Over Where?

There's a new show this season on FX network called "Over There" and it's supposed to give the viewer an idea what it's really like in Iraq, from the soldiers perspective and also some insight on what it's like for those left behind on the homefront.

A pretty good concept, if you ask me. So I began to watch it, and with every new episode I began to seethe just a little bit more. I've made a few friends here in West Virginia, and several of them are in the West Virginia National Guard and just came home from Iraq. From what they tell me, this show is so far from reality you really begin to wonder what kind of dope the writers are smoking.

I tend to pick apart TV shows and movies, mostly cop & army shows. It was a habit that used to drive my ex nuts, but I still can't help myself. Especially when I see a glaring mistake. And this show is chock full of them.

I've been out of the army for going on eighteen years but still retain a lot of the stuff that was crammed into my head, and also I have a pretty good memory when it comes to the five years I spent in boots. A lot of it is so fresh in my gray matter it's like it happened yesterday, and I don't think those memories will fade anytime too soon.

Ok, so I start watching this show in great anticipation. The first episode starts off with with a group of soldiers from the 3rd ID (Infantry Division) getting shipped out from their base in California to head to Iraq. First mistake. The 3rd ID is based out of Ft. Stewart, Georgia. I know this because I was stationed there for two years. Audie Murphy must be spinning in his grave.

Ok, ok. I give them the benefit of the doubt, so I watch on. It's pretty accurate in the weapons and uniforms, vehicles and such. But that's where it ends. Second mistake I see is one of the main characters "Sgt Scream" is a sergeant First Class, who's in charge of a rifle squad. Another mistake. A SFC would not be in charge of a rifle squad, that'd be a SGT, E-5 or maybe a corporal. A SFC would be a Platoon sergeant... And the size of the squad is in question also. I know I've been out of the army for some time, but a rifle squad in an infantry platoon would be twelve-man strong, not four.

Then comes the next episode where a two-star general comes and gives the sergeant orders for a mission. Let me tell you this. In the five years I was in the army, the highest ranking officer I ever spoke to let alone received orders from was a Captain, several grades below a Major General. This would never happen in war or in peacetime.

Another word on officers here. The platoon leader, a Second Lieutenant portrayed in the show is way too old for his rank. The guy in the show playing the lieutenant is around my age, pushing forty. The oldest 2nd Lt. I ever saw was around twenty-three. Either this guy had a really rough paper route growing up or they've badly miscast him. They did get it right that he's a complete fucking moron though, but that's another bitch.

Several other boners there too. The characters keep on referring to "Getting thrown in the Brig".

Brig? Since when the hell did the army get a brig? Unless the army has a ship out in the middle of the desert somewhere, the closest "brig" would be on one of the US Navy ships in the Persian Gulf. The army has the "Stockade" or "CCF" (Confined corrections Facility) Never a fucking brig.

I could really go nuts about the mistakes in infantry tactics shown, but they're far to many to list. I'll just say that if I ever did any of the dumb mistakes shown on the show in real life I'd be very, very dead in short order.

Then we go to the scenery. I never knew Iraq had Mesquite and Juniper trees. Looks like Southern California or Arizona to me.

Then we have the characters. And boy are they. A grenadier with no grenades, a SAW (squad automatic weapon) gunner who wields his M-243 like a cowboy who hasn't clue what he's doing, A blonde female truck driver from West Virginia (I wonder where they got that fucking idea from? How Goddamn original!) and of course the token Arab-American who just so happens to speak fluent Farsi.

All in all this show insults me on several different levels.

It shows the army and it's soldiers in the worst light, making everything we've accomplished there worth nothing. Shows the the basic infantry soldier as a knuckle-dragging, trigger happy idiot who doesn't give a shit about anyone but himself and all the loved ones he or she has left behind as drunk assholes who are fucking everything that moves when their spouses are away fighting the war. It also shows that we're not doing anything good there at all, and that's so far removed from the veterans I've spoken to at great length. They tell me of so many good things they've done. How every day Iraqis would come up to them and thank them daily for getting rid of Saddam and how much they're appreciated there.

This show has great potential. It's up to the writers, producers and military advisors to get it right. Of course there's going to be some ugly things. It's a war for Christ's sake. Nothing is ever surgical or clear-cut in a war. But let's start telling the truth and getting the facts straight. 100% of the soldiers there right now are volunteers. Many are on their second and third tours, not because they were told to, but volunteers to go back, because like the way I was instructed as a young soldier, get the job done. Never give up until the job is done. When it's done, then come home.

"Charlie Mike!" Continue mission.

We now have the best trained, best equipped army in the world. Don't let shows like this one dishonor them and especially those who've given their lives so that we can live free of terrorism, and also to let the Iraqis live without fear either. Oh, and if Cindy Sheehan is reading... I'm truly sorry for your son's loss, but he volunteered, not once, but twice to go to Iraq... So in saying the shit you've been spewing lately you are pissing on his grave. You care nothing about him, only you're own search for the limelight. You are not worthy enough to carry your son's boots.

As an army veteran this show insults me. It insults me as an American. It insults my intelligence and in essence, shits on every grave of every American soldier who ever fought and died for this country.

Copyright 2005 Thomas J Wolfenden