[KLHJ2]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Angry, did you see In the Valley of Elah?

If you did what were your thoughts on that?

I finally watched Valley of Elah last night Matty. I would have to say that it was pretty damn good and more accurate than most military films put on the market. As with all Military films there have to be some flaws because they are not allowed to impersonate soldiers, but it was very close.

I caught the movie from the point that Tommy Lee Jones was being escorted through his sons barracks for the first time. That in itself would have probably not happened, but it would have depended on the Commander.

The Staff Sergeant was wearing a different Combat patch on his right shoulder than the rest of his soldiers were. He was wearing the 82nd Airborne patch. All of the rest of the soldiers had identical unit and combat patches. What this suggests is that every soldier there went to war with that unit and returned to the same duty station. The Staff Sergeant on the other hand went to war with 82nd Airborne out of Ft. Bragg and then transferred to where ever the hell the were in that movie.

You may have noticed that in the movie that they were wearing their combat patches above their American Flags. That is possible in a very unique situation. They would have had to been to combat before Operation Iraqi Freedom. Right after 9/11 we started wearing the US Flag on all uniforms, so in this case they should have had their flags above their combat patches for the most part with a few exceptions of some higher ranking guys that may have been in the first Gulf war.

The new Physical Training uniform (Gray and Black Jogging suit not displayed in movie) and the Black Beret were integrated into the Army around the same time frame. In the movie they were wearing the old gray sweat suit, but also had berets. To be historically accurate they would have had both items.

The black beret is proper headgear any time that you are wearing a uniform in garrison. There are a few exceptions but none of those exceptions were present in the movie. Anytime you saw someone outside (not in Iraq) either not wearing any head gear or wearing the soft cap and not the beret...they were wrong.

The soldier that was wearing the gray PT uniform looked like he was in pretty good shape. Generally those soldiers who are in their PT uniform in the afternoon are those who are on Special Population PT (cannot pass a PT test). The only other reason might be for grass cutting detail, but they usually do that in BDU's.

The "human speed bump" is a scenario that I do not like to think about, but it is a very possible situation and they displayed a very possible reaction. The kid could have been innocent, a decoy, or a bomber. Going off of the road to avoid him may have led you into some IED's. Stopping could have landed you in an ambush. Even hitting him could have been dangerous if he was strapped with a bomb. They didn't have time to think just react. Sad.

The upside down flag at the end was a little puzzling to me. For one, the flag was tattered and should not be displayed. Secondly, Tommy Lee Jones told him to leave it up there and not to take it down at night. Taping the rope to the pole is wrong unless you are illuminating the flag at night. The significance of an upside down flag though could be the reason for all of this. When a flag is displayed upside down on a flag pole it symbolizes that that post or unit is in distress. Maybe it was symbolism for what state our soldiers are in right now.

All in all it was a pretty accurate depiction of a military life. There were some mannerisms and phrases that were a little off for instance we say "guard duty" not "sentry duty", but for the most part was a pretty sound film.

If there is some other things that you may have a question about let me know.