Semper Films: The Top Ten Marine Corps Movies

The men and women who earn the right to wear eagle, globe and anchor of the United States Marine Corps are a special breed.   To those outside the Corps, they talk funny.  They look funny.  They are extremely impressed with themselves – and they have every right to be. 

My beloved United States Army is a blunt instrument, a magnificent club that has pummels our nation’s enemies into submission.  But the Marines are America’s rapier, a razor sharp weapon of war that has never been bested and never will be.  For over two centuries, the United States Marine Corps has been fighting our country’s battles in the air, on land and sea.  They don’t give up.  They don’t quit.  There’s no word for retreat in a Marine’s vocabulary.  And they are making history even today in the mountains of Afghanistan and elsewhere.

November 10th is the Corps’ 234th birthday.  With the indulgence of my Devil Dog brethren, here is this Army veteran’s countdown of the Top Ten Marine Corp movies: (more…)

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Tags: 55 Days at Peking, a few good men, aaron sorkin, Adam Baldwin, Al Mathews
Posted Nov 10th 2009 at 9:41 am in Classic Hollywood, Film, Military | 260006166 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2009/11/10/semper-films-the-top-ten-marine-corps-movies/Semper+Films%3A+The+Top+Ten+Marine+Corps+Movies2009-11-10+17%3A41%3A33Kurt+Schlichter

Honoring September 11th: Serve and Remember

President Obama has designated September 11th as The National Day of Service and Remembrance.

Remember.

–

(more…)

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Tags: 9/11, air force, army, Marines, navy
Posted Sep 11th 2009 at 5:22 pm in Culture, Military, Politics | 22270621 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jrhead/2009/09/11/honoring-september-11th-serve-and-remember/Honoring+September+11th%3A+Serve+and+Remember2009-09-12+00%3A22%3A15J.R.+Head

Why You Should Read and Support Michael Yon

When I saw that Michael Yon had joined us here at Big Hollywood, I was overjoyed. This is a great opportunity to expand his audience and, frankly, everyone should read his stuff. Yon has been embedding with military units in combat for the better part of the last four years and has been bringing the ground-level truth to those that care to read it.

I can’t remember exactly when I first discovered his writings but it was at a point where he was disagreeing with the spin coming from the Bush White House regarding progress in Iraq. I was disturbed to have confirmation that things were not quite as we were being told but Yon’s critiques, while serious and undiluted, were constructive in nature. I could tell that he was supportive of the effort even though he sometimes railed against the execution of it. Michael Yon pulls no punches and I checked back often to see what else he had to say. Eventually, the network news would catch up and start reporting things that Yon had written about weeks, often months, earlier. This is a pattern that continues today. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Iraq, J.R. Head, Marines, Michael Yon
Posted Sep 9th 2009 at 5:03 am in Featured Story, Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 21700627 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jrhead/2009/09/09/michael-yon/Why+You+Should+Read+and+Support+Michael+Yon+2009-09-09+12%3A03%3A55J.R.+Head

SatComms for Soldiers

25 July 2009
Sangin, Afghanistan

Have been out with British forces in the area of Sangin in northern Helmand Province.  This area appears to be turning into the main effort of the current fight in Afghanistan, but this is unclear to me at the moment.  I do know that air assets are heavy.  During our mission yesterday, a B-1 could be seen overhead, though it was miles high.  On the ground, this place is loaded with IEDs and there were many firefights during yesterday’s mission.   My section of eight soldiers did not fire a single round; we did not come into direct contact, though bullets sometimes zipped overhead.  Nearly all missions are conducted on foot and the soldiers like it that way.  I am with the British battalion called 2 Rifles.  The last mission I did with 2 Rifles was in Iraq, and they killed maybe 26-27 JAM members during that fight.  Yesterday they only killed two Taliban (Predator actually made the shot), but the mission was well run, and morale here is very high.  Everybody is ready to roll again and missions are near continuous.  I’ll ask British commanders to let me stay, though that might not be necessary because there are so few helicopters.  More likely I am stuck here.  FOB Jackson is probably going to be my Hotel California, but that’s all good because these are great soldiers, in the thick of it, and I want to stay.

