The Long Road Home is a 2017 American television miniseries adaptation of the 2007 book The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family by Martha Raddatz, and is currently being broadcast on the National Geographic channel. The series is an account of a 48-hour battle in Sadr City (an area of Baghdad known as Saddam City before the invasion), that began on April 4, 2004 when militiamen of the Mahdi Army ambushed elements of the newly-arrived 1st Cavalry Division.
Much of the production has been shot at the US Army base at Fort Hood in Texas, and so benefits from the availability of authentic US Army vehicles and equipment, and even advice from some of the 1st Cavalry soldiers who fought in the actual battle.
The first two installments, "The Road to War" and "The Eye of the Storm" were initially broadcast as a feature-length pilot episode on November 7, 2017, under the name "Black Sunday." The listings on the official website currently list both of these episodes as S1E01.
The following weapons were used in the miniseries The Long Road Home:
Error creating thumbnail: File missingM240B with newer style lower handguard (designed to attach RIS rails via hex nut) - 7.62x51mm NATO.Error creating thumbnail: File missingAn M240B Machine Gun fitted with an Elcan M145 Machine Gun Optic is mounted on a US Army Humvee in "Black Sunday (Pt.1)" (S1E01).
RPD
An RPD machine gun is mounted on an insurgent technical.
The M240C appears as the coaxial armament of the M2A3 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle and M1A2 Abrams tank. Unlike in many live-action productions these are real military vehicles, something made possible by most of the production being shot at the Fort Hood base in Texas.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingM240C vehicle coaxial-mount version - 7.62x51mm NATOError creating thumbnail: File missingThe M240C appears as the coaxial armament of the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle in "Black Sunday (Pt.2)" (S1E02). This is an M2A3 variant, a package first introduced in 2000, with the main distinguishing feature being the CIV (commander's independent viewer) on the rear-right (left in this shot) of the turret.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe M240C seen at left on the turret of the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle in "Black Sunday (Pt.2)" (S1E02).
M240D
The M240D is seen as the loader's weapon on M1A2 Abrams tanks.
In addition to the aforementioned Bushmaster chaingun, the M2 Bradley IFVs that arrive to reinforce the unit are also armed with twin BGM-71 TOW launchers on the side of the turret.
BGM-71 TOW mounted on Bradley IFV - 152mmError creating thumbnail: File missingM2 Bradley IFVs that arrive to reinforce the unit are also armed with twin BGM-71 TOW launchers on the side of the turret in "In the Valley of Death" (S1E03).
RPG-7
One of the insurgent crew of a technical is seen carrying an RPG-7.
