Things you're tired of seeing in movies

[Laspector]

I mostly see this in tv shows, but--someone decides to grow a garden in their back yard, yet they plant everything in these big wooden boxes filled with dirt. Why not just use the ground?.......Other than the fact that most tv yards are astroturf. but it's not like they are really growing stuff anyway. Why not just put the fake plants in the fake ground?

 

[blewis17]

Another Hollywood shorthand is when they make a character Catholic just so we can have a confessional scene or have a wide shot where he (typically male) is alone in a cathedral pew praying. In the latter case, about half the time, he will be approached by a priest who has known him since childhood asking him what is on his conscience. (Profile shot of character praying. Priest emerges as if coming from behind and physically close to him.)

...or that every member of the Clergy has the black shirt and white collar, so we know they are the religious guy. Regardless of denomination.

 

[blewis17]

Or the way that explosions cause bodies to fly away like ragdolls, still intact. While this can happen, the closer you are to the explosion the more likely you are to be shredded by it. Movies and TV shows indicate that it's just concussive force that blows you back from the explosion. But anything with fire and heat is going to burn you... badly.

And explosive military ordnance will shred you to pieces at close range, or at least take a few big chunks out of your trunk or extremities, if it doesn't behead you outright.

 

[dascoyne]

CGI characters jumping onto a moving object looking floaty.

 

[sbaxter]

in the end, they weren't any prettier than the countless female students I saw daily as a student at Florida State.

Having worked at Florida State for the past 23-plus years, I can attest to that -- although I have heard it said that we enjoy an embarrassment of riches in that regard.

Go Noles!

SSB

 

[p51]

Or the way that explosions cause bodies to fly away like ragdolls, still intact. While this can happen, the closer you are to the explosion the more likely you are to be shredded by it. Movies and TV shows indicate that it's just concussive force that blows you back like a ragdoll. But anything with fire and heat is going to burn you... badly.

And explosive military ordinance will shred you to pieces at close range, or at least take a few big chunks out of your trunk or extremities, if it doesn't behead you outright.

Any explosion that'd toss you through the air would rupture your lungs and your guts. You'd hit the ground a squishy sack that looks like a flattened person.
But "Ordnance" is not spelled with an 'I'. It's a very common mistake, one that'll get past spell check.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Ok now having not been able to serve, I could be wrong, but war movies where the soldiers/airmen/sailors are in a combat zone and they are just being given instructions on soldiering. I was watching that movie Jarhead, which is about USMC scout snipers in Desert Shield/Storm. They are already in Saudi Arabia on the border and they are doing drills for putting on their MOPP gear. They all stumble around stupidly and all "die" before they get the gear on. I would assume when their is a suspected gas attack, you'd put your mask on first, but several Marines in the movie where putting on coveralls, boots, etc. Then there's a scene where their CO was doing a news interview and the Marines are told to show how to drink from their canteens with the mask on, and he's giving them instructions. I would have thought that would be something you'd learn early on in boot or shortly after.

I even saw a recent WW2 movie where they are getting ready to go into combat and their CO says "Now remember, the enemy will be firing real bullets at you!" No s*#! Sherlock!

 

[Riceball]

Ok now having not been able to serve, I could be wrong, but war movies where the soldiers/airmen/sailors are in a combat zone and they are just being given instructions on soldiering. I was watching that movie Jarhead, which is about USMC scout snipers in Desert Shield/Storm. They are already in Saudi Arabia on the border and they are doing drills for putting on their MOPP gear. They all stumble around stupidly and all "die" before they get the gear on. I would assume when their is a suspected gas attack, you'd put your mask on first, but several Marines in the movie where putting on coveralls, boots, etc. Then there's a scene where their CO was doing a news interview and the Marines are told to show how to drink from their canteens with the mask on, and he's giving them instructions. I would have thought that would be something you'd learn early on in boot or shortly after.

