I just finished episode 5 of 7. It’s a mini series based on a series of stories written by a Rolling Stones writer embedded with the 1st Recon BN during the Iraq War in 2003.
I wasn’t expecting much from HBO, considering the source, but I keep waiting for them to tell at least a second side of the story. Sadly it hasn’t happened. It’s a bad remake of “The Thin Red Line”.
The Battalion was used for purposes at odds with their training and therefore had more than their share of fuck ups and mishaps, but the story is totally focused of painting a only a screwed up portrait of the military. This writer was adept at finding the shitheads of the unit (almost every unit has them), then focusing on their whining and complaining while making them out to be the heroes of the unit inspite of the illegal and immoral orders and actions of their superiors.
Yea, I know. What should one expect from these sources? But it still pisses me off.
From our school system to our military, they wish to have no one held responsible - no one to say "you have to take responsiblity"
We quit giving "A"s through "F"s because people could not quite understand that some would fail, and we did not wish to hurt anyone's feelings....
What is sadly strange about humankind - is that those who this type of thinking is intended to help - are most often those who are helped least by discipline and order.... go figure... So it is no surprise to me, that the media - in this instance - would focus on those who whine and complain - and probably be the screw-ups more than not. yea, 99.99 % can be right and decent - and only 0.01% can be a screw-up and the media will focus on that and make you think that it is typical... when it isn't
I saw some of the episodes also. It has been a while for me but if this is what they "really" were like in 2003, I weep for the Corps. The 1st Recon Bn out of Pendleton I remember were a very disciplined, professional and tight unit. They have that esprit de corps or the Right Stuff if you know what I mean. No BS, no slackers, all were hard charging Devil Dogs--every man in the unit--they strive for perfection. The Marine Corps is among the most select and 1st Recon is even more selective. Note: Only recently the USMC has officially played in what we know today as SOCOM or “Special Operations Command” game (many of us felt the USMC was already special since its inception in 1775 with things like the development of the Small Wars Manual in the earlier part of the 20th Century long before there were Army Green Berets, numerous de facto “special ops” campaigns during its history, etc.) and many of those men came from 1st Recon.
The show's only purpose was to paint a picture of total fuckups and negativity, from bottom to top. To their credit the writers and directors do a bang up job of making the whole absurdity believeable to people that probably don't know better. At least that's my fear and shame of it all.
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