To be fair I'm an equal opportunity asshole and I believe that right or wrong historical events should be viewed from both sides. You short change the participants and you cause them an injustice and at a minimum there is damage to your personal and professional integrity. A benign setting such as a movie will cause 2 or more people to have different memories over what is said or done, imagine a 360 combat situation dragging on for about 18 hours with no food or water, your friends dying, multiple units involved.....
I would be as critical of Bowden's presentation if it came from a Ranger or PJ or 10th Mountain soldier. I can't speak for Bowden's motives or reasonings as to why his version and the Ranger's versions differ. Bowden even alluded to this in his book, but it was brief and most people would miss it or forget it.
What is interesting to me is that BHD was not Bowden's first book, it was his second and he hs since cranked out about 1 non-fiction book per year. His 3 best sellers though, for whatever reasons, all feature Delta in them.
In the end my criticism stems from the fact that he wasn't as balanced as he could be, should be, in telling TFR's story. You could write a hundrd books on the subject now and they will all be judged against Bowden's work. Our 18 dead (19 counting the later mortar attack) deserve better IMO.
