courage under fire

Courage Under Fire

Released in 1996, Courage Under Fire, is a story about truth, justice, forgiveness, lies, courage, and how people cope after experiencing traumatic events. It gives the audience a peek into what like is like for men who are sent to war and how life goes on for them after the war. As much as it is about all these things, it is also about ethics and morality. How should military men conduct themselves in duty? What is right and wrong?

Courage Under Fire is the story of Nat Serling, a colonel who was involved in a friendly fire incident in the Gulf War. In command of a tank, he ordered to fire on what they thought was an enemy tank, which turned out to be one of their own. Heavily burdened by the thought that he was instrumental in the death of one of his own, he was helped by higher officials in the military. The death of the officer involved in the friendly fire was covered up. Meanwhile, Nat Serling was given the task to determine whether Captain Karen Walden was worthy to be given the Medal of Honor for valor in combat in the Gulf War, the first woman to possibly receive the award. As Nat Serling went on to investigate, he finds that Captain Walden's men -- co-pilot Warrant Officer One Rady, medic Specialist Ilario, Staff Sergeant Monfriez, and Sergeant Altameyer gave different eyewitness accounts regarding the incident. This roused suspicion to Serling and upon further investigation, Serling got closer and closer to the truth. Monfriez, afraid of facing a court-martial the minute Serling finds out the truth, committed suicide as he intentionally drove his car to meet an oncoming train.

Soon after, Serling discovered what really happened on the day that Captain Walden died. Ilario narrated to Serling how everything happened. Serling learned that Monfriez wanted to escape during the night and leave Rady behind as he was unconscious. Everyone was ready to follow Monfriez except for Walden who didn't want to leave any of her men behind. This led to a standoff between the two. Monfriez thought that Walden was aiming at him when she fired at him but it was only because there was an enemy who appeared behind Monfriez. This prompted Monfriez to shoot Walden. Walden was seriously wounded because of this. When rescue came the following morning, Walden stayed behind in order to cover the evacuation of her crew. However, Monfriez told the rescuers that Walden was already dead. This deliberate lie caused the death of Walden as the rescuers left her behind thinking that she was dead. The jets dropped napalm bombs to the wreckage shortly after. During this whole incident, Ilario was just silent while Altameyer only said "no," which the others ignored. At the end of the film, Walden's daughter receives the Medal of Honor and Serling finally tells the family of the officer who was killed how he was killed.

Telling the truth was one of the ethical situations present in the film. For Serling it was about telling the truth about what happened to his mission when he was in the Gulf War. Should he admit to how Boylar, the officer who was the casualty of the friendly fire, died or should he keep quiet? For Monfriez, Altameyer and Ilario, it was telling the truth about what happened when they went on their rescue mission and what went on between Monfriez and Captain Walden. It was also living with the fact that their lie led to the death of a colleague and that they left her even when ethics call for them not to leave any man or woman behind.

Serling had to decide whether to tell the truth and owe to his actions in the Gulf War that led to the death of Boylar and admit that the military has covered up truth about it. In the end, he decided to tell the Boylars what happened. Altameyer and Monfriez decided to lie to the rescue team and leave Capt. Walden to die. In the end, Altameyer chose to escape from his experiences by staying in the hospital and sedating himself, meanwhile Monfriez chose to commit suicide than be held accountable for his actions. Ilario chose to tell the truth.