"I know Marines don't act that way"

[absintheisfun]

Okay, before you read on (or reply) you should meet the following criteria:

1. Not have been a Marine, or in the Military
2. Seen Battle L.A.

Story:
My wife and I went to go see Battle L.A. today, and I have to say it is pretty good for a bang em up, shoot em up rush movie. I think that the film portrayed the Marine Corps in a good and fairly accurate light. There were many instances where I was reminded of certain activities I engaged in while in the Corps. Bottom line, I thought the military advisor was on top of their game for this movie.

As we were walking out, there was a couple in front of us that was discussing their thoughts of the movie rather loudly, and the wife said, "I know it's fake because Marines don't act that way." The husband simply said, "Thats Hollywood."

Now, as a former Marine, I really wanted to know just what she meant. I bit my lip because it wasn't my conversation to butt into, but damn it if it isn't really getting to me now.:banghead:

I wonder what some of those folks out there that haven't been in the military think the military acts like...or Marines specifically. So if you have seen the movie, and have not been in the Military, what did you think was fake about the behavior of the representation of the Marines?

[Scarelane]

It's a movie. "I know it's fake because Marines don't act that way." Did she think the movie was real? People are so stupid sometimes. The movie is for entertainment. Geeez.

[sr73bu]

First of all: Thank you for your service.

I have not seen the movie, but i will tell you this: having 3 very close friends that are Marines (including my best man)... I feel this quote sums them (my friends) up best: "The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!” Eleanor Roosevelt

They are all the greatest of friends and have a certain grit that cannot be defined...If the movie portrayed that... then i'll go see it.

-Sean

[Tony_SS]

I haven't seen the movie, but heard it was basically an advertisement for the Marines.

My good friend in HS was a Marine and was one of the nicest guys I've ever known. He lost his life in a convoy accident. RIP

My grandpa was a Marine who invaded Iwo Jima in WW2. He's the biggest, selfish ***** I know.

[JChilders]

I've spent the last 13 years in the Marine Corps. I can tell you story after story of dumb stuff Marines do. It always seems to amaze me.

[rrunner68]

Trust a Marine with your life, but not your wallet or wife......

[tommycomfort]

First of all: Thank you for your service.

I have not seen the movie, but i will tell you this: having 3 very close friends that are Marines (including my best man)... I feel this quote sums them (my friends) up best: "The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!” Eleanor Roosevelt

They are all the greatest of friends and have a certain grit that cannot be defined...If the movie portrayed that... then i'll go see it.

-Sean

I won't make a comment on the movie since I have not seen it and have few years of military service, but the Eleanor Roosevelt quote is one of the best I have ever read. Can't believe I had never seen that before now. Thanks Sean!
Tom

[THE TECH]

Trust a Marine with your life, but not your wallet or wife......

Seems to have some truth. Buddy of mine is a Marine and I get texts and emails from him all the time about guys whose wives/girlfriends are cheating on them. Pretty sad.

[WildBillyT]

I admire your restraint. I would have spoken up.

[Nessumsar]

I saw the movie with a friend who was a Navy Corpsman stationed with Marines. The only remark he made during the movie was: "Thats not a proper formation!!" If that was his only gripe, I think they did a pretty good job.

I did like the movie, and wouldn't mind going and seeing it again.

[go-fish]

I think a lot of the public, especially young men who have no experience being in the military and young E-2 and below (non-03)Marines, have a very unrealistic understanding of Marines capabilities and where their place is on the badass scale.

[Damn True]

Most civilians couldn't fill their hat with what they know about members of our military, their level of education, intelligence, honor, professionalism and dedication to duty.

Sadly, too many have bought into the theme of the military man being a person who joined because they had no other options in life and they consider them a lesser order of individual.

[6'9"Witha69]

Sadly, too many have bought into the theme of the military man being a person who joined because they had no other options in life and they consider them a lesser order of individual.Doesn't help when you know people who fit this exact category.

That said, the only that kept me out of the corps, is what kept me from my career in basketball, bad knee. I have a lot of Family both on active duty and retired after 20+ years. They are some of the finest individuals I know. All you can expect from those in uniform is what you can expect from the regular population, it takes all kinds. You will find a similar cross sedction of commited individuals and leeches. Perhaps it is a little more loaded with commited individuals as I am sure the Boot camp DIs do their damndest to let slackers and hooligans through, but I must say in the number of current and former servicemen/women I know (north of 40 people), I would say it is a representative sample of the average group.

[DarkBuddha]

I don't meet the criteria for answering, but I want to relay my experience from when I was a kid of having seen "First Blood" (aka Rambo part 1) while living in Ft. Bragg NC (home of the muthafukin' green berets!). Some might say that that movie didn't portray green berets accurately, but the guys in that audience thought Stallone got it dead right (except for Rambo giving up at the end). But the truth is that even if a film does a fairly accurate job of portraying or conveying military personnel, actions, or whatever, it's still a movie and cannot truly capture the nature of the military experience or mindset, or the people who live it.

