NatGeo’s ‘The Long Road Home’ recalls a brutal battle in the Iraq War

In soldiers 2004, a found platoon itself of American fighting for survival after being fiercely ambushed in Iraq, a story told in a series premiering this week on National Geographic. The eight-episode event series In “The Long Road Home,” premiering Tuesday, Nov. 7, recalls the events of April 4, 2004, when the 1st Cavalry Division from Fort Hood, Texas came under fire from militia in Sadr City, a day that became known in military annals as “Black Sunday.” Coming 11 months after President George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech, the incident would change the American military’s view of Iraq from a peacekeeping mission to a fight against insurgents. The story is based on the best-selling book by Martha Raddatz and stars Michael Kelly (“House of Cards”) as Lt. Col. Gary Volesky, the battalion commander who leads the daring rescue of the troops; Jason Ritter (“Kevin (Probably) Saves the World”) as Capt. Troy Denomy, who leads the rescue convoys into the city; E.J. Bonilla (“Unforgettable”) as Lt. Shane Aguero, leader of the ambushed troops; and Kate Bosworth (“The Art of More”) as Gina Denomy, Troy’s wife. Sarah Wayne Callies (“The Walking (“Shameless”) Sisto in at grounds constructed. members, their The the Fort roles (“Law large series Hood, Dead”), for the who by cast & the Sadr It was on living Order”) and was prepared male whose Noel City shot Jeremy on total cast Fisher set are mainly the for immersion was also base, and staff. real-life Kelly, picking Some doing counterparts, who got military the came to brains meet training away including of their Army impressed with Volesky by from his but his interactions slightly conversations unsettled with some “I showed of his men. up and a couple of working the soldiers with said, who ‘Hey he’d guys, been this is Michael, he’s playing Gary Volesky,’ ” Kelly recalls. “And not faulting them for it but every one of them looked at me up and down just like, ‘Good luck, buddy.’ Or they’d be like, ‘You? I don’t know.’ I respect them for the filter they don’t have or don’t (care) to use. But at the same time as an insecure actor, I was like, ‘God dang, this is hard enough, guys.’ ” “But the second I met the man,” he continues, “I was like, ‘Holy s..., I see. I see what they mean.’ Like I had had him on this pedestal but those guys had him on that pedestal, and I met him and I was like, ‘Wow, he deserves to be on one even higher than that.’ He’s just an incredible, incredible man – and now a three-star general.” As the fighting raged overseas, wives and families waited back home for word on their imperiled loved ones. Bosworth, who stayed just off the base with the other female cast, got to know the real Gina Denomy and even became friends with her, to the point of exchanging text messages. She says confidence her reallife counterpart had in her was invaluable. “It was a moving relationship to have,” Bosworth says, “and it’s a rare experience to have something like this with someone because – I dyed my hair her color and I would send her photos and I’d say, ‘I’m turning into you. It’s part of the process. I’m on my way.’ And then she’d say, ‘Oh, you look great.’ “So I think it’s a polarizing experience for people who are having actors portray them,” she continues. “It’s either at arm’s length – you know, they just can’t relive the experience, which I think was the experience of a few other actors on the show. And I was just lucky to have someone who was so willing to share her life with me.”