More broadly speaking, our forces are spread to the high winds across desolate stretches of Afghanistan, sometimes in tiny “bases” with as few as a half-dozen soldiers.  Last December, I spent some time with a group of such soldiers in Zabul Province, but hardly wrote a word about them, yet. They were deep in wild country and it took two days for us to drive out to a paved road.  Those soldiers had no access to Internet, and said that on one occasion they didn’t even get mail for three months. (more…)

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Tags: (R-BGAN) HNS-9101, 9201, Afghanistan, airmen, Helmand Province
Posted Jul 25th 2009 at 10:43 am in Featured Story, Michael Yon Dispatches | 1916907 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/07/25/satcomms-for-soldiers/SatComms+for+Soldiers2009-07-25+17%3A43%3A12Michael+Yon

Troopathon 2009: Saying Thanks for Freedom

Sometimes I sit at my desk and I think about what I do for a living. Some people say comedy is hard but comedy is a byproduct of our society. Everything that we have and everything that we do in America from telling jokes to curing cancer to turning bolts in a factory is the result of a culture in our country that says country is more important than self. From the early revolutionaries to the men and women standing a post in Iraq tonight, Americans have always stepped up to do what is necessary to protect our freedoms.

I believe that the average person in America, and I include myself in that number, has become complacent about the liberties with which we are provided. Most of us don’t vote. Most of us don’t pay much attention to what the government is doing. Most of us don’t care that little by little, freedoms won and protected by the blood of our young man and women, are being whittled away. Smoking is banned, but hey, most of us don’t smoke. They kicked an old lady out of her house, but we all got a great new shopping mall. The government decides that AIG or GM is too big to fail but that’s OK because my insurance or my uncle’s pension was saved. Each time one of our freedoms is chipped away it is an insult to those who have laid down their lives protecting them.    (more…)

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Tags: Abu Ghraib, airmen, liberties, Marines, Military
Posted Jun 25th 2009 at 9:02 pm in Military | 169206One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjena/2009/06/25/a-salute-to-the-troops/Troopathon+2009%3A+Saying+Thanks+for+Freedom2009-06-26+04%3A02%3A49Jeffrey+Jena

Troopathon 2009: Gratitude

Thank God for America’s Armed Forces and Her courageous men and women in uniform who selflessly stand for us “between our beloved home and the desolation of war.”

Such brave and heroic souls, with their families’ steadfast love of country and sacrifices in support of their mission – to secure the Blessings of Liberty to our selves and our posterity – provide for us all the sacred opportunity to pursue our own happiness, hopes and dreams.

For that, we fellow Americans must pledge our humble and eternal gratitude to all those in service to our nation, past, present and future. (more…)

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Tags: Adam Baldwin, airmen, Coast Guard, law enforcement, Marines
Posted Jun 25th 2009 at 6:34 am in Military | 1697785 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/abaldwin/2009/06/25/troopathon-2009-gratitude/Troopathon+2009%3A+Gratitude2009-06-25+13%3A34%3A20Adam+Baldwin

An Alternative to War

Disclaimer: What you are about to read is fiction. It is a story about peace. Peace at any cost.

THE WORLD TODAY: A News Summary

May 2009

BONN (EU News) – The current CSPEU administration has decided to increase productivity by lowering the age that children are required to enter the workforce from nine to eight years of age. The EU Vice Minister for the Interior states the lowering of the work age is due to an increased shortage of youthful workers. “It’s a reflection of the ongoing fighting between our peaceful union and the obstinate Russians.”

Citizens and subjects in the 18-25 age bracket have seldom been seen in recent years. The Vice Minister commented on this by stating, “This temporary downturn in our youthful population is insignificant compared to the tremendous loss of life on the Russian side. Though our rockets delivering Vemork V weapons obliterated St. Petersburg and most of Moscow years ago, the Russians, though scattered and ill equipped, still choose to resist to this very day. It staggers the mind why they wish to continue their own misery. ” (more…)

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Tags: "China", air force, allies, America, armed forces
Posted May 28th 2009 at 4:33 pm in Politics | 1436262 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smann/2009/05/28/an-alternative-to-war/An+Alternative+to+War2009-05-28+23%3A33%3A41Schizoid+Mann

Freedom Isn’t Free

While volunteering for the McCain Campaign last year, I ran across a display of quotes by former President Ronald Reagan… One of them touched my heart so deeply that it inspired me to sit down and start writing a song as a tribute to our men and women in the United States Military.

