re: Generation Kill - Late to the Party

That may be one of the most worn-out tropes in all of Hollywood: Officers are always clueless and the average enlisted man has the military genius of Alexander the Great/Napoleon/Robert E Lee all rolled into one.

If you believed popular culture, America would have waltzed to victory in Vietnam if we'd have just listened to LCpl Bagofdonuts.

quote:

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I can assure you that the Marine officers of 1st Recon Battalion were not the morons they were portrayed to be.

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I’m no Marine, I’m guessing you are and were there. But there are frick ups everywhere, no matter the profession. It’d be naive of me to think our Armed Forces are led 100% by completely competent men. I was annoyed by the show when it came out, I still thought America was holier than thou at that point. But as I’ve aged I’ve come to absolutely love that series.

Maybe they exaggerated it moreso than reality, but a few officers being complete fricking idiots fits pretty in line with every military history book ive read in every war going back to the Revolution.

Not every officer is a moron, but when the expectation from us civilians is of competence, when you’re not it really stands out.