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Eyes of a Hunter: Burgess was the real soldier not the squad


I thought this was an interesting episode. I like the character Burgess and I thought he was more of a soldier than any of the squad. He reminded me of a bad ass Marine of World War II. Burgess had an attitude of a Marine. What I hate about this episode is the animosity the squad has towards Burgess. Why? The guy is doing his job. He's a professional soldier out to destroy the enemy. I understand the love Saunders has for his men, but his demeanor towards Burgess that were not going to do anything because Cage and Billy are captured is everything a leader stands for. A leader's first priority is the job at hand. If somebody gets captured, the job is still the first priority. You think during World War II in the battle of Peleliu, when Col Puller was losing men at a rapid pace on the Umurbrogol Mountains, that he thought maybe we should quit this plan of attack and do something else. No, Puller kept sending men to their death, because it was job to pry out the Japs from their hidden positions, no matter the cost. This was just one example, but World War II is full of examples of how Saunders did the wrong thing caring for Cage and Billy instead of getting the job done. If officers or NCO's did what Saunders did, than they would never get the job done. I hated seeing Burgess get killed at the end. I felt sorry for him. I rather had Little John get it instead of him. The very last scene of how the squad is looking at Burgess with sympathy, but yet questioning his motives with the line "Didn't you care about Caje or Billy's life"? This line makes me cringe. What is this war or love? Now I can see why it took 5 years for the squad to get out of France? They cared more about themselves, than getting the job done and ending the war and getting the hell out of France.

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Excellent post, providing a splash of reality. Without the animosity toward Burgess, there would be no conflict; therefore, there would be no show.
Scripts were written to satisfy the producers, who ultimately had to satisfy the advertisers. Combat was a better than average TV show for the time, but that's all it was--a TV show. Lots of fun trivia with weaponry and such, but still television. Several WW II veterans whom I knew hated it.
Thanks for your post.

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