Commanders Post at The Warpath - View Single Post

KLHJ2 · 04-09-2008, 10:23 AM

POSSIBLE SPOILER

I recently saw Stop Loss and I am torn on wheter or not I like this movie. You must realize what it is first, which is a ploy to unite the bleeding hearts of the world to feel sorry for the U.S. servicesmembers who got stop lossed during Iraqi Freedom. It uses nothing but the pathos side of the argument all of the way through, but I will get more into that later. Secondly, this is a film made by Hollywood that attempts to bring you a story that hits home. Of course in Hollywood they have to spice it up a bit, because real life is apparently, boring.

Now before I rip this film to shreds I would like to point out that the acting was dead on. The actors really nailed the mannerisims, speech, and humor posessed by the average Army Soldier (each branch is slightly different). I also like the fact that the enlisted soldiers were getting some love in this movie. Most other military movies are always about those damn officers.

Now, in the beginning of the movie you saw a vehicle rapidly approaching a checkpoint. It would have gotten shot at if it hadn't slowed down within 50ft. In the movie it stopped at the last second, so it didn't get shot, but it would have at least gotten inspected.

When the second vehicle approached, it did get shot at, because it shot at the soldiers. When it drove off the soldiers chased it. Later in the movie they say that it was Standard Operating Proceedure. I can assure you that it is in no-ones proceedures to chase a vehicle away and into an alley. You might call in air support to track it down (if feesable). We are smarter than that.

I could go over all the things wrong in the alley, but that would take too long.

Without going into much more detail here are the rest of the flaws.

A LT. COL and a SSG would not have been buddy buddy like they were in that movie.

A Stop Loss is issued to either an entire MOS or to an entire Unit. In other words, both the Sergeant (Sniper school guy) and the Staff Sergeant (Main character) would have been stop lossed. Both were infantry, both were in the same unit, and both were ETSing (getting out).

Not everybody suffers from PTSD when they come home, but the movie portrayed it that way. (It was excellent acting though)

You will not get kicked out for getting drunk all of the time. You will get busted and your life will be miserable for a while, but you will not get kicked out. At least not as fast as the PFC was.

The Army does not use the old hand to hand techniques displayed in that movie. The old techniques kept getting soldiers asses whooped whenever they went on leave. Combatitives (similar to Bazillian Jujitsu or submission fighting) is used now instead.

The main Character would have been demoted to E-5 or SGT (possibly even E-4 in times of war) after beating up 2 MP's (If not Court Martialed).

And the headlock in the final fight scene at the graveyard was not locked.

Basically they made the main character and SSG's look like Puss***.

Everyone who enlists signs up for an 8 year obligation, and they are aware of it from day 1. The amount of years active duty vs. inactive duty is up to you unless you are at war. After 8 years they cannot stop loss you unless you are indefinate (over 10 and going to retire). The main character had 9 years. He would not have been Stop Lossed.

I can delve into this even deeper, but I have hit most of the points that I wanted to.

04-09-2008, 10:23 AM	#188
KLHJ2 Inactive Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: DC Metro Area Age: 46 Posts: 5,829	Re: Merged: The Movies Thread POSSIBLE SPOILER I recently saw Stop Loss and I am torn on wheter or not I like this movie. You must realize what it is first, which is a ploy to unite the bleeding hearts of the world to feel sorry for the U.S. servicesmembers who got stop lossed during Iraqi Freedom. It uses nothing but the pathos side of the argument all of the way through, but I will get more into that later. Secondly, this is a film made by Hollywood that attempts to bring you a story that hits home. Of course in Hollywood they have to spice it up a bit, because real life is apparently, boring. Now before I rip this film to shreds I would like to point out that the acting was dead on. The actors really nailed the mannerisims, speech, and humor posessed by the average Army Soldier (each branch is slightly different). I also like the fact that the enlisted soldiers were getting some love in this movie. Most other military movies are always about those damn officers. Now, in the beginning of the movie you saw a vehicle rapidly approaching a checkpoint. It would have gotten shot at if it hadn't slowed down within 50ft. In the movie it stopped at the last second, so it didn't get shot, but it would have at least gotten inspected. When the second vehicle approached, it did get shot at, because it shot at the soldiers. When it drove off the soldiers chased it. Later in the movie they say that it was Standard Operating Proceedure. I can assure you that it is in no-ones proceedures to chase a vehicle away and into an alley. You might call in air support to track it down (if feesable). We are smarter than that. I could go over all the things wrong in the alley, but that would take too long. Without going into much more detail here are the rest of the flaws. A LT. COL and a SSG would not have been buddy buddy like they were in that movie. A Stop Loss is issued to either an entire MOS or to an entire Unit. In other words, both the Sergeant (Sniper school guy) and the Staff Sergeant (Main character) would have been stop lossed. Both were infantry, both were in the same unit, and both were ETSing (getting out). Not everybody suffers from PTSD when they come home, but the movie portrayed it that way. (It was excellent acting though) You will not get kicked out for getting drunk all of the time. You will get busted and your life will be miserable for a while, but you will not get kicked out. At least not as fast as the PFC was. The Army does not use the old hand to hand techniques displayed in that movie. The old techniques kept getting soldiers asses whooped whenever they went on leave. Combatitives (similar to Bazillian Jujitsu or submission fighting) is used now instead. The main Character would have been demoted to E-5 or SGT (possibly even E-4 in times of war) after beating up 2 MP's (If not Court Martialed). And the headlock in the final fight scene at the graveyard was not locked. Basically they made the main character and SSG's look like Puss***. Everyone who enlists signs up for an 8 year obligation, and they are aware of it from day 1. The amount of years active duty vs. inactive duty is up to you unless you are at war. After 8 years they cannot stop loss you unless you are indefinate (over 10 and going to retire). The main character had 9 years. He would not have been Stop Lossed. I can delve into this even deeper, but I have hit most of the points that I wanted to.