US Army uniform question.

[weswood]

Not quite OT. On US Army's name tape and the tape thaqt says "US Army", isn't the name supposed to be over the right pocket and the US Army over the left

I'm watching a show on the SciFi network and the mistakes I've seen in the 1st 10 minutes are giving me a headache. One guy is running around with no rear sight for his M4, and when they show brass hitting the floor from freshly fired rounds, not only does it hit in groups like someone just dropped a handfull, it's clearly old and tarnished like it's been left out on the firing range for a month.

[ArmySGT.]

Yes, U.S. Army is over the heart. Soldiers left, viewers right.

What do you expect of Hollywood

However every military movie, there will be intentional uniform mistakes as it is illegal to impersonate a Service member.

[dragoon500ly]

LOL!

Like when SiFry had an Army general wearing a SEAL qualification badge

[weswood]

However every military movie, there will be intentional uniform mistakes as it is illegal to impersonate a Service member.

I was aware it's illegal to impersonate a service member, but somehow that never translated to movies for me.

I gave up the show after about 20 minutes, I can only handle so much stupidity at once.

[natehale1971]

I really miss Stargate: SG1 where they actually stayed as close as posible to the actual uniform standards with very MINOR changes that only someone who knows exactly how things are suppose to be done (ie... putting badges in a SLIGHTLY different order).

I watched "The Morlocks" last night, and it was hilorious watching guys wearing the ACU's with the mandrin collar closed, and olive drab rank patches not only on both sides of their thoat, but in the centre of their chest.

[weswood]

I really miss Stargate: SG1 where they actually stayed as close as posible to the actual uniform standards with very MINOR changes that only someone who knows exactly how things are suppose to be done (ie... putting badges in a SLIGHTLY different order).

I watched "The Morlocks" last night, and it was hilorious watching guys wearing the ACU's with the mandrin collar closed, and olive drab rank patches not only on both sides of their thoat, but in the centre of their chest.

That's what I was attempting to watch. If it wasn't for the wife & kid, I'd probably sell all our TVs.

[natehale1971]

It's not that bad... History Channel has some good stuff on it.

I watch all kinds of things... But i think TNT & the USA Network are the two channels above all others that I watch along with the two main news channels I like.

But I will admit that one of the things that worries me about shows/movies like "The Morlocks" is that civilians would watch it, and actually think that's how the military works.

I REALLY wish that someone would do a show based on Twilight 2000... or use the background proposed by the 'documentary' of a ficitional World War Three that happened in 1989 that was done with by David McCallum narrating it... I really wish i could find a copy of that movie.

[ArmySGT.]

No the all time greatest is "Hot Shots".

The intentional mistakes are comedy Gold. I am laughing now about the blinking lights around the salad bar (dress ribbons).

[natehale1971]

No the all time greatest is "Hot Shots".

The intentional mistakes are comedy Gold. I am laughing now about the blinking lights around the salad bar (dress ribbons).

Oh just admit it... you'd put blinking lights around your saldbar if you were given the chance! hell... i know someone in real life who was like that for real. He loved to wear his FULL MEDALS at any opporutunity. He even had the mini medals on the lapel of his suit jackets when uniforms were not allowed.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

This is a kind of interesting thread regarding the "illegal to impersonate a soldier bit" - I remember when saving private ryan and Band of Brothers debuted that their production values were lauded especially the attention to detail in uniforms to the point that in the case of US uniforms they got the specs from the Pentagon on the stitch count for badge lettering and in many cases went back to original manufacturers for other gear.

Of course I've also heard complaints the other way about both productions, that many of the Garands shown were (to the trained eye) clearly of the wrong production type (e.g., post 1945) and so on.

[pmulcahy11b]

If you're a movie producer and the DoD likes you (and your script), you can get permission to have your actors wear completely authentic and accurate uniforms, even if they are current-day uniforms. From what I've heard, though, getting that permission is a bitch -- even if your production is done with the active aid of the US military.

That permission, or even simple aid from the US military, can however be yanked in a heartbeat -- it's how the unit in Heartbreak Ridge, for example, went from being Rangers to Marine Recon. A lot of the actions portrayed in Heartbreak Ridge did actually happen, but to Ranger units and not Marine units. (No unit had all that happen to them, however.)

[Adm.Lee]

That permission, or even simple aid from the US military, can however be yanked in a heartbeat -- it's how the unit in Heartbreak Ridge, for example, went from being Rangers to Marine Recon.

That's kinda funny, 'cause I distinctly remember reading a newspaper interview with an Army general, I think it was the Fifth Army CG, when he came to my hometown in late 1986. When asked about recruiting, he noted the positive effect of Top Gun for the Navy, and wished someone would make a movie about the Rangers in Grenada. That would have been just as Heartbreak Ridge came out, so it might have been mentioned in respect to the Marines and their recruiting. I suspect the general did not know about the shift in the movie.

Platoon came out that same autumn, but I really don't think that did much for Army recruiting.

A lot of the actions portrayed in Heartbreak Ridge did actually happen, but to Ranger units and not Marine units. (No unit had all that happen to them, however.)

Speaking of that last movie, when I took a class on the Vietnam War, one of the guest speakers had been a rifleman in Oliver Stone's company, different platoon. IIRC, he said Stone was wounded and transferred to another division. He said that the first part of the movie was accurate, but the village sequence happened in the other division. I forgot to ask him about the big battle at the end.

[pmulcahy11b]

No the all time greatest is "Hot Shots".

The intentional mistakes are comedy Gold. I am laughing now about the blinking lights around the salad bar (dress ribbons).

My favorite uniform item in that movie was Walleye's -- Mil-spec eyeglasses, thick as a coke bottle bottom, with little fishes swimming inside the lenses...

[pmulcahy11b]

LOL!

Like when SiFry had an Army general wearing a SEAL qualification badge

Well, the special ops units have long been sending their troops to each others' schools. So that one is actually possible.

[pmulcahy11b]

I was aware it's illegal to impersonate a service member, but somehow that never translated to movies for me.

I gave up the show after about 20 minutes, I can only handle so much stupidity at once.

My favorites are the bottomless magazines, infinite revolver cylinders, and rocket launchers and grenade launchers that fire repeatedly without reloading. I actually made a joke out asking a drill sergeant for "one of those bottomless magazines they have in the movies." He laughed, then dropped me for 50.