I even saw a recent WW2 movie where they are getting ready to go into combat and their CO says "Now remember, the enemy will be firing real bullets at you!" No s*#! Sherlock!

Putting on and using MOPP gear (anti-NBC suits and gas masks), at least gas masks from what I remember, is something that's taught in boot camp and you do get periodic refreshers afterward, but it's hardly something that a lot of time is spent on. The thing that you don't see on TV in movies is all of the misc other training that goes in the military that doesn't directly relate to your job, esp. nowadays, Before major holidays you'll have to attend classes/briefings on drinking and driving. Then there's the mandatory sexual harassment classes and with the current socio-political climate, there's probably classes on racial and cultural sensitivity as well. On top of that, lower enlisted will often get pulled for things like cleaning duties, helping out in the mess hall, playing gopher, and a whole host of things you'd never think you;'d be doing when signed on the dotted line.

TLDR, the military has a million and one things they expect their people to do that don't necessarily apply directly to combat, even for those in combat arms. So troops having difficulty with NBC gear is not entirely unrealistic. Neither is getting a refresher once in theater on a combat deployment when an NBC attack is a possibility.

 

[blewis17]

Any explosion that'd toss you through the air would rupture your lungs and your guts. You'd hit the ground a squishy sack that looks like a flattened person.
But "Ordnance" is not spelled with an 'I'. It's a very common mistake, one that'll get past spell check.

Thanks! I corrected that

And you are correct, you are not going to stand up "stunned", shake your head to clear your brain, and stagger away after suffering and injury like that.

ALSO: shows typically imply that somehow being stabbed in the back is a non-lethal injury (most recently SpiderMan: No Way Home). If it's a sharp instrument to the back of your chest, it might bounce off of a rib, but if it gets into the intercostal space then you have a punctured lung/pneumothorax at the least. Deep enough on the left side between the ribs, then it's in your heart.

If it's to the spine dead center, it most likely will be deflected into the adjacent paraspinal muscles, which MIGHT keep you from more serious harm. From the side or at an angle to the spine, then you may get between the vertebrae and sever the spinal cord, if it's deep enough (fairly well protected unless your attacker is specifically aiming to sever your spine). Below the costal margin and you are into kidney on the left side, or kidney/possibly liver on the right side. The inferior vena cava and aorta are somewhat protected by the spine.

 

[Riceball]

One thing that's always bothered me for a long time in movies & shows (& not just from the US) is that whenever humanity is confronted by a giant monster or spaceship they always attack it with small weapons like 20 or 30mm cannons, unguided rockets, and AA missiles. All things that don't pack much of a boom and they expect them to actually have some kind of effect. Like what's a missile with only a few pounds worth of warhead and whose primary method of causing damage is through fragmentation supposed to do against a monster the size of a good sized building or a spaceship the size of several city blocks? Like in ID4, why did they only send a bunch of fighters after the ship over LA? Why not send up B-52s and B-1s loaded with cruise missiles and launch those from miles out or fly overhead and carpet bomb the hell out of it?

Another annoying thing in movies and shows about the military not shot on an actual military base is how they almost always seem to show people marching or running in formation everywhere? In my experience, outside of boot camp, MOS school, and some special situations, nobody does that. Nobody walks around in squad or platoon sized formations everywhere on base, not even Marine grunts based on 29 Palms where looking for regulation violations is a popular past time amongst staff NCOs. On base people walk around like normal people for the most part, either individually or 1s and 2s. And as for running in formation, that's done, but only during PT which is typically done in the morning and not all times of the day and it's done in a PT uniform and not in full fatigues or what we Marines call boots and utes, boots and cammy pants, but no blouse on top, only a t-shirt. Although, I don't think that dedicated PT uniforms came around until sometime after the '70s and before then boots and utes were the designated PT uniform.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

I remember when I saw Independence Day I said the same thing to my dad. I was like "Why are those FA-18s not loaded with something like a SLAM missile with some punch. I seriously doubt that an AIM-120 or AIM-9 could do much damage at all to a giant alien spaceship...

