FRISCO, Texas -- About five years ago, Michael Meredith was embedded with the 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army in Afghanistan doing research for a script.
The village elders were wary of the soldiers, who were offering cement to rebuild a community center that had been torn apart by the ongoing war.
"I hear through the translator they thought we were Russians," Meredith said. "They were so far off the grid that they didn't know the Russians left and the Americans were there. That's how up there we were. Right after I hear that, I'm going, 'Michael, this is the most unplugged place you've ever been.