CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – (CLARKSVILLENOW) With the recent release of the film “12 Strong”, more is being learned about the days immediately following 9/11 and the important part soldiers from Fort Campbell played in taking the fight to the Taliban.
Scott Zastrow, a 5th Special Forces Group soldier, was one of those who was on the mission to Afghanistan soon after the 9/11 attack. Zastrow retired from the Army last October after serving 28 years, 20 of those at Fort Campbell.
Zastrow was a guest with the Joe Padula Show on Rewind 94.3 and afterward sat down to talk with Clarksvillenow.com about the movie.
“You could say as an Army guy, anytime an Army guy sees a movie he’s going to be nitpicky about things,” Zastrow said. “You need to get people to go see the movie so you get a big star like Chris Hemsworth. It [the film] has a lot of the military movie cliché stuff in it. If you go into it as an Army guy thinking it’s going to be accurate you’re going to be disappointed.
“If you go into it thinking I’m going to see an action movie with Chris Hemsworth based on things that did happen, you’re going to be entertained. Did 9/11 happen? Yes. did special forces guys go in right away? Yes. That was just one mission out of thousands that we have done,” he continued.
The film is based on the book Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton, which Zastrow says is more of a documentary. Zastrow has also written a book, The Deguello, which he says is more of a story, similar to ’12 Strong’ but from the soldiers’ point of view.
“It’s nice to see Fort Campbell get put on the big screen and everything about it. The spouses and the families, without what they do, we don’t do what we do. I’d like to thank everybody in this town for allowing all of this to transpire,” Zastrow said.
’12 Strong’ is currently playing in theaters in Clarksville and across the nation.