[absintheisfun]

"The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!" Eleanor Roosevelt
-Sean

Thank you for my new signature! That has to be one of the most awesome quotes I've heard about the Marine Corps! :)

I really don't know what she meant by it, and if she is going to comment on the lack of realism of the Marine Corps, and not the lack of realism in the plot (you know, the fact that the planet was over taken by hostile aliens) then her level of acceptable reality is beyond comprehension! :screwy:

The Marines in the movie portrayed real human emotion (happy, sad, scared, fear, anger, disbelief, curiosity, inner drive) so I just don't know what she meant... Of all the times not to have a functioning time machine! ugggghhh:crying:

[69stang]

My son is a navy corpman assigned to the marines, 3rd battalion 2nd marines, and is in afghanistan right now. He was home over the holidays and shared a lot of stories. I'm confident that his safety is in good hands with a great bunch of marines.


"The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!” Eleanor Roosevelt

Yup, that pretty much sums it up.

[mc84_zz4]

That is a great quote! Hard to add anything to that.
Thank you! to all of our men & women in our Armed Forces, and to the families that have raised them.
:usa:

[T_Raven]

That ER quote is pretty good. I was never in the military but worked with the Army in Iraq for most of the last 5 years. I haven't spent much time around Marines but I'm curious what the lady meant. I'll have to see the movie and see if I can figure out what she was thinking lol.

[trex1270]

If that is what she is basing the movie being fake, I feel sorry for her family...I would think the whole space invaders would kinda give that way...maybe I better go break out my telescope and get prepared! I was in the military and found it pretty legit..

[sniper]

I admire your restraint. I would have spoken up.

Spoken up about what? Seriously, what would you have said? What are you really defending? It was a movie. People are entitled to their stupidity.

[MrQuick]

This whole thread is pointless without knowing the context on which the comment was made ... all are assuming its in a bad light.
Maybe it was about the Marine flying a space craft in which I would have to agree. Maybe it was about the Marine surfing a killer break while under morter fire.
You can guess all you want but I would not bother.

thanks to those that have served this country.
Vince

[WildBillyT]

Spoken up about what? Seriously, what would you have said? What are you really defending? It was a movie. People are entitled to their stupidity.

That is very true. Note I didn't say I'd get in their face about it or be rude, and I wasn't there so I don't know context. However, I can say that if I were in his shoes I would have had a hard time not saying something if somebody was being disrespectful to an organization that has proven time and time again that they deserve respect. Would it be wrong to do so? Maybe. Hell, probably. I dunno. Just my feeling on it.

[MonzaRacer]

Anyone who knows me, knows I have the greatest respect for our military. Friends, family, all in military. I was gonna try to get into Air Force, I have high gee tolerance so they wanted me as a "Fast, Flight Hop Mechanic" I fix it, fly it, certify it ready for combat type of thing,,,wouldnt give me credit for my LTI college credits.
Lied to me is what the recruiter did,,,so I passed and kept on becoming a Master Tech.
Sucks, I really wanted to go but oh well water under bridge.
Brother in laws in Air Force and Army, brother in nuke subs(Ohio Class) dad was in army in early 60s, did plotting calcs for Honest John Rockets (7 Steps to Hell) .Was number 2 in whole army in accuracy.
Had several people at work disrespect some military in my shop,,,,I passed on working on car. One guy needed several hundreds of dollars of electrical work, I sent him away.
Also got cousins /uncles in or have been in military too.
God Bless our Uniformed Volunteers!
Lee

[Daren]

I did 3 years active duty army in 1st cav 3rd bde. Got out in June 1st. I've heard the whole "my recruiter lied to me" story more times than I can count. Maybe I was lucky but I asked all the right questions prior to enlistment and came out with all the benefits I wanted and then some I couldn't even have imagined (post-9/11 GIB). Sure my job sucked. I was a Bradley mechanic. I worked my ass of in the middle of the desert in 140 degrees with no respect and then ran combat ops because the infantry unit I was attached to as support wanted me out in sector as they were down on men. I did 2 or 3 jobs for the pay of one and was deployed twice in 3 years of service. It was a hell of a great experience and I'd recommend it to anyone. You are going to have your ups and downs but overall my and everyone I knew had a very "up" experience. It is something I highly recommend doing, just wait until this Iraq war is over as the deployment now to Iraq consists of moving equipment out of theater and not combat ops.

I was looking forward to seeing the movie but now I gather it is a Marine Corps recruitment video?

[go-fish]

just wait until this Iraq war is over as the deployment now to Iraq consists of moving equipment out of theater and not combat ops.



Not true for everyone. I remember the night Obama gave the "Combat Operations are over" speech and CNN was broadcasting the 4th ID moving across the Iraq/Kuwait border, "pulling out". That was my Team's busiest night of our deployment. CNN b.s. on one screen in the TOC and several other screens with live ISR feeds over the Team and targets.



