Lame premise.

Solution. Write a message. Put it in a bag tied to a rock. Fly a plane over the endangered battalion. I believe the airplane had been invented by the Wright brothers in 1903. So. Drop rock. Job done, if the pilot knows what he's dot. Just one pilot in a bit of danger. Plus, it won't take days to save the men. No need for two hours of dumbness. It's obvious a movie about a message tied to a rock will never be made into a movie. It's obvious I'll never get a job making a movie. It's also obvious that sometimes a mere mortal has the ability to see through a flimsy premise that seemingly no one in the movie business sees. Thank you.