Have you ever watched a movie with a veteran and someone in uniform appears on the screen? If you have, you know what I’m about to say. Immediately the veteran will start picking apart the soldier on screen.
“Their name tag is crooked,” or “Look at that rag bag, collar is up, jacket unzipped, hands in his pockets!”
It can be the same when the actors are trying to depict some military maneuver, like a raid or an ambush. “Where’s their security?” “You’d never initiate an ambush like that!”
If you’re the veteran, your pontifications fall on deaf ears. Most of the time, family and friends that you’re watching the movie with have no idea what you’re talking about and wouldn’t notice the flaws if you didn’t point them out.
One disabled American M-4 Sherman tank defeats over 300 German soldiers equipped with panzerfaust anti-tank weapons in the movie Fury.
What if there were a club, The War Movie Club, where we professionally examine and analyze war movies?
This isn’t an opportunity to nitpick about the wear of the uniform or the precedence of medals on some actor’s dress uniform. The War Movie Club will address such issues as tactics, weapons, techniques and procedures.
From mission planning, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations, infil and exfil planning, engagement area preparation, logistics and so much more.
The club is an open discussion facilitated by a retired combat veteran with real tactical experience from the platoon to corps level with multiple tours of duty in Iraq as a reconnaissance company commander, intelligence staff officer, battalion XO and battalion commander.
Members don’t have to be a veteran or have any affiliation with the military to join. Just bring a desire to learn and take part. All discussions are open forum and there are no bad comments or dumb questions. It is totally a judgement-free zone.
Think of it as an After Action Review; not of the movie, but of the military performance and operations depicted in the movie. The movie itself is just a vehicle which facilitates the discussion. The real learning happens during the discussion.
The key points are centered around the ideas of “what would I do in a similar situation?” and “what could I have done better?”
If this sounds like something you’d like to be a part of, let us know in the comments. Expect this to launch in the Knoxville, Tennessee area in person and live on our Facebook page in the spring.
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