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Act of Valor-Multiple questions


Ebden~SPARTA~
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I just watched the Valor trailer, yes interested for the BF3 tags.

 

In it I saw what looked like a tiny recon drone, about the size of a typical kid's balsa wind-up plane. OK-impressive. Question: In the Act of Valor trailer with this kind of tech or whatever else, dives, seal tactics, etc, how much of it is movie magic and how much is the real McCoy? I could think A- some is over-glorified or overused for the sake of movie drama, B-the tech is actually far less in the movie for confidentiality reasons, C-the tech is the true front-line material.

 

What say y'all with military service?

 

As for the funeral, I've mentioned a year or two ago about my grandfather's service time in WWII. I don't have a clear picture of his service time, he only spoke of the war near his death and his records were destroyed at the St. Louis, MO archives in the 1970's fire. However, he did not have a military funeral. Are military funerals only for active duty service deaths or do all vets have the option? My grandfather was cremated and released at sea off the California coast. I couldn't afford to attend his funeral in '07, but I see him going into the same ocean that he fought for sixty years before in the south seas. I don't think he saw it that way. He had requested a private funeral. Do vets commonly request the decorated or not, is it part of the humility of service? For all the troubles of PTSD that he suffered maybe, or maybe for the very coherent memories he had from the islands, he was staunchly anti-war near his death.

 

According to my mother, she remembers him putting his uniform in a corner when he returned in '45/'46, and promptly burning the uniform within a week or two. He proceeded to drink a lot for the next half-century, run a failed car-wash business in Fresno, have himself cleaned out by a business partner, and end up in a glorified trailer park. A year before he died he opened up a little about some of what he saw, things I could only imagine in a horror flick, men crushed under vehicles shot out by Japanese fighters, ammo dumps exploding 'very' nearby, hand-to-hand with Japanese boys, boys he said, and he was only 20 himself. Mother had gleaned only one story from him in her entire life, which was after she found a bloody knife in his drawer, a Japanese service knife that Granddad had fought away from an attacker and used to dispatch the original owner.

I just found this bit online at a memorial website "He[Paul Handloss] entered military service in 1942 after the beginning of World War II, earning his commission in the U.S. Army at Camp Davis, North Carolina, later serving in the South Pacific where he was Anti-aircraft Gun Unit Commander with landings in Hollandia, New Guinea and the Biak Islands."

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I have not seen the video, so I cannot comment about the tech aspect.

 

As far as the military funeral goes, so long as a service member was not discharged under dishonorable conditions, they are eligible for a military funeral. I do not know all the specifics as I have not been assigned to do it, but every unit I have been in has had people designated as "Funeral Detail", in which they are trained and regularly practice everything associated with conducting a military funeral; folding of the flag, carrying the casket, gun salute, etc.

 

 

- JHunter

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As far as the tech, I have seen the video. It is a simple R/C style airplane with an RF transmitter for video they use to collect intel in real time. Basically a small UAV. Also, the actors are actual service members and each also served as a technical adviser.

 

Both of my grandfathers served in WWI and Korea. They each had their mental challenges. Both had flags over their coffins but neither had a military funeral. AFAIK, a military funeral is something you must request while in the military on some form and also again by the family whenever that time comes. I do not want a full service, but I would like a flag over my coffin just as my grandfathers before me had.

 

I do wish that my brother and I could have folded my grandfather's flag instead of the funeral director and his lackey. They botched it up pretty bad.

Edited by Medic~SPARTA~
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I just watched the Valor trailer, yes interested for the BF3 tags.

 

In it I saw what looked like a tiny recon drone, about the size of a typical kid's balsa wind-up plane. OK-impressive. Question: In the Act of Valor trailer with this kind of tech or whatever else, dives, seal tactics, etc, how much of it is movie magic and how much is the real McCoy? I could think A- some is over-glorified or overused for the sake of movie drama, B-the tech is actually far less in the movie for confidentiality reasons, C-the tech is the true front-line material.

 

What say y'all with military service?

 

As for the funeral, I've mentioned a year or two ago about my grandfather's service time in WWII. I don't have a clear picture of his service time, he only spoke of the war near his death and his records were destroyed at the St. Louis, MO archives in the 1970's fire. However, he did not have a military funeral. Are military funerals only for active duty service deaths or do all vets have the option? My grandfather was cremated and released at sea off the California coast. I couldn't afford to attend his funeral in '07, but I see him going into the same ocean that he fought for sixty years before in the south seas. I don't think he saw it that way. He had requested a private funeral. Do vets commonly request the decorated or not, is it part of the humility of service? For all the troubles of PTSD that he suffered maybe, or maybe for the very coherent memories he had from the islands, he was staunchly anti-war near his death.