The quote said… 

“We all share the love of peace, but our sons and daughters must learn two lessons men everywhere and in every time have had to learn:  that the price of freedom is dear, but not nearly as costly as the loss of freedom – and that the advance and continuation of civilization depend on those values for which men have always been willing to die for…” 

While some of our brave men and women in uniform have made it safely back home to their loved ones, others have come home wounded – their lives forever changed.  Yet still, there are those who have gone on to another home – paying the ultimate price for freedom… with their lives…  (more…)

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Tags: air force, America, army, Coast Guard, Freedom Isn't Free
Posted May 25th 2009 at 11:13 am in Military | 142862One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cstanton/2009/05/25/freedom-isnt-free/Freedom+Isn%27t+Free2009-05-25+18%3A13%3A57Chele+Stanton

A Hero’s More Than a Sandwich

One of the good things that came out of the tragic events of 9/11 is that heroism has reacquired some of its original luster.  I’m not certain when it lost it, not at all certain when bravery above and beyond the call of duty gave way to meaning nothing more or less than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Looking back, I have an idea it happened during the Jimmy Carter administration when hostages were taken in Tehran.  People who had been abducted by the minions of Ayatolah Khomeni, and held captive by Iranian thugs, were being widely hailed as heroes by the American media. 

I’m not suggesting that a hostage can’t also be a hero.  Apparently Sen. John McCain behaved like one when he was a POW, volunteering to be beaten by the Vietnamese in order to spare the men in his charge.  But I’m afraid that your run-of-the-mill hostage is no more a hero than were any of the unfortunate passengers in the planes that were crashed into the World Trade Center. 

It is appropriate to grieve for innocent victims, but we should stop short of lionizing them.  Otherwise, how do we distinguish between those who simply die and those who perish trying to save others?  For instance, the U.S. Air Force pilot who was shot down behind enemy lines, surviving on bugs and swamp water in Kosovo, was not a hero; the pilots who risked their own necks flying in to save his, were.  (more…)

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Tags: 9/11, athletes, heroes, kosovo, Marines
Posted May 25th 2009 at 8:44 am in Featured Story, Military, Politics | 142918No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bprelutsky/2009/05/25/a-heros-more-than-a-sandwich/A+Hero%27s+More+Than+a+Sandwich2009-05-25+15%3A44%3A55Burt+Prelutsky

Daily Gut: Soldiers on Drugs

Their valor is second to none. But are drugs helping them get the job done? According to Men’s Health, American troops are taking piles of prescription meds – citing a U-S army survey that found 12 percent of soldiers in Iraq and 15 percent in Afghanistan reported taking antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, or sleeping pills.

But– not mentioned in this strange article: Their prescription med use is actually lower than the national average.

Funny, that. We actually did some digging and found that 10 percent of Americans take drugs to combat depression and 25 percent take sleep medications. That’s a total of 35 percent – double that of those brave folks in the military.

In short, Men’s Health should stick to flat abs. (more…)

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Tags: "Men's Health", health care, Janet Napolitano, Marines, Military
Posted May 20th 2009 at 2:08 pm in Daily Gut | 139454No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2009/05/20/daily-gut-soldiers-on-drugs/Daily+Gut%3A+Soldiers+on+Drugs2009-05-20+21%3A08%3A03Greg+Gutfeld

Sergeants Rock

I just cannot get behind this Star Trek rebirth.  The whole thing is just so unrealistic.  Not the warp speed or phasers or beaming about the universe – those are at least remotely plausible.  I am talking about the fact that the starship Enterprise is composed entirely of officers and yet it still seems to function.  Where are the non-commissioned officers (NCO), the petty officers and sergeants who actually make any military organization run?  No, I can suspend disbelief over Klingons and tribbles, and I actively support the notion of green alien hotties.  But the idea of a functioning military unit without sergeants is just a wormhole too far.

–

Hollywood movies often focus on the commanders, the captains and colonels, but they have also managed to highlight some great sergeants as well.  When you are picking out DVDs for next weekend, remember that May 16th is Armed Forces Day and consider a few selections that show the sergeant in all his gruff and grumbling glory. 

If you have never experienced the joy of going through basic training and do not plan to, your first stop should be Full Metal Jacket, with R. Lee Ermey’s legendary portrayal of a Marine drill instructor who must have missed out on the block of instruction on sensitivity.  I saw this in the theater about a week before I reported to Basic.  That was a poor idea. (more…)

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Tags: A Bridge Too Far, Afghanistan, Al Matthews, Aliens, An Officer and a Gentleman
Posted May 11th 2009 at 4:47 pm in Entertainment, Military | 1310103 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2009/05/11/sergeants-rock/Sergeants+Rock2009-05-11+23%3A47%3A39Kurt+Schlichter

Ride 2 Recovery: An Amazing Journey!

