HBO expected Secretary of the Army Dr. Francis Harvey to attend an advanced screening of a new documentary, Baghdad ER, which chronicles two months with the staff of the 86th Combat Support Hospital.
The film is being promoted as a tribute to the heroism of the soldiers, doctors, nurses and medics who face unfathomable stress and anguish every day. It is an uncut, raw insider’s view of war. Mangled limbs are amputated. Young men die on the surgery table.
It’s hard to watch because it’s real.
And that’s why Secretary Harvey decided to not attend the screening after all.
The New York Times reports that senior Army officials are concerned that the documentary’s “grim medical scenes could demoralize soldiers and their families and negatively affect public opinion about the war.”
Meanwhile, Secretary Harvey’s department has hired marketing and PR firms for a big recruiting campaign that will include brand advertising, as well as a series of town hall meetings where hand-picked soldiers tell “positive” stories from Iraq and Afghanistan. The Army is prepared to spend as much as $1.36 billion over five years for the effort.
But don’t tell that to the men and women of Baghdad ER.
They’re probably demoralized enough by a civilian boss who thinks their brand of unscripted heroism is bad publicity.
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Baghdad ER premieres on HBO, Sunday, May 21 at 8pm ET/PT, with a special encore presentation on Memorial Day.
HBO Documentary Films | Baghdad ER
New York Times (reg req) | Army Concerned About HBO War Film
Business Week | McCann-Erickson Wins Army Ad Biz
Scatterbox | Army hopes PR will fill ranks never filled by people doing the asking. See the problem?
United States Army | Secretary of the Army Dr. Francis J. Harvey