 

According to my mother, she remembers him putting his uniform in a corner when he returned in '45/'46, and promptly burning the uniform within a week or two. He proceeded to drink a lot for the next half-century, run a failed car-wash business in Fresno, have himself cleaned out by a business partner, and end up in a glorified trailer park. A year before he died he opened up a little about some of what he saw, things I could only imagine in a horror flick, men crushed under vehicles shot out by Japanese fighters, ammo dumps exploding 'very' nearby, hand-to-hand with Japanese boys, boys he said, and he was only 20 himself. Mother had gleaned only one story from him in her entire life, which was after she found a bloody knife in his drawer, a Japanese service knife that Granddad had fought away from an attacker and used to dispatch the original owner.

I just found this bit online at a memorial website "He[Paul Handloss] entered military service in 1942 after the beginning of World War II, earning his commission in the U.S. Army at Camp Davis, North Carolina, later serving in the South Pacific where he was Anti-aircraft Gun Unit Commander with landings in Hollandia, New Guinea and the Biak Islands."

 

For UAV technology see:

UAV

 

For Burial information to include entitlement and general information see:

VA

 

As for the trailer, that UAV looked like an RQ-11 ?Raven? used in tactical missions to gather real time intelligence on enemy positions prior to an assault. These are used on the ground by field commanders usually at the company level to assess the situation at an objective. The Army currently fields over 4000 of these in Afghanistan with each unit having access to them. If you would like to talk about these types of tech let me know, ISR is what I do, my company researches and designs ISR things.

 

As for a military funeral, any service member discharged under honorable conditions is entitled to a military funeral. The extent of the provided services is based upon rank and current status. This means that a retired 3 star general will get a more inclusive service than a separated private first class. Most of them will include a burial detail of at least 4 honor guards with a flag and a playing of Taps. All of the specifics are listed at the link I put up there. As far as requesting the funeral there are two ways to see it. My grandfather fought in the Korean war and refuses to speak about most of the war with anyone except me but he is still in a bad place ever since then. He did keep his uniform and medals but locked them away in a closet and tried to forget about it all. I was the only person in my family to follow him into the military and for that reason he choose to speak with me on his war experiences just prior to the first time I deployed. His only advice was to keep my head down and ?don?t trust those little bastards you?re fighting for? in his opinion during Korea we were ?killing the wrong little bastards? He has a fairly bitter view of the world. War is hard on people and even those who never see combat and its even harder on the families so I think a lot of veterans just want to leave the service and never be associated with it again, even in death.

 

It has always made me ashamed to see these 18 year old kids come back broken, mentally and physically and on the whole become ignored by the rest of the country. Everyone puts that little yellow sticker on their car and buys a vet or service member a meal all while saying thank you for your service but never truly appreciate them. Military members around the world are asked to sacrifice more than 99% of the national population yet are among those who are paid the least. I don?t mean to sound bitter about it but a hand shake and a free meal is nowhere near payment enough for what many veterans sacrificed in their service to our nation.

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I buried my dad on Christmas Eve a few years ago and the funeral director asked us if he was going to recieve a military funeral. I thought he was content with having just a flag, but his wife was being a bitch and wanted full honors. (he spent 4yrs in the 82nd Airborne, then discharged, it was never a huge deal with him) We have a local Honor Guard consisting of veterans from the local organizations who do such things. I know our Reserve unit wanted to put one up, but hasn't gotten it together just yet, not sure about the Nat'l Guards. They don't use the 21gun salute unless it's somebody "important." :rolleyes: Anyways, all the Orgs were tied up in other funerals so myself and 3 other friends rendered Honors to my dad. I'd say that it was the most heartfelt bonding experience I had with my dad, as strange as that sounds. He would have been very proud.

 

It wasn't perfect, but it was more natural, and when I die, I want those who know me and my family to render Honors, rather than someone else.

 

As for your grandfather's war experiences, mileage varies for each individual. Some talk about their experiences, some don't. Some had horrifying experiences, some didn't, some are proud, others aren't. Many become cynical, others become more caring. Some lie, some tell the truth, some are afraid to tell the truth. There are endless combinations of the differences in people's reactions toward war. The only thing that's consistant is you are different afterwards.

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Here's a critique from an SF veteran and mil-blogger who got to see an advanced screening....

 

Act of Valor- a movie you must see

 

I attended a preview screening of a movie about Navy SEALs coming out in February called Act of Valor. Let's start this review with WOW! and everything else is subject to that modifier.

 

This movie is awesome. There are many reasons but let's start with the most important one- the guys in the movie are Navy SEALs, real ones, from SEAL teams and it shows. There is action in every bit of this movie. It was done by real dudes so it actually looks real and in a lot of cases is real. One of the best examples is when a couple of fast boats come to exfil them from a hostage rescue and the boat guys light up some bad guys and their pick up trucks with miniguns. Almost too beautiful for words.

 

But let's use some words anyhow. This movie did something I think everyone here will truly appreciate: It showed our warriors without any of the usual BS Hollywood feels obligated to add. They were fighting bad guys, killing them in bunches and not feeling remorse or commiting war crimes or breaking down in tears over the inhumanity of it all. Good guys kick ass and tangos get stacked like cord wood. What are your questions? All right, all right! Enough of my jaw-jacking. First just watch the trailer.

