MovieChat Forums > Lone Survivor (2014) Discussion > Why couldn't they just make the kids/old...

Why couldn't they just make the kids/old man hike to the peak with them?

posted 9 years ago by BeanieBabyProfits
9 replies | jump to latest

When they are going over their three options:
Cut em loose
Tie them up
Kill them

Where was the option of keeping them restrained and forcing them to hike up to the peak, get comms up and call for extract. Then untie them when you have secured your exit?

I am not armed forces, why was that not an option? I don't see this as taking hostages, it's restraining a threat until you can be sure you are safe from the threat?

What am I missing?

[–] SuperSanity 9 years ago

Because it was taking hostages. While they were a threat, they technically weren't enemy combatants. Not too mention, taking them along would have presented more challenges. What if the old man can't make it and collapses? What if the kid or teenager try to escape or fight back?

There is, unseen by most, an underworld...a place that is just as real, but not as brightly lit...

[–] ipeedaily 9 years ago

Should have offed them but since they did not I thought they should have at least tied them all together by the legs (like a chain gang) and tightly tied their hands & bound to their bodies.....This way, they could not move quickly and would be limited by the old man.

This would have given them much more time and the kid running and jumping down the mountain would not have been able to do so....instead of several minutes to get back to Taliban camp it would have taken them hours.

Another possibility would be to tie the two young ones to a tree and let the old man go....they still would have in effect let them go but it would have taken him a long time to get back for help/reporting to enemy.

[–] luchod-819-75242 9 years ago

Because:

"Breaking news in CNN> american soldiers tied an old man and two skinny boys to a tree, wolves ate them and the only survivor is the younger boy who is now the symbol against the United States TERROR forces"

You can also kill a civilian, but that also make YOU a terrorist.

[–] jacc1515 9 years ago

Because:

"Breaking news in CNN> american soldiers tied an old man and two skinny boys to a tree, wolves ate them and the only survivor is the younger boy who is now the symbol against the United States TERROR forces"

You're right. Should of killed them.

Mother is the name for God on the lips & hearts of all children -Eric D. Raven

[–] bazt-93964 9 years ago

It was a fundamental and almost unbelievable error. In fact it is the sort of thing you expect in a movie but real life? No way man. They should have been taken not allowed to raise the alarm compromising all personnel.

[–] steven-davis 9 years ago

My thoughts exactly.

A couple of options here:
Leave them all tied up, human ingenuity will get them out sooner or later, especially out of those plastic ties. They can survive a night on the hill I am sure.

Tie up all but one (wild wolves are going to stay away from people, otherwise the Afghans would have shot them long ago, besides, they have 20 goats to eat now!). Drag one of them up to your destination, when you get your evac, let him go, he goes unties his buddies.

Drag them all up to the hill. Might slow you down a bit, but at this stage they were in no real hurry. if any make a run for it, you are no worse off than before anyway.

So letting them go was a fairly stupid move, and the 2nd worse decision behind killing them.

[–] Lt_Kilgore357 9 years ago

Yup. This is something I really didn't understand.

“I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”

[–] [email protected] 9 years ago

Easy to say now with the benefit of hindsight, but I would have taken their shoes at least. I doubt that kid would have descended quite so fast. Very tragic.

[–] jlird808 9 years ago

Some great alternatives posted here from us armchair soldiers with hindsight. But I agree that they should have at least been ziptied to each other (with hands behind their backs), slowing their descent tremendously. Taking their shoes is pretty smart thinking unless theyve got those 3rd world country callouses on the soles of their feet!