher — Jake Rademacher

Note: Part 1 of this 4 part interview can be found here.

J.R. Head: Tell me about the time frame of the film. “Brothers at War” was shot in 2005?

“Brothers at War” Director, Jake Rademacher: Isaac departs in 2004, I join him in August 2005, and events in Iraq and on the Home front go through 2006.

JRH: So, that’s pre-“Surge”. But one of the things I noticed from the film was the advancement that the Iraqi Army was making. I was encouraged by the individual efforts of people like [Marine] Staff Sergeant Allier and others to–

JR: Correct. “Brothers at War” rolls back the clock to a time in the war when the future of Iraq wasn’t necessarily determined and, in fact, a number of people in America thought it was a lost cause. In “Brothers at War” the audience gets a glimpse into where things were going, and insight into what led to the tremendous turnaround in Iraq. They get to drop in with the Iraqi Army and see them in action. The unit that I embedded with was the first Iraqi battalion to get it’s own “battle space” in all of Iraq. They were actually in charge of that space, working with United States Marines who were military advisors. The audience gets to walk alongside SSgt Allier as he mentors a company sometimes very humorously, sometimes in life threatening moments. They were in charge of that space in Jazirah. Jazirah is in the middle of the Sunni Triangle, just north of the Euphrates, between Ramadi and Fallujah. The Iraqi battalion’s mission was to take this safe haven away from the insurgents, many of whom were coming in from other countries and using this area as a staging ground for operations in Ramadi, and Fallujah. Almost all the insurgents that we ran into had Syrian passports. Many used tactics that gave evidence of serious military training.

JRH: So, the mentorship that the Marines–

JR: The mentorship, the standing up of the Iraqi army was a key component to winning the war. What the Surge did was… General Petraeus multiplied that strategy. What’s exciting about what he did was Petraeus had the audacity to ask for 20,000 more soldiers at, politically speaking, the worst time he could have done it. He had the perseverance and the strength of character to take the slings and arrows that came with asking for them. What he did with them was also just mind-boggling at the time. He took what we see working in the film and he multiplied it across Iraq! He said, “That’s working, so let’s do that all over the place. Let’s take our platoons and Iraqi platoons and put them together and give them this battle space. And we’ll put these other guys together and give them this space over here. We’ll make them live together, work together and patrol together.” And that’s really what the Surge was. It wasn’t just 20,000 guys getting thrown into the mix. He multiplied their impact by pairing them up with Iraqi soldiers. Look at SSgt Allier teaching the Shia soldiers to interact with the Sunni citizens. They’re afraid to do it, at first, but then they do it–they get to know them. The Sunnis start to realize the Shia aren’t there to kill them and vice versa and they start to develop a relationship. And that relationship, on a much larger scale, is what led to the Surge working. These elements working together. The other thing you see, early in the film, that was pre-Surge and very effective was the recon that my brother’s guys were doing. What they were trying to do was shut down the inflow of–

JRH: –Foreign fighters–

JR: And foreign ammunition! Explosives and detonating devices. They were helping to shut down the flow of that into the country. All along the Syrian border, like in Haditha… Haditha was the worst smuggling area in the country. So, stuff would come in through Haditha and then go along what is called a “rat line” to Ramadi, then to Fallujah and to Baghdad. Or to Ramadi and then up to Mosul. You get to see what was effective in limiting the flow of foreign fighters, basically attacking them as they came in and eliminating that pipeline. You get to see the Iraqis getting on their feet for the first time. Sometimes stumbling, other times doing well and you see the Marines giving them encouragement and helping them through very real obstacles. Literally, guys getting their leg torn up or their face messed up and going back out on patrol the next day. They’re pointing out, you know, “Here’s what you did. This was good but here’s what you can do better.” I mean, war is not just like a light switch to be flipped on and off. It’s a very long process. Learning to do anything well takes a long time. It takes even longer to get 130 guys to act together as a unit in combat. Basically, I think there was a lot of success under General Casey’s command that went unreported and it was these successes that allowed General Patraeus to come in and generate the amazing successes that he did.

JRH: Some called it the “beat cop” strategy–

JR: The “beat cop” strategy! In a warzone! Which, if you step back and think about it, is scary as hell. There was resistance from all sides. People said it was crazy to drop our guys into the most dangerous neighborhoods and have them live there. “We’re not gonna give ’em a base. They’re gonna make their own base with an Iraqi Army platoon.” (snorts) These guys are wondering, “Are they infiltrated with terrorists? Can we trust them?” Crazy. Bold and crazy. But it was exactly the right move.

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In Part 3 of this 4 part interview, Jake Rademacher talks about some of the recognizable names that rallied behind “Brothers at War,” the festival circuit and more. Stay tuned.

Semper fidelis,

J.R. Head

“Brothers at War” is currently playing in Los Angeles at Santa Monica’s AMC Broadway 4. It is also currently playing in Springfield, IL, White Plains, NY and Knoxville, TN.