 

 

 

OK, so did that get your blood pumping? Well my hair stood on end for the entire movie- start to finish. It was patently obvious that the guys who made this film, the Bandito Brothers, set out to do something unprecedented, to get out of the way and just show the world what our pipehitters do for a living. What a brilliant idea, and it worked.

 

The guys who appeared in this film didn't volunteer because they are glory hounds, matter of fact they aren't even named. They all had to be pretty much marched to the set after being told they were gonna take one for the teams. In the credits they just roll the names of all the SEALs killed since 9/11. The guys you see on screeen did their buddies proud and now most of them are back in the fray ventilating craniums and returning scumbags to room temperature. You will especially enjoy the Senior Chief intel dude. He is a world class smart ass and smart guy.You would definitely want him on your team.

 

I asked the Navy if guys would be available to talk about the film, but the Navy said no. Apparently they can only be trusted to sling lead, not talk to the media. The Navy gave access to all kinds of amazing gear and platforms including submarines, SEAL delivery vehicles, aircraft etc. Let's hope they stand behind the film and support it during release.

 

So when it comes out, go, buy popcorn, sit down and then enjoy the ride, 'cuz it is a screamer. They even made sure to have a Day Hollywood Ramp HALO jump for me and Matty O. Do I need to say go see it any more or have you got the message. Heck if you want to double down, read Kill Bin Laden then go see it. You will probably end up volunteering for BUDS, well if you can pass the "spinning a ball on your nose test". You didn't think I could kiss this much SEAL ass and not take one shot did you?

 

For reference "Day Hollywood Jump" is slang for having somebody tag along and film while people jump out of the plane.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...

They just had the red carpet premiere in Hollywood, and they entered in unique SEAL fashion...

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd8ZeEiDmxY&feature=related

 

As seen from the helmet cam. Freaking amazing how they can hit their target like that.

Edited by Durka-Durka~SPARTA~
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  • 2 weeks later...

Just saw this movie and I thought it rocked. I'll be thinking about it long after tonight.

 

1. The acting is about what you would expect from active duty sailors trying to make a hollywood movie. There's one, however, that is totally genuine and pretty much perfectly portrays members of the military when they are working. You'll know who I'm talking about when you watch it.

 

2. The sounds are also different than what you hear in hollywierd. More natural. Whether that was for budget reasons or what, I dunno.

 

3. Was soooo glad to see a movie where the good guys were good and the bad guys were dead. None of that hippie introspection BS that overrides all war movies. Just action, cool stuff, with a little of the good drama mixed in.

 

4. The end credits took the cake. I won't ruin it, but sit back and think about why they are showing what they are showing. Very inspiring.

 

I just might go see this again...

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I'm probably gonna pass on this one. Looks like a recruitment/propaganda/AMURRICA film which I don't really care for. And I'm sure the acting will be painful. I may rent it, but definitely not seeing it in theaters.

 

Too "black and white" / "good vs evil" for me, and I just don't feel that's how the world is or how wars should be portrayed. Probably a great escape film though. My main question: was the action at least pretty cool to watch? Cause that's what it all really comes down to regardless of acting or story, haha. If it's good and gory and fun I'll definitely give it a spin.

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lol...."to each his own"

 

or in the more politically correct world: "to each his/her/it's own"

 

and yes, the action is good, but you won't like it at all because the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad. It also shows the lengths the bad guys will go to cause destruction, which is hardly ever mentioned in "the real world." But you shouldn't go. Watching "propaganda" by some independent film makers with permission by the US gov't is much more sinister than watching anti-war propaganda produced by hollywood (platoon, apocolypse now, full metal jacket, valley of elah, green zone, rendition, etc etc etc) where the bad guys are insiders and the good guys are portrayed as either poor idiots or wacked-out crazies.

 

There's more truth in the first 10min of Act of Valor than there is in the last 15yrs of war movies.

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All a matter of perspective. But I'm not here to debate whether we're (America) right or wrong, good or bad, etc. It's just not my kind of movie. I enjoy a lot more gray and a lot less black and white in my war stories (and films/stories in general), fictional or not. I enjoy a good tragedy, or when the good guys aren't really so good after all.

 

You happened to list most of the films I've enjoyed, haha. Love Apocalypse Now and Green Zone. The Pacific was a phenomenal series that focused more on how brutal, depressing, and horrible war truly is. Gods and Generals portrayed a unique perspective on the Civil War, casting both sides as neither protagonists or antagonists. But most of all I love a good story with memorable characters. Act of Valor probably doesn't deliver in those categories and are likely just a functional means to an end, the action/f*ck-yeah-America-rules moments. (though I'll hold judgement until I see it since that's entirely my own assumption). I hope it's more than that, but I'm not holding my breath based on what I've seen.

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