The warrior cried, but not for himself.

His tears flowed from the blessing of the little girl — the one with the angel-voice. And, as we stood in ovation in the American Legion Hall her lyric, “… I once was lost, but now I’m found. Was blind, but now I see” reminded him why his military service and the forty-odd years since had all been worthwhile: her Freedom, our Freedom.

As our tearful eyes locked, he restrained in a whisper, “See that? That’s why I lost my legs in Vietnam.” But then he smiled, “losing my legs is the best thing that ever happened to me… it’s why I am here right now, and it’s given me a great life.” 

Of course, I can never truly know the depth of my new friend Duane Wagner’s struggles in meeting his post Vietnam war challenges, but I was privileged to share with him a true moment of ‘amazing grace’ in the knowledge that his sacrifices – and all those of his compatriots — were not in vain. (more…)

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Tags: American Legion, Ameriquest Field, Animal Mother, Brook Army Medical Center, Chamois Butt’r®
Posted Apr 20th 2009 at 5:00 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Military | 1094623 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/abaldwin/2009/04/20/ride-2-recovery-an-amazing-journey-2/Ride+2+Recovery%3A+An+Amazing+Journey%212009-04-20+12%3A00%3A59Adam+Baldwin

Profiles in Courage: Major General David Blackledge

General David Blackledge (rt) in Iraq

Major General David Blackledge is not a superhero. He’s a human hero. 

In February of 2004, Major General Blackledge’s convoy was ambushed in Iraq. The interpreter, who was sitting next to him, was shot through the head. Taking fire, the vehicle rolled. But the survivors were able to escape. He sustained a broken back and ribs, with other injuries requiring eleven months of recovery and physical therapy.  

Fifteen months after the ambush, Major General Blackledge was deployed back to Iraq. While in Amman, Jordan for meetings, he was in one of three popular hotels that were struck by terrorist bombs. The explosions killed over 55 people and injured over 110. He suffered a neck injury.  (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, army, cycling, george bush, Iraq
Posted Apr 14th 2009 at 10:33 am in Military | 105554No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/r2r/2009/04/14/ride-2-recovery-profiles-in-courage/Profiles+in+Courage%3A+Major+General+David+Blackledge+2009-04-14+17%3A33%3A04Ride+2+Recovery

All the News That’s Fit to Ridicule

So many absurd things are taking place around the world on a weekly, daily and even hourly basis that there’s simply no way to stay on top of it all.  If one man can barely keep up with the lunacy occurring in America, you can imagine what a Herculean task it is to also keep abreast of foreign follies.  But I am not one to shirk my responsibility.

For instance, in Afghanistan, the farmers recently called for a meeting with U.S. Marines in order to alert them to the fact that they will be in their fields at night harvesting opium poppies.  They wanted to make sure that the Marines didn’t take them for members of the Taliban and shoot them by mistake.  Like the farmers, I also don’t want our Marines to shoot them by mistake. (more…)

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Tags: abortion, ACORN, Afghanistan, Americorps, bias
Posted Apr 11th 2009 at 10:51 am in Media Criticism | 1026502 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bprelutsky/2009/04/11/all-the-news-thats-fit-to-ridicule/All+the+News+That%27s+Fit+to+Ridicule2009-04-11+17%3A51%3A34Burt+Prelutsky

Harvard 29, Yale 29, Audience 0 (Final)

“The best football movie ever!” declared one reviewer.  “It’s the ‘Hoop Dreams’ of football!”, chirped another.  Which is why, as a lifelong devotee of independent films, documentaries, and college football, I decided to see Harvard Beats Yale 29-29, a film by Kevin Rafferty about the “epic” 1968 game between the Ivy League rivals.  Like most epic football games, the 1968 Harvard-Yale game was between two teams nobody cared about, and it ended in a tie.  As if the fact that Harvard and Yale played to a tie in 1968 wasn’t enough to drag me into the theater, this film also features Tommy Lee Jones, a guard on that 1968 Harvard squad, and Yale quarterback Brian Dowling, the inspiration for “B.D.” in the comic strip Doonesbury that was so popular back when Jimmy Carter was president.  So what’s not to like?