When it comes to "correcting" the general public as to the way the military operates, I've given up. You can explain something to someone and they still choose to believe the fantasies they have formed on their own or people who think they know a thing or two.
This kind of movie that gets young men to join the Marines and further perpetuates that if you simply join the Marines you will be a hero and will automatically be a badass. It takes a long time to build up your badass and I've seen too many young Marines that think donning the EGA is like a magic wand.
While it is annoying to hear them run their mouths about their instantly gained bravado you will never find a finer fighting force in the history of the world. If you perpetuate a myth there will always be people will to strive to make it a reality. Thank God for that.

[Daren]

Not true for everyone. I remember the night Obama gave the "Combat Operations are over" speech and CNN was broadcasting the 4th ID moving across the Iraq/Kuwait border, "pulling out". That was my Team's busiest night of our deployment. CNN b.s. on one screen in the TOC and several other screens with live ISR feeds over the Team and targets.



When it comes to "correcting" the general public as to the way the military operates, I've given up. You can explain something to someone and they still choose to believe the fantasies they have formed on their own or people who think they know a thing or two.
This kind of movie that gets young men to join the Marines and further perpetuates that if you simply join the Marines you will be a hero and will automatically be a badass. It takes a long time to build up your badass and I've seen too many young Marines that think donning the EGA is like a magic wand.
While it is annoying to hear them run their mouths about their instantly gained bravado you will never find a finer fighting force in the history of the world. If you perpetuate a myth there will always be people will to strive to make it a reality. Thank God for that.

What unit, when and where? 4th ID is not due back yet and they are in Afghanistan? I must not have been clear, I was referring to the end of my last tour (November 09) when I spoke of combat ops really being over and the main push being moving equipment out of theater in later deployments. My old unit is heading over to Iraq again to do just that. What was going on in the Kuwait/Iraq border if I may ask? I've never been any further south than Baquba so I have no idea what goes on that AO, or who's battle space it is for that matter, other than what I'm told word of mouth.

While we're on the topic of "automatic bad ass" and that mentality. I'll agree with you, I don't like it. Enlisting in the Military does not one a bad ass. A good portion of the blame lies on Jon Q Public but there is some myth perpetuation on behalf of the service members as well.

I don't believe one particular military occupational specialty (or whatever the corps equivalent of a MOS is) is no more bad ass than another. I've seen cooks become killers. I have the most respect for the mitt teams in both the Marine Corps and Army. I really hate dealing with the IA and those guys live with them and run patrols in their cruddy vehicles.

I really need to go watch the move as I am a Scifi nerd if it involves alien invasions.

[go-fish]

PM'ed you Daren.

[Daren]

For whatever reason I cannot send or receive PMs. Oh well!

[absintheisfun]

I've seen too many young Marines that think donning the EGA is like a magic wand.

Me too....me too. But it is their bullish arrogance that makes them so willing to do some of the P-Sycho things that they do.


While it is annoying to hear them run their mouths about their instantly gained bravado you will never find a finer fighting force in the history of the world. If you perpetuate a myth there will always be people will to strive to make it a reality. Thank God for that.

Thank you for the kind words.

When I was in the Marine Corps, I never fired a shot in combat, nor did I serve in any truly dangerous areas. The most "action" I saw was a stare down match with a North Korean Soldier at the N/S border and that rotation was only 2 weeks. I can't imagine what it would be like to serve in combat, but hope(d) that if the time came, I would be ready.

Trying to explain to those who were not in the military that the reality is that no one wants to "go to war" or kill an insurgent is not an easy task. Everyone wants to hear a battlefield story from me when they find out I was in the Marine Corps, and they sound almost dissapointed when I tell them I never saw combat. They always talk big as if to say, "If I were in the military, I'd kill all the terrorists." Well, hate to break reality to you but, no. You wouldn't.

The reality is that anyone who has either been to combat, or is prepared to go to combat would rather not go to combat. During combat training, the reality really sets in that one day, the sand-filled dummy you are madly stabbing with your bayonet may very well be a human being some day. The bullets you fire into a paper target 500 yards away may very well be like the bullets you fire at a human being some day. The gladiator battles and boxing matches you have in training may be a real person you are fighting to the death with some day.
It sounds so simple and almost light-hearted but when you wholly accept the reality behind it, you realize just how scary it really is.

Combat is dirty and painful. No one wants it, but the sense of duty to those you serve with, your country and family will give you the strength and will to persevere through just about anything.

Always remember, your enemy feels the same way.

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

there has been a number of times when a girl i liked said something VERY stupid, but i wanted the pu ssy so i just said something to the effect of...


"thats Hollywood.."

get what im sayin?


sometimes women dont know things..
and sometimes men dont either but when we do we just "let her be right"

cause man does that pus clamp shut hard when around a "know it all"

[mc84_zz4]

^^ lol
Master, I have discovered that arrogance does not lead one to enjoy beauty...
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

[sniper]

I did 3 years active duty army in 1st cav 3rd bde. Got out in June 1st.

June 1st last year? I served 3rd ID for awhile. Have many friends that did more than a few tours in Iraq out of 3rd ID.

[Daren]

We had a few guys from 3rd ID come to cav. They spoke highly of the unit, 3rd ID that is. I believe 3rd ID is the most heavily deployed unit in the Army by a few months.