Division of Military?
Are these Marines or Army guys?
If they are marines, how come other movies (such as Full Metal Jacket) depict training differently? Is it because of the different training facilities?
¿Comprende?
First it's the US Army that's depicted in the movie. Second, I was in the Army and the training that goes on in the movie is a lot different now as it was back then. The Army still does the field training, hand to hand combat, and shooting blank rounds against each other, but that last part is only during basic training. The Marines, as far as I know do all of their training at boot camp, where the Army has basic training, then they send you off to another base for your Advanced Individual Training, or AIT, which Tigerland portrays. However, the Army has someting called OSUT, One Station Unit Training, where you do your basic training and AIT at the same place. Where I had basic, Ft. Jackson, is also a big AIT base. I didn't have my AIT there. Instead I went to Virginia. Remember the training portrayed in the movie is somewhat different now as it was back then, so I can't say how the Army and Marines did it. Hope that clears things up for you.
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tnx for explaining. i was a bit confused a first because FMJ and Tigerland have, imo, realistic depictions of training, but very different styles of training.
How do you know it's realistic if you haven't gone through it?
shareTigerland was completely unrealistic regarding the way soldiers are trained as well as the way the soldiers act.
shareIs it really? When did you go through this camp? I don't know for a fact, but I wasn't there.
shareI was not in this camp but I spent many years in the Army and this is utter nosense. The interaction between recruits and NCO's, the training that makes no practical sense, the entire demeanor... all wrong. Complete hogwash.
When were you in the Army?
Can you say any of your experiences were similar?
Anything that was done in this film made adamned bit of sense?
This was from the mind of film makers who had zero understanding of what the Army actualy does.
Not Army, but another branch. Know a few people in the Army though. Considering how much the Air Force has changed in the past 40 years, I'd assume the Army has too, probably even moreso.
shareI was at Tigerland in Nov/Dec 1966 before going to Vietnam. It was as close as the Army could get to jungle training and anti-guerilla warfare training in the states. Tigerland (Ft. Polk, Louisiana), was especially designed for Vietnam bound infantrymen. Tigerland was infamous to the soldiers of that era, but not because of the cruelty and degradation depicted in this movie. It was infamous for being the last stop before shipping out to Vietnam.
But I agree with Brendan, this is a very poor portrayal of what it was like then..especially with regard to the the drill instructors. They were never that brutal. Maybe the attitude of the trainees might be regarded as realistic in the latter years of the war when the anti-war sentiment evolved. But it certainly wasn't like that when I was there in '66.
One thing that brought back memories in the film was the live fire crawl under the barbed wire. Except we did that exercise at night...it sure as hell made an impression in the dark!