Steven Bochco's "Over There" is to Operation Iraqi Freedom what "Lost In Space" was to the Apollo program. As an OIF vet, and an officer with 24 years experience in uniform I watched the pilot episode on FX and was appalled. I watched the whole thing and gave it a chance, but It was garbage, totally unbelievable with implausible situations, characters, and dialog. Who is the military consultant on this show? Michael Moore?
Bochco and co-producer, writer Chris Gerolmo have made US Soldiers look stupid, unprofessional and completely inept. Portraying them as regulation-breaking, pot-smoking, back-talking, and risk taking was insulting to the hard-working pros that make up the vast majority of military members, especially those serving in Iraq. This production is not helping our soldiers at all; it makes them look bad at a time when we can ill afford to damage their credibility with the public. Their use of worn-out stereotypes of screaming sergeants, racism against black soldiers, sexism against female soldiers, and contempt of officers is outrageous and could not be further from the truth. They have simply taken characters out of old war movies and recast them in desert camouflage.
We don't throw rookies into the fight without any training. Troops in Iraq have been together for a long time in the US training for many months before going overseas. When they arrive in theater, they train some more. When they reach their base, they train some more. Our soldiers know each very well way before they find themselves in a firefight. The idea that new recruits would be dropped into a fire fight is Viet Nam era thinking. It just isn't done today. Our professional non commissioned officers (sergeants) do not swear at officers, or scream at their soldiers. They do not threaten them..."I'll shoot you myself." And they would never make one sergeant stay behind to train "virgins".
It is clear they had no current or former members of the Army participating. Their reference sources are "Platoon" and "Apocalypse Now", plus the headlines from newspapers. They are not at all interested in what is really happening in Iraq, how Army units operate, what tremendous progress is being made, or how many lives have been changed for good now that the freedom loving people of Iraq are free from Saddam Hussein and his dictatorship.
Bochco and co-producer, writer Chris Gerolmo have made US Soldiers look stupid, unprofessional and completely inept. Portraying them as regulation-breaking, pot-smoking, back-talking, and risk taking was insulting to the hard-working pros that make up the vast majority of military members, especially those serving in Iraq. This production is not helping our soldiers at all; it makes them look bad at a time when we can ill afford to damage their credibility with the public. Their use of worn-out stereotypes of screaming sergeants, racism against black soldiers, sexism against female soldiers, and contempt of officers is outrageous and could not be further from the truth. They have simply taken characters out of old war movies and recast them in desert camouflage.
We don't throw rookies into the fight without any training. Troops in Iraq have been together for a long time in the US training for many months before going overseas. When they arrive in theater, they train some more. When they reach their base, they train some more. Our soldiers know each very well way before they find themselves in a firefight. The idea that new recruits would be dropped into a fire fight is Viet Nam era thinking. It just isn't done today. Our professional non commissioned officers (sergeants) do not swear at officers, or scream at their soldiers. They do not threaten them..."I'll shoot you myself." And they would never make one sergeant stay behind to train "virgins".
It is clear they had no current or former members of the Army participating. Their reference sources are "Platoon" and "Apocalypse Now", plus the headlines from newspapers. They are not at all interested in what is really happening in Iraq, how Army units operate, what tremendous progress is being made, or how many lives have been changed for good now that the freedom loving people of Iraq are free from Saddam Hussein and his dictatorship.