I think the real reason is budget. There's a guy on Youtube, CW Lemoine, who was a USAF F-16 pilot and then a Navy FA-18 pilot. He has a series where he looks at movies and comments on what they got right or wrong. He did one on ID4 and I think in the scene where the airfield comes under attack, he said "WTH are all those F-16s (and other USAF planes) waiting for?" or something. And it was because the USAF wouldn't cooperate with the movie. Still they had a B2 CGI plane or something, so they could have shown in launching cruise missiles.

 

[dascoyne]

One thing that's always bothered me for a long time in movies & shows (& not just from the US) is that whenever humanity is confronted by a giant monster or spaceship they always attack it with small weapons like 20 or 30mm cannons, unguided rockets, and AA missiles. All things that don't pack much of a boom and they expect them to actually have some kind of effect. Like what's a missile with only a few pounds worth of warhead and whose primary method of causing damage is through fragmentation supposed to do against a monster the size of a good sized building or a spaceship the size of several city blocks? Like in ID4, why did they only send a bunch of fighters after the ship over LA? Why not send up B-52s and B-1s loaded with cruise missiles and launch those from miles out or fly overhead and carpet bomb the hell out of it?

Yeah. Why bother?

 

[p51]

Putting on and using MOPP gear (anti-NBC suits and gas masks), at least gas masks from what I remember, is something that's taught in boot camp and you do get periodic refreshers afterward, but it's hardly something that a lot of time is spent on. The thing that you don't see on TV in movies is all of the misc other training that goes in the military that doesn't directly relate to your job, esp. nowadays, Before major holidays you'll have to attend classes/briefings on drinking and driving. Then there's the mandatory sexual harassment classes and with the current socio-political climate, there's probably classes on racial and cultural sensitivity as well. On top of that, lower enlisted will often get pulled for things like cleaning duties, helping out in the mess hall, playing gopher, and a whole host of things you'd never think you;'d be doing when signed on the dotted line.

TLDR, the military has a million and one things they expect their people to do that don't necessarily apply directly to combat, even for those in combat arms. So troops having difficulty with NBC gear is not entirely unrealistic. Neither is getting a refresher once in theater on a combat deployment when an NBC attack is a possibility.

Yeah, among my many other duties, I was the Company NBC (Nuclear/Biological/Chemical) officer and spent so much time in MOPP suits, there were weeks I was wearing them more often than BDUs.
I couldn't count the number of times that my people didn't have a clue about MOPP suits or what to do. We didn't train on these nearly as much as we should have!

 

[bwayne64]

Yeah, among my many other duties, I was the Company NBC (Nuclear/Biological/Chemical) officer and spent so much time in MOPP suits, there were weeks I was wearing them more often than BDUs.
I couldn't count the number of times that my people didn't have a clue about MOPP suits or what to do. We didn't train on these nearly as much as we should have!

Yeah I remember thinking while wearing those for a few minutes. If I ever have to wear this for hours, I'll just take it off and take a deep breath of whatever is out there. It is miserable. People will say it's better than dying, but they've probably never worn it. And Thanks for your
service !

 

[p51]

Yeah I remember thinking while wearing those for a few minutes. If I ever have to wear this for hours, I'll just take it off and take a deep breath of whatever is out there. It is miserable. People will say it's better than dying, but they've probably never worn it. And Thanks for your
service !

Wearing a MOPP suit for a civilian is like eating one MRE; it's not bad when you have time in the privacy of your living room with options to stop either, any time you want.
Try wearing one of these when it's either high or low humidity with 100+ degree weather. And being told that you gotta wear the mask as long as someone else (who in most cases is sitting down in a tent somewhere) says you gotta.
Here's the thing; those suits were never made to be worn for long periods of time, and they're only rated for about 24 hours once they're exposed to a chemical. o guess what's happens in a combat environment where the command says you gotta wear them for weeks?
YOU DIE if you get hit with chemicals! That's what happens! And the US military doesn't have nearly the decontamination capacity you think they do. And you only have the one suit, you're not going to have others (or a way to get into one in a contaminated environment).
And if you're claustrophobic? Nobody cares, you wear the mask as long as they tell you.
Oh, yeah, you can pass out or die if the filter is damp enough, too.

