What war movie will discourage anyone from joining the military?

What war movie will discourage anyone from joining the military?

Full Metal Jacket.

I am in the military and lots of us grunts love Full Metal Jacket. So yeah I cannot think of any.

The military men in the movie have it pretty rough is the point. You guys also *probably* don't have it as bad as those guys though.

R Lee Ermey acted exactly like my Drill Sergeants in C 1-50. Only my most terrifying DS was a 5 foot 1 Chilean with an 82nd Airborne combat patch and a Ranger tab. In Red phase he was the scariest mother ****er I knew. But the coolest by the end. And since the Gunny was a Drill Instructor for the Marines, that makes perfect sense. Only thing is back then, they could hit you. If you lay your hands on a private now a days you get UCMJ-ed up the @$$. Is the military rough? Yes it is. But not THAT different these days. Except I have yet to meet Adam Baldwin's character.

Granted we have better support back home then the guys in Nam. So yeah they guys then had it rougher. And it was Nam.

What are your other favorite war movies? I'm interested to see what a military man thinks of some of the major war flicks.

I say Black Hawk Down for being well... Black Hawk Down. Just one epic fire fight. Platoon was awesome and so was Saving Private Ryan.

Now I understand that your handle was not just born out of appreciation for Clint Eastwood.

I'll take your word for it that no movie will dissuade all people from joining the military.

Indeed. In fact more then a few make people want to join. Lots of people wanted to fly helios after seeing We Were Soldiers.

I'm sure Top Gun and An Officer and A Gentleman made lots of guys want to try out to be aviators.

First post nails it.

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~ I am tired of ze same old faces! Ze same old things!

Having thought about it for a few minutes, perhaps a movie like Coming Home would do more to dissuade someone from joining the military; or at least not encourage anyone to enlist. On the one hand there's a paraplegic vet; on the other there's a crazed cuckolded vet. And there's no battle scenes that might (inadvertently or otherwise) get the testosterone pumping and glorify war.

Also, it's hard to see how documentaries like The Tillman Story, Taxi to the Dark Side, Hell and Back Again, Poster Girl and Invisible War might encourage anyone to enlist - and they might actually discourage a few. Granted, these movies are more about veterans, military/government policy/cover-ups, attitudes in the military, etc. than they are about war/fighting.

Thought of another one: Combat Shock.

The fact is, most military movies made in Hollywood aim to promote the idea of the Red, Whit and Blue army, an army of wholesome young American men, going out to fight for the freedom of their country.

Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now and to a certain extent Platoon are the main stream exceptions to that rule. Saving Private Ryan (one of my faves) was an advert for how good, honourable and brave men join the army.

The Gunslinger has mentioned that FMJ makes people want to join the army but that's contrary to the message I think it's trying to send. And anyone wanting to join the army after seeing Apocalypse Now must be mad.

The fact is, most military movies made in Hollywood aim to promote the idea of the Red, Whit and Blue army, an army of wholesome young American men, going out to fight for the freedom of their country.

Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now and to a certain extent Platoon are the main stream exceptions to that rule. Saving Private Ryan (one of my faves) was an advert for how good, honourable and brave men join the army.

The Gunslinger has mentioned that FMJ makes people want to join the army but that's contrary to the message I think it's trying to send. And anyone wanting to join the army after seeing Apocalypse Now must be mad.

Johnny Got his Gun

I said it is a popular movie. Not that it convinced people to joined. It did not however affect my decision to join.

Fair enough. FMJ being popular amongst soldiers is still a mystery to me. I have a friend who served in Afghanistan on 2 tours and he said he loved Jarhead. Did you enjoy it?

Jarhead? Not really.