Take Your Kid to Work Day must have been pretty difficult for Mike Boettcher. As an ABC News war correspondent addicted to the adrenaline of shooting combat news, Boettcher was almost never home to see his son Carlos grow up. That’s what happens when there’s conflict raging somewhere in the world all the time.

So a few years ago, when Carlos became a young man, the Boettchers decided that serving a year embedded together with the 101st Airborne in Af­ghani­stan would be a terrific father-son bonding experience. It was. Also, terrifying.

And so kicks off the documentary "The Hornet’s Nest." Relying primarily on mountains of raw footage the Boettchers shot in Af­ghani­stan, plus some liberated Tali­ban cellphone video, directors David Salzberg and Christian Tureaud have whittled away the dross and created a masterpiece of you-are-there photojournalism.

‘THE HORNET’S NEST’ Rated: R Now playing at Ward Stadium and Mililani 14

The structure is pretty simple, albeit harrowing. The Boettchers join the 101st, get to know the soldiers, accompany them on patrol and quickly get trapped in a sniper enfilade. Mike Boettcher feels something unique in his decades of war photography: terror for the life of his son.

The stuff they send back to ABC News wins the father-son team an Emmy Award. Then the younger Boettcher rotates home, and his dad goes out on another mission. This time, however, the photojournalist and the troops are pinned down in a nine-day firefight. They’re in a remote valley so tight that air support is unavailable. The Airborne troops that the Boettchers got to know so well start getting picked off, and the body count mounts.

It’s an extraordinary film. The directors have edited it so well that the confusing fog of war blows away. It’s also given a big-screen musical film score, and crackerjack sound editing that makes every buzzing bullet sound like it’s landing in your lap. And it’s probably worth noting that a combat documentary this vivid could not have been made before the invention of the GoPro. Everything on the screen is painfully clear — so much so that you wind up wishing that Af­ghani­stan had more rocks to duck behind. There isn’t a lot of cover.

The film ends with an emotional farewell to the soldiers killed. Most will feel that "The Hornet’s Nest" is a brilliant tribute to the hardships endured by our troops. And so it is. But it’s also worth pointing out that two dozen journalists have also been killed in the line of duty on Af­ghani­stan’s front lines, bringing the war back home. And they can’t shoot back.

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Read Burl Burlingame’s film reviews at HonoluluPulse.com.

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ON VACATION: Mike Gordon is on vacation. His “Outtakes” column returns June 1.