 

[bwayne64]

Wearing a MOPP suit for a civilian is like eating one MRE; it's not bad when you have time in the privacy of your living room with options to stop either, any time you want.
Try wearing one of these when it's either high or low humidity with 100+ degree weather. And being told that you gotta wear the mask as long as someone else (who in most cases is sitting down in a tent somewhere) says you gotta.
Here's the thing; those suits were never made to be worn for long periods of time, and they're only rated for about 24 hours once they're exposed to a chemical. o guess what's happens in a combat environment where the command says you gotta wear them for weeks?
YOU DIE if you get hit with chemicals! That's what happens! And the US military doesn't have nearly the decontamination capacity you think they do. And you only have the one suit, you're not going to have others (or a way to get into one in a contaminated environment).
And if you're claustrophobic? Nobody cares, you wear the mask as long as they tell you.
Oh, yeah, you can pass out or die if the filter is damp enough, too.

Yea it was pretty hot and humid at Ft. Campbell, KY when I wore it. Thanks

 

[mattycsi]

Yea it was pretty hot and humid at Ft. Campbell, KY when I wore it. Thanks

I'm a forensic CBRN responder, I did my training in the middle of UK summer some years ago. So no where near the heat and humudity of somewhere like KY. But I'll never forget the final assessment when I leaned forward to recover the package and the pool of sweat in my gas mask ran up my nose and into my mouth. I had it on for another 3 hours after that.

The amount of refresher and maintenance courses I've been on where guys treat it as a jolly away from work and don't take it seriously is terrifying though.

 

[bwayne64]

I'm a forensic CBRN responder, I did my training in the middle of UK summer some years ago. So no where near the heat and humudity of somewhere like KY. But I'll never forget the final assessment when I leaned forward to recover the package and the pool of sweat in my gas mask ran up my nose and into my mouth. I had it on for another 3 hours after that.

The amount of refresher and maintenance courses I've been on where guys treat it as a jolly away from work and don't take it seriously is terrifying though.

Yea, we had lots of fun, summer and winter. I remember running in the snow and having your wet sweat pants freeze, while some long winded CO would drone on about the work of the day. Good times, ; )

 

[dbuck]

I once won the battalion NBC competition in Germany. Even so I knew then the clothing was mostly garbage. we didn’t even have atropine injectors in our kits. I did practice living in the mask though figuring if anything saved me during a chemical attack that was my best bet.
The best usage of MOPP gear was during a ski trip to Austria. Here’s a pic of one of the fellows using his MOPP pants. Several others did as well, the joke was that the Alps required MOPP 2 level protection. We wore what we had, and not everyone had civilian winter clothing.

 

[The Goon]

Wearing a MOPP suit for a civilian is like eating one MRE; it's not bad when you have time in the privacy of your living room with options to stop either, any time you want.
Try wearing one of these when it's either high or low humidity with 100+ degree weather. And being told that you gotta wear the mask as long as someone else (who in most cases is sitting down in a tent somewhere) says you gotta.
Here's the thing; those suits were never made to be worn for long periods of time, and they're only rated for about 24 hours once they're exposed to a chemical. o guess what's happens in a combat environment where the command says you gotta wear them for weeks?
YOU DIE if you get hit with chemicals! That's what happens! And the US military doesn't have nearly the decontamination capacity you think they do. And you only have the one suit, you're not going to have others (or a way to get into one in a contaminated environment).
And if you're claustrophobic? Nobody cares, you wear the mask as long as they tell you.
Oh, yeah, you can pass out or die if the filter is damp enough, too.

So, in a nutshell, what you're saying is NEVER join the U.S. military.