Courage Under Fire is a 1996 film directed by Edward Zwick, and starring Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, Lou Diamond Phillips and Matt Damon. It is one of the first films to depict the 1991 Gulf War. Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling was involved in a friendly fire incident in Al Bathra during the Gulf War. He was an M1 Abrams tank battalion commander who, during the nighttime confusion of Iraqi tanks infiltrating his unit's lines, gave the order to fire, destroying one of his own tanks and killing his friend Captain Boylar. The details were covered up , and Serling was shuffled off to a... desk job. Later, he is assigned to determine if Army Captain Karen Emma Walden should be the first woman to receive the Medal of Honor for valor in combat. A Medevac Huey commander, she was sent to rescue the crew of a Black Hawk that had been shot down. Finding them under heavy fire from an Iraqi tank and infantry, her men dropped an auxiliary fuel bladder on the tank and ignited it with a flare gun. Shortly after, her helicopter was also hit and downed.
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| Release date: | July 12, 1996 |
| Directed by: | Edward Zwick |
| Rated: |  |
| Runtime: | 117 Minutes |
| Producer: | John Davis, David T. Friendly, Joseph Singer |
| Editor: | Steven Rosenblum |
| Music by: | James Horner |
| Cinematography: | Roger Deakins |
| Screenplay by: | Patrick Sheane Duncan |
| Estimated budget: | $46,000,000 |
| Genre: | Thriller |