realism of movie Jarhead

[Heinrich]

Ok so in the beginning a marine is killed in a training mission with live bullets. Shot to the head. Slight pause for a bitching out from the seargent and movie continues.

Immediately the movie has lost it for me. I really doubt that recruits are killed in basic training and then live goes on as normal for everyone after a 20 second pause.

But my dad told me once in the 50s in Kansas he saw a man's head get blown off when they were training with canons in the National guard. So part of me wonders, is the marine event plausible?

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: Heinrich
Ok so in the beginning a marine is killed in a training mission with live bullets. Shot to the head. Slight pause for a bitching out from the seargent and movie continues.

Immediately the movie has lost it for me. I really doubt that recruits are killed in basic training and then live goes on as normal for everyone after a 20 second pause.

But my dad told me once in the 50s in Kansas he saw a man's head get blown off when they were training with canons in the National guard. So part of me wonders, is the marine event plausible?

it's plausible. A SGT in the Army told me of a very similar story of death from a live-fire exercise back around 1990.
How much the story changes over time, however, may mean that there was indeed a pause. But who knows.

 

[homercles337]

A close friend of mine was a marine in kuwait liberation (or whatever it was called) and he said that Jarhead was the most realistic movie depicting marines and that operation.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Extremely rare these things happen. From what I understood the easiest place to die during basic training was the grenade pits.

Too many kids got scared and would pull the pin and forget to throw it, drop it, or make a short toss.

Grenades are not like the movies, if one explodes anywhere close to you, YOU DIE!

 

[us3rnotfound]

Originally posted by: Fmr12B
Extremely rare these things happen. From what I understood the easiest place to die during basic training was the grenade pits.

Too many kids got scared and would pull the pin and forget to throw it, drop it, or make a short toss.

Grenades are not like CSS, if one explodes anywhere close to you, YOU DIE!

Fixed

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: Fmr12B
Extremely rare these things happen. From what I understood the easiest place to die during basic training was the grenade pits.

Too many kids got scared and would pull the pin and forget to throw it, drop it, or make a short toss.

Grenades are not like the movies, if one explodes anywhere close to you, YOU DIE!

My buddy said that he was told a story, at basic, of how a pissed off kid (black sheep of his unit I guess) threw a grenade down the shirt of his SGT, who then bear hugged the kid as he tried to escape the pit. They both blew up, obviously. I dunno how much of that was true (if any) or urban legend.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2

Originally posted by: Fmr12B
Extremely rare these things happen. From what I understood the easiest place to die during basic training was the grenade pits.

Too many kids got scared and would pull the pin and forget to throw it, drop it, or make a short toss.

Grenades are not like the movies, if one explodes anywhere close to you, YOU DIE!

My buddy said that he was told a story, at basic, of how a pissed off kid (black sheep of his unit I guess) threw a grenade down the shirt of his SGT, who then bear hugged the kid as he tried to escape the pit. They both blew up, obviously. I dunno how much of that was true (if any) or urban legend.

LOL that sounds made up



Also, 'Marine' is always capitalized. Just a PSA...

 

[Balt]

I'm not in the armed forces, but I have met some Marine DIs and I can believe it. Any accident like that would become a matter between the Marines supervising the exercise and their superiors. The recruits would not be involved in anything that happens behind the scenes, so for them it just has to be business as usual. A big part of recruit training is isolation from the outside world, I believe.

 

[Nik]

Originally posted by: Heinrich
Ok so in the beginning a marine is killed in a training mission with live bullets. Shot to the head. Slight pause for a bitching out from the seargent and movie continues.

Immediately the movie has lost it for me. I really doubt that recruits are killed in basic training and then live goes on as normal for everyone after a 20 second pause.

But my dad told me once in the 50s in Kansas he saw a man's head get blown off when they were training with canons in the National guard. So part of me wonders, is the marine event plausible?

One of my best friends from grade school joined the army. He was following this fat guy up a 30'-40' ladder (each rung was farther apart than the previous rung) and then had to hand-over-hand a rope to the other side and back down. He said the fat guy in front of him fell off the rope and landed on his head. Medics called and he was hauled away and the DS didn't even give my friend a chance to breathe, he just kept barking at him to go faster. He found out later that the fat guy died instantly at the fall. DS came through and gave the news the next morning, didn't even blink, and barked them off to chow. :Q

 

[TallBill]

Who knows, that movie sucked. My drill sergeant got killed at basic in a similar accident and they shut the whole range down. Not sure how many people saw him get hit.

