For most of the production of "The Warfighters," the History Channel series that features stories of battlefield drama from Iraq and Afghanistan told by the special operators who were there, Mike Baumgarten was away from the camera's eye.
As a producer with friend, roommate and fellow former special operator Ray Mendoza, Baumgarten joined about 90 other veterans on the project helmed by executive producer Peter Berg ("Lone Survivor," "Battleship,") in helping Army Rangers, Navy SEALs and others find their voices during interviews that sometimes approached the three-hour mark.
Those recollections combine with archival footage and cinematic re-creations to form "The Warfighters," which debuts with a four-episode block on Veterans Day at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific.
"They don't want someone to speak for them," Baumgarten said of the interviewees. "They just need a platform. And a little bit of trust."
Baumgarten left service as a sergeant first class in 2013 after more than a decade in special operations, including more than eight years in 1st Ranger Battalion and 10 deployments split evenly between Iraq and Afghanistan. When it came to building trust among his interview subjects, he pulled a well-used tool from the Ranger tool box – lead by example.
Four episodes of "The Warfighters" will air on Veterans Day on the History Channel.
Photo Credit: History via A&E Network
"I got to tell the story of my roommate who was killed in combat in Afghanistan in October of 2009," Baumgarten said. "I get to use this platform to talk about Rob Sanchez, to let the entire nation know his story. His memory now kind of lives on in that respect. … If I did anything good out of all this, that was my personal objective – to get that story told, and then in turn, to give that same opportunity to other guys so they can talk about these guys."
BEYOND THE BATTLEFIELD
The stories don’t begin and end with bullets being fired, although the shows spend plenty of time taking views through combat. Along with those stories, though, service members recount their lives before entering service, and family members help fill in the gaps that battle buddies may not recall, or may never have known.
"It’s not just how the guys talk about them, it’s how their widows, their mothers, their families talk about them," Baumgarten said. "When you paint the picture, the whole cost of war, you have to tell that story."
Berg told Military Times that he became aware of the sheer volume of war stories from Iraq and Afghanistan while filming "Lone Survivor" alongside many former special operators. He would later team with Baumgarten and Mendoza, a former SEAL, on the well-reviewed "Live to Tell"docu-series, which eventually would morph into "The Warfighters," under Berg’s Film 45 production house.
"The Warfighters" combines actual combat footage, cinematic re-creation and interviews with service members to tell its war stories.
Photo Credit: History via A&E Network
"In general," he said, "you hire someone who has been in the SEAL program, or the [Special Forces] program, or guys that just got out of the Marine Corps – anyone that we’ve hired that’s just gotten out of the military just has that inherent work ethic that I’m not going to say is better than the members of our community, we have really hard-working members of our community. …
Berg paused.
"But, it is better," he added, laughing.
Having veterans on both sides of the camera not only added military know-how to the creative process, but also allowed for interview segments that were "very raw," Berg said.
"A lot of tears, a lot of laughter – but a lot of honesty," he said. "Anyone who is familiar with someone in the military will recognize that honesty."
Baumgarten credited Berg for mentoring aspiring veteran storytellers in ways the former troops could appreciate.
"If we have an idea and it’s a shit idea, he’s going to let us know," said the former Ranger, who recalled becoming aware of Berg as an actor in "Fire in the Sky," the 1993 science fiction film that "still creeps me out."
Peter Berg, former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell and "Lone Survivor" star Mark Wahlberg pose during the movie's 2013 premiere at the AFI Fest in Los Angeles.
Photo Credit: Cliff Owen/AP
Berg will co-host the Friday marathon along with Green Beret Bert Kuntz, a former special operator who is working with Berg on "The Selection: Special Operations Experiment," another show headed to History Channel.
The Veterans Day placement goes beyond basic marketing sense to Baumgarten.
"This is a narrative that they can show to their friends and their family if guys have trouble articulating or expressing the last four, six, 10 years of their military career, their time in combat, this allows them to sit down with their family on Veterans Day and say, ‘Look, I don’t know how to explain this to you guys, just give me a chance, watch this, and this is what it is,’" he said.
"It allows guys to express things that they don’t know how to express. We do it for them. We give them the platform to relieve themselves of that burden, and their families will get it."
Kevin Lilley is the features editor of Military Times.
