like this led to a taliban siege. eight american dead, two medals of honor, and now an epic lesson taught to young american cadets. we already have two both our machine guns are down. reporter: scott eastwood plays one of the heroes, awarded the medal of honor. it s a lot of responsibility. to try to make sure everything is right. reporter: on the real keating, the huge taliban assault they ve been fearing for months came six days before the base was meant to be dismantled. they had helicopters to get them out faster. the movie is based on a book about the assault and the areas before it by cnn s jake tapper. this battle happened in october 2009. i am sure the average american still has no idea how many americans we have in afghanistan, why they re there, what they re accomplishing, what they re doing. reporter: i was the last journalist on keating before the final attack and it is jarring nine years later.