Cut to me in one of the comfy chairs at the Screening Lounge of the Landmark Theaters at the Westside Pavilion in West L.A last night. (Which is awesome, by the way– it really is just like a screening room.)  Things got off to a slow start when some guy, seemingly not noticing the half-empty room, informed me that I was sitting in his seat.  Like most of the other patrons, this guy gave every appearance of being either a Yale or a Harvard man. Speaking of which, does Harvard only admit pompous jackasses, or is becoming a pompous jackass a requirement for graduating from Harvard?  Ah, the eternal questions.  (Actually, that’s probably not fair.  I’m sure that plenty of normal, decent, men and women of average-sized egos have graduated from Harvard University.  I’ve just never met one.)  In any case, the seating issue was resolved, the film was soon underway and I settled in for what promised to be the cinematic experience of a lifetime. (more…)

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Tags: Al Gore, Brian Dowling, Coal Miner's Daughter, Doonesbury, george w. bush
Posted Mar 19th 2009 at 3:12 pm in Reviews | 8463861 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/nrice/2009/03/19/harvard-29-yale-29-audience-0-final/Harvard+29%2C+Yale+29%2C+Audience+0+%28Final%292009-03-19+22%3A12%3A45Ned+Rice

Sarah Silverman Crowd: Too Cool For The Catskills

The other night I did a show at the New York Friars Club. The Friars do a lot of shows for a lot of good causes: to raise school tuition for underprivileged kids in the arts, for charities that help disabled kids, for our returning heroes from Iraq and Afghanistan in the Wounded Warriors Project. I recently had the tremendous honor of performing my stand up act for United States Marines in the Wounded Warrior Battalion at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Apparently my act is very motivational – one lance corporal told me afterwards that during my act several marines actually left the theater and volunteered to go back to combat.

The show we did at the club the other night was for an equally momentous, but slightly less altruistic, purpose: it was Mickey Freeman’s birthday. Mickey is an octogenarian, possibly nonagenarian, borscht belt comedian, forever beloved as Private Zimmerman on Phil Silver’s old “Sgt Bilko” show. Mickey is a delightful little guy, if he’s even five foot tall he’s a very short five foot tall, and he can still reel off the rapid-fire classic one liners like a comedy machine (”I worked one hotel that was such a dump, the beds were unmade on the postcard!”). Everybody loves Mickey, and the show was a classic Friars affair: great older comics (like Eddie Lawrence, The Ol’ Philosopher: “What’s the matter, Bunky? Life getting you down?”) mixed in with comics like Ross Bennett, Jackie the Jokeman Martling, and those like me who are, if not quite young, are at least younger. With the younger Friars, our prostates are only slightly enlarged. (more…)

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Tags: borscht belt, brokeback mountain, Camp LeJeune, catskills, comedy
Posted Feb 27th 2009 at 10:17 am in Celebrity News, Media Criticism, Politics | 6847878 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dkonig/2009/02/27/searching-for-comedy-in-the-land-of-the-true-beleiver/Sarah+Silverman+Crowd%3A+Too+Cool+For+The+Catskills2009-02-27+18%3A17%3A38Dave+Konig

‘Taking Chance’ Delivers Moving Tribute

HBO premiered “Taking Chance,” starring Kevin Bacon, on Saturday night.  If you haven’t seen it yet, make time to watch it.  ”Taking Chance” is unlike any Iraq War movie we’ve seen, thus far, in that it steers clear of any political message.  I don’t mind telling you that I find that to be incredibly refreshing.

By the way, I realize that I’m a little late on this but, being just a regular schmo, I don’t get advance screeners of things.  Consider this to be like talking to the buddy you haven’t seen since Friday.

Based on true events, the movie follows the experiences of Lieutenant Colonel Mike Strobl and is a moving tribute to PFC Chance Phelps, a 19-year-old Marine who was killed in battle in 2004.  Even though the story follows LtCol Strobl as he escorts the body of this fallen Marine back to his family, it does not victimize Phelps.  Further, it shows a side of America that I rarely see, living in Los Angeles.  At every opportunity the movie takes the time to demonstrate the honor shown by fellow members of the military, as well as civilians raising hand to heart to offer respect.  Not even the camera is disrespectful to PFC Phelps – he is more a symbol of all the brave men and women that we’ve lost in Iraq. (more…)

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Tags: hbo, Iraq War, kevin bacon, Marines, Taking Chance
Posted Feb 24th 2009 at 4:21 pm in Entertainment, Politics, Reviews | 6525074 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jrhead/2009/02/24/taking-chance-delivers-a-moving-tribute/%27Taking+Chance%27+Delivers+Moving+Tribute2009-02-25+00%3A21%3A02J.R.+Head