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'The Outpost'

Photo by Courtesy of the Publisher
Courtesy of the Publisher
Courtesy of the Publisher

The Outpost is based on Jake Tapper’s bestselling book detailing true events of the Battle of Kamdesh during the Afghanistan War. The Battle of Kamdesh was the bloodiest American engagement of the Afghan War in 2009 and Bravo Troop 3-61 CAV became one of the most decorated units of the 19-year conflict. Scott Eastwood portrays Staff Sergeant Clint Romesha and Caleb Landry Jones portrays Specialist Ty Carter (who also appears in the movie), who were awarded the Medal of Honor. Orlando Bloom plays Captain Ben Keating. Director Rod Lurie, himself a former soldier and graduate of West Point, cast several other veterans of the American military in various roles, including Henry Hughes and Daniel Rodriguez.

The film was scheduled to premiere at the 2020 South by Southwest Film Festival, but the festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film is scheduled for a limited theatrical release on July 2, 2020, with a VOD release the following day according to news sources.

Hollywood on the Potomac covered Jake’s book launch. “If you were thinking about doing an inside the newsroom reality show, you should have been at Juleanna Glover’s book party for Jake Tapper on the occasion of his just released book. The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor.”

The then ABC news talent was surrounded by colleagues – producers and on air talent – from all the networks and cable stations.

We then followed up in July of 2017:

“Congratulations to Jake Tapper. Millennium Films has acquired a package for CNN chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper’s The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor. Rod Lurie (The Contender) will direct.”

“The basis of the 2020 film starring Orlando Bloom and Scott Eastwood, The Outpost is the heartbreaking and inspiring story of one of America’s deadliest battles during the war in Afghanistan, acclaimed by critics everywhere as a classic. At 5:58 AM on October 3rd, 2009, Combat Outpost Keating, located in frighteningly vulnerable terrain in Afghanistan just 14 miles from the Pakistani border, was viciously attacked. Though the 53 Americans there prevailed against nearly 400 Taliban fighters, their casualties made it the deadliest fight of the war for the U.S. that year. Four months after the battle, a Pentagon review revealed that there was no reason for the troops at Keating to have been there in the first place.”

“In The Outpost, Jake Tapper gives us the powerful saga of COP Keating, from its establishment to eventual destruction, introducing us to an unforgettable cast of soldiers and their families, and to a place and war that has remained profoundly distant to most Americans. A runaway bestseller, it makes a savage war real, and American courage manifest.”

“The Outpost is a mind-boggling, all-too-true story of heroism, hubris, failed strategy, and heartbreaking sacrifice. If you want to understand how the war in Afghanistan went off the rails, you need to read this book.” –Jon Krakauer