I often think about all the news reports in the 2000s of similar problems in Iraq and Afghanistan. That history has been completely erased by jingoistic morons, of course. The same problems Russia has had in the beginning of '22, the US army had - sometimes even worse. Like half the armored vehicles didn’t make the first part of the drive into Iraq from Kuwait, and they weren’t even under fire. They just broke down in huge numbers due to poor design and maintenance. Whole armor columns stalled out and couldn’t move for weeks because the army’s supply chain couldn’t keep them supplied with fuel - and they were once again not really under fire or active defense by Iraq. Rumsfeld snidely saying that you don’t go to war with the army you want, you do it with the army you have, while servicemen’s families were scrounging coins together to buy body armor to send to their kids.
Anyway the US military was a joke twenty years ago and it’s gotten even worse since then.
Yea they were constantly murdering civilians and fucking up basic shit like abandoning their own supplies (including the special magic flag!) and having to ration their food because they abandoned all their MREs in the desert. Not to mention a bunch of friendly fire and other random fuck ups. I don’t know how anyone could watch that series and come to the conclusion “waow the marines are heckin’ based soldiers! Oorah!”
The hollywood initiative has paid dividends for the military. Consulting on basically every major picture that even wants to shoot a profile shot of a helicopter, with control of the script means that negative portrayals of the military are few and far between. The official podcast of hexbear talked about it
I often think about all the news reports in the 2000s of similar problems in Iraq and Afghanistan. That history has been completely erased by jingoistic morons, of course. The same problems Russia has had in the beginning of '22, the US army had - sometimes even worse. Like half the armored vehicles didn’t make the first part of the drive into Iraq from Kuwait, and they weren’t even under fire. They just broke down in huge numbers due to poor design and maintenance. Whole armor columns stalled out and couldn’t move for weeks because the army’s supply chain couldn’t keep them supplied with fuel - and they were once again not really under fire or active defense by Iraq. Rumsfeld snidely saying that you don’t go to war with the army you want, you do it with the army you have, while servicemen’s families were scrounging coins together to buy body armor to send to their kids.
Anyway the US military was a joke twenty years ago and it’s gotten even worse since then.
It’s amazing to me the general reception to Generation Kill (HBO) was “wow!!! cool army!!!” instead of “good god!?”
Yea they were constantly murdering civilians and fucking up basic shit like abandoning their own supplies (including the special magic flag!) and having to ration their food because they abandoned all their MREs in the desert. Not to mention a bunch of friendly fire and other random fuck ups. I don’t know how anyone could watch that series and come to the conclusion “waow the marines are heckin’ based soldiers! Oorah!”
The hollywood initiative has paid dividends for the military. Consulting on basically every major picture that even wants to shoot a profile shot of a helicopter, with control of the script means that negative portrayals of the military are few and far between. The official podcast of hexbear talked about it
Don’t worry, the gaming industry is happy to take over/pile on the propaganda. They even get paid by the arms makers to develop them.
Hollywood is one of main drivers of US propaganda for a reason.