I personally know of several individual officers with impressive credentials who attempted to convince the producer / directors of this show to alter the script to provide a more realistic portrayal of how Marines act in combat. They were told that the director wanted to stay true to the book, even though he was told by these distinguished combat vets that it was wildly innaccurate in places. Face it. This Rolling Stone hippie reporter spends his whole time in the back seat of a HMMWV, not knowing what the hell is going on other than the few times he gets out in the midst of a chaotic fire fight. Odds are he’s face down in a deafening roar of gunfire praying that he doesn’t get his a$$ blown up. Who can blame him. Then he’s subjected to a continuous loop of rumors and speculation he hears being spewed by some marginally better informed junior NCO or lieutenant who is hungry, tired, hot, dirty, pissed off and generally in a bad mood. That’s the life of a grunt. And those Marines in this recon unit love the guy because he validates them and seems to genuinely care, unlike their officers and SNCOs, and because he listens to the same hip hop tunes on his IPOD. It’s not surprising that combat bonded these men. It almost always happens that way. I’ll give him credit. He faced the danger and shared the hardships. He’s probably a pretty good guy, but he doesn’t know squat, like virtually all combat reporters.

Unfortunately there is a prevalent sentiment in this country that seems to think that it is cool to portray wanton disregard of life and contempt for officers and any form of authority as the prevailing sentiment in the U.S. military. Nothing could be further from the truth. If it were, you are indeed correct that the U.S. military would quickly collapse as a result. I think it’s pretty amazing that the U.S. Marine Corps has acquitted itself so greatly over the years with such totally screwed up leadership and a complete lack of discipline on the battlefield. Perhaps we should turn the entire country over to those 90 IQ, racist, womanizing, boozing, baby killer E-3s portrayed in this series. Well, they couldn’t do any worse than the crew that’s currently in charge.

The truth is this. Marines, especially grunts, are coarse in their language, cocky in their attitudes, often reckless in their behavior and relentless in their teasing and their attempts to “gross out” their comrades. The real combat vets among them are almost always pretty skeptical of what the leadership has in mind for them. That comes from experiencing the total chaos of ground combat and learning what real fear first hand and surviving to tell about it. Unlike most of the country’s sheltered and lazy elite, these lads had the stones to lay it all on the line and pick up a rifle. They aren’t polished or sophisticated, but they aren’t bums or criminals either. For the most part, they are good young men with strong values and love of country. Above all they will do anything within their power to protect their comrades from danger, then themselves, then accomplish the mission– normally in that order but not always. They usually have hearts of gold and will do anything they can to protect the helpless and the innocent, but not if it means it will get them or their buddies killed. They are brutally effective on the battlefield. 90 percent of the time they don’t know what the hell is going on other than what is 30 minutes away or 300 meters in front of them. That’s why they bitch all the time.

There is no organization in the U.S military quite like the Marine Corps. It starts with the way we make Marines. It is practically unthinkable for a Marine in combat to let a buddy down or to fail. That is why SF units love to work with Marines. It’s because once Marines get a hold of an enemy formation, they relentlessly blast it to bits, and they won’t quit until every enemy is dead, captured or run off in retreat. We prefer dead. And by the way, if you have friends or relatives in the IRGC, pray to God they never fight U.S. Marines.

Marines know when they join up that they are joining the most difficult arm of the armed forces. Boot camp is more difficult and so are the missions we accept. We earned the title of marine and don’t deserve to be called soldier. There are few few things more insulting to a marine than to be called a soldier.

Christian, I’ll return the favor. You are a civilian chickenhawk pussy who doesn’t have a clue.