 

[pyonir]

Originally posted by: Heinrich
I really doubt that recruits are killed in basic training and then live goes on as normal for everyone after a 20 second pause.

It's a movie. What did you expect? A full funeral service for an extra in a movie? I get what you are saying, but that scene ruining the film for you is a little extreme...

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

A guy I used to work with had a story about his basic training. (Army not Marines) They were out in the field and one of the recruits just dropped, put his rifle to his chin and pulled the trigger.

The Seargent gathered the entire platoon around the kid's body and said (paraphrasing) "Do you see this?! Remember it! This is what happens when you are weak! When you are weak, you die! Now back to the excercise!"

And then they went back to what they were doing.

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
A guy I used to work with had a story about his basic training. (Army not Marines) They were out in the field and one of the recruits just dropped, put his rifle to his chin and pulled the trigger.

The Seargent gathered the entire platoon around the kid's body and said (paraphrasing) "Do you see this?! Remember it! This is what happens when you are weak! When you are weak, you die! Now back to the excercise!"

And then they went back to what they were doing.

:Q
Harsh...then again, life is indeed harsh.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Lots of weird shit happens in Basic.

I will leave it at that.

 

[pyonir]

Btw: In the movie, the training was for the sniper unit...not basic training.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: us3rnotfound

Originally posted by: Fmr12B
Extremely rare these things happen. From what I understood the easiest place to die during basic training was the grenade pits.

Too many kids got scared and would pull the pin and forget to throw it, drop it, or make a short toss.

Grenades are not like CSS, if one explodes anywhere close to you, YOU DIE!

Fixed

Bunny Hop to Live!!!

 

[jinduy]

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
A guy I used to work with had a story about his basic training. (Army not Marines) They were out in the field and one of the recruits just dropped, put his rifle to his chin and pulled the trigger.

The Seargent gathered the entire platoon around the kid's body and said (paraphrasing) "Do you see this?! Remember it! This is what happens when you are weak! When you are weak, you die! Now back to the excercise!"

And then they went back to what they were doing.

poor baby...

 

[thepd7]

Anyone noticing the common theme of these stories? "A guy I used to work with", "One of my best friends from grade school." None of these stories are first hand. While I recognize people die in training, I call shens on all of these stories.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Originally posted by: thepd7
Anyone noticing the common theme of these stories? "A guy I used to work with", "One of my best friends from grade school." None of these stories are first hand. While I recognize people die in training, I call shens on all of these stories.

Wanna hear about the two suicides my brother saw in Marine basic?

 

[911paramedic]

Mine was more like "Stripes", but I was in the Navy.

Seriously though, one night we found a guy curled up on the floor near the head, pale/cool/sweating. Turns out he ended up with a hernia somehow and that was the end of his Navy career. There were also a few suicides and suicide attempts around the base.

Boot camp isn't as dangerous as the training that comes later, depending on your field. Most injuries are career enders and not fatalities, but fatalities do happen in training without a doubt.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: thepd7
Anyone noticing the common theme of these stories? "A guy I used to work with", "One of my best friends from grade school." None of these stories are first hand. While I recognize people die in training, I call shens on all of these stories.

Hmm, you must have skipped mine

 

[BoomerD]

I spent my time in boot camp (Marine recruit training) before the Drill Instructors got "sensitive to the needs of the recruits", and was much more like the scenes from "Full Metal Jacket" than "Jarhead." Twas more than once one of us smart-mouth fcking maggots got our asses kicked by one of the Drill Sergeants...We had a few serious injuries from falls and the like, but no one was killed in boot camp. Several were killed in assorted training on the way to Vietnam however...MCT took a couple, jump school took a couple, etc...and Vietnam took a lot.

 

[DangerAardvark]

Jarhead was based on a memoir by an actual Marine, and a lot of people seem to collaborate it with similar stories, so I don't have any doubt that it happens.

 

[Vic]

Most people don't understand the true nature of war. I remember a comment that Spielberg is said to have made after the release of "Saving Private Ryan." He was asked if he thought the movie made a truly realistic depiction of war that the audience could believe in. And he said the only way that could happen is if some of the audience were killed.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: homercles337
A close friend of mine was a marine in kuwait liberation (or whatever it was called) and he said that Jarhead was the most realistic movie depicting marines and that operation.

It wouldn't surprise me that it's more realistic than Three Kings. I can't think of any other movies about Desert Storm