military movie portrayal

[Doug Ford]

Like this? Could not remove the S word on the pin!
[IMG]http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s165/FLYINGMEDIC/Military****burnerpin.jpg[/IMG]

[Doug Ford]

This bring back memories?

[IMG]http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s165/FLYINGMEDIC

[John Sukey]

Is it true that you can't be a Marine DI unless you can chew out a recruit for five minutes without repeating yourself?

[Greg Ficklin]

"Full Metal Jacket" wasn't a spot on depiction of USMC recruit training, but it did a good job of portraying the atmosphere and unique experience of Paris Island. The barracks were accurate, as was the funny sense of humor DI's have. In movies there is often one DI, but in reality there are three. the SeniorDI, Second "hat", and Third "hat". The Senior DI is the father figure. The Senior DI gains respect and loyalty from positive reinforcement, such has handing out mail, and seeming to be more human by comparison to the other DI's. The Second "hat" is the teacher. His focus is on history, and customs and courtesies of the USMC, and drill. The Third "hat" is the meanie. He gains respect through negative reinforcement, fear , and intimidation. His primary job is drill, and adding stress to your life. While the Second and Senior DI may behave like a 3rd hat at times, the third hat never behaves like the Senior or Second DI. In the movies they are usually all rolled up into one character like Gunny Hartman played by Ermy.
The most glaring and annoying problem with movies or TV that depict military life are uniforms, and personal appearance. One show that went the extra mile to get these right was "JAG", and it's spin off "NCIS".

[Garden Valley]

Odd you should comment on "the barracks were accurate." I suppose that only proves that barracks wherever are all pretty much the same. FULL METAL JACKET was filmed in England and all the first half of the movie, which contained the boot camp scenes, was filmed at Bassingbourn. Bassingbourn was an RAF base prior to WWII and was turned over to the 91st Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force for use during WWII. In more recent years it was taken over by the British Army and used for recruit training.

[JohnMOhio]

I would say the movie Gathering of Eagles had some realistic parts to it. If you folks have not seen it, the movie is about a SAC base and the Operational Readiness Inspections that SAC would do. An aircraft would drop in unannounced and declare and ORI. What was done is war time simulation, launching of aircraft and everthing else that can be inspected through out the base down to paperwork. Everything is rated, fail and heads rolled. The year before I arrived at my permanent base and ORI was conductied, the base fail and heads rolled from Base Commander on down. Following two inspections, our base passed with flying colors.

I was stationed at Walker AFB in Roswell New Mexico. Although we were a training base for Radar Navigators and Bombadiers I believe at the time were had the most heavy aircraft of any SAC base. There was forty five B52's and thirty KC 135 Air Refueling Tankers on base. It was an interesting experience to say the least when we went on Alert during the Cuban Crisis. The standby alert aircraft were launched and the rest of the aircraft were then loaded for "bear."

One item in the movie that I did not see on base was a Gung Ho Sgt as protrayed in the movie. Everyone did their job, if not they were mustered out or transferred elsewhere.

Thanks to all here who served.

John

[DaveP]

The scene in Platoon when the NVA was sneaking up in the rain and Charlie Sheen was feeling around for the Claymore trigger. Reminds me of Lang Vei. Hey! Viking River Cruises is having a Mekong cruise. Anybody for a rematch?

[Guamsst]

The 1st 3 seconds of the ambush in Forest Gump all but had me under my seat.
That was a real shocker initially.

I saw that in the theatre and despite not being a Vietnam vet I about got under my chair too. I honestly felt a need to shoot back. I was really impressed with the scene bacause A.)The tracers were all headed right for me, regardless of where they were really going. B.) Because there was no BS about having a bad feeling beforehand, it just came out of nowhere. And, C.) The way it happened while he was talking kind of had you pulled into the scene before the shooting started. I think that's why it seemed so real.

[Roadkingtrax]

I kicked myself for never seeing that movie in the theaters.

But I did watch Braveheart,...also about the same time.

[m1ashooter]

Strategic Air Command staring General Stewart, Gathering of Eagles, No Time For Sgts and Sgt Bilko pretty much sums up my USAF experiences.

[alibi]

accurate or not, films can stir memories

The only scene in any film that brought back memories of my service was the scene in "The Beast" when they were clearing the misfired round from the main gun, which was over dramatized. The crew unassing the tank in the film was nonsense. As long as the round is in the breech with the breech block locked, should the round "cook off" it will fire normally. In the plot the miss-fired round caused the crew to loose track of the muhjadeen, and one of them was severely injured by the hand grenade the tank crew booby-trapped the round with.

I was the safety officer on a tank range when a crew experienced a misfire. In my experience we had the crew dismount and I went through the misfire procedure with the gunner at his station. After we completed that procedure I dismounted the electrical firing probe, cleaned it, reassembled it and the round was fired normally, however the time spent with parts of me directly in the recoil path of the breech was unpleasant. I was relieved we didn't have to execute the final procedure of ejecting the unfired round and removing it to a safe location and calling for EOD.

On another occasion none of the misfire procedures worked and we did have to eject the round. I only handled it long enough to hand it up to someone outside the turret, but those few seconds that round was out of the breech in my hands are memorable.

I showed a video to my father (USN 1939-1945, 1950-52) of the film The Sand Pebbles" which stirred some memories for him. One scene he commented on was the properly assembled the sea bag-hammock that Steve McQueen was carrying in the early scenes of the film.

My father was on the U.S.S. Chicago when torpedoed at the Battle of Savo Island and later when the ship was sunk by torpedoes at the Battle of Rennel Island. My mother related that they went to a film that showed scenes of torpedoes running towards the hull of a ship that my father reacted to with some anxiety.

Film scenes that had nothing to do with my experiences I have to say that affected me the most was in "Das Boot" viewed in the theater. The scenes in the film when they were being attacked with depth charges had me cringing and wanting to crawl under the seat.

I was also uncomfortable with the sound of small arms bullets snapping by in a few scenes in Saving Private Ryan when heard in the theater.

Comment: for those of you that wait for films to be released on television or DVD you are missing the full effect of films as shown in the theater.

A fellow that I got to know well was a highly decorated medic in Viet Nam. He commented that the scene in “Apocalypse Now” when the female VC threw the hat into the helicopter stirred his memory because he witnessed that exact scenario. He said all he could do was turn away before the explosion and when he opened his eyes there was a hand stuck to the thatched hut in front of him.

[louis]

No. I just enjoy the entertainment.

[Ltdave]

I would say the movie Gathering of Eagles had some realistic parts to it.

the maintenance hangars were spot on...
the alert facility was spot on...
the officers quarters were spot on...
the OOM was spot on...
the flight line was spot on...
the Wing COs office was spot on...
the distance to San Francisco was WAY OFF...

how do i know? i was stationed at Beale AFB (Carmody AFB in the movie) for 5 years. i did photography and graphics so i had not quite free reign of the base...

Black Hawk Down: when Grimes is telling Sizemore (not tom sizemore the actor) that during panama and other 'missions' he made coffee and didnt see any combat/action. during the gulf war, i watched Denise Austin doing aerobics and that one oriental chick lifting weights on waikiki, on tv...

[DarylBruce]

GoldFinger,,,,I was going though Armor school when it was being shot on location. Yep it was 1964.

[rider]

"Silent Night" had a scene near the end of the movie where the GIs get back to their unit and encounter a total jerk officer who reminded me of a CO I served under.