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War as entertainment

Jul-31-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

This is a very long article, but well worth reading in full.

Link to Full Article
Reality meets fiction on a new show about Iraq conflict

By Kirsten Scharnberg, Tribune national correspondent. Reporter Kirsten Scharnberg was embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq and has reported extensively on the war

NEW YORK -- A much-touted television drama about the war in Iraq made its debut in living rooms across America last week. In the show's final scene, a convoy of military vehicles rolls over a roadside bomb, and a young man who had joined the Army with the hope of eventually being able to afford college writhes in pain, one leg nearly severed.

About the same time, in a very real war zone several thousand miles away, in a place where no director can yell "Cut!" or request another take when something goes wrong, an explosion shook a northern Baghdad neighborhood. According to news reports, fire and searing shrapnel ripped through Humvees and flesh, and two U.S. soldiers lay dead when the smoke and chaos had cleared....

On televisions in Seattle on Wednesday, actor-soldiers detained a dozen insurgents; on the streets of Mosul, Iraq, soldiers from the base in Ft. Lewis, Wash., detained 11 suspected terrorists. On TV screens in America, a young Army wife cheats on her deployed husband; on bases all across Iraq, troops are finding that time away from home has contributed to divorce rates among Army officers and enlisted personnel nearly doubling. On previews for this week's "Over There" episode, a panicked wife gets the dreaded call that her husband was gravely wounded in combat; in Indiana last week, the family of Spec. Adam Harting received the visit every military family prays will never come--from grim-faced Army officials informing them that their 21-year-old son had been killed in Samarra...

The first episode of "Over There"--a series produced by Steven Bochco, the famed writer and creator of such television stalwarts as "Hill Street Blues," "NYPD Blue" and "L.A. Law"--was all about the action of war, the horrible moments when soldiers lose comrades and question what ever made them volunteer for such a profession.

But ask your average soldier to tell you about Iraq, and he or she will very often weave a much quieter narrative--of delivering supplies to Iraqi schools, of working with Iraqi soldiers eager to learn from their American counterparts.

There is no doubt that trust is built in trenches, under fire. But camaraderie--that is established under more pleasant circumstances.

On Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul, the snipers of the 1st Battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment gather almost every night to play Texas Hold 'Em poker. A drama like "Over There" would surely depict these young infantrymen talking with haunted emotion about the fact that in the past 10 months, 5 of their 15 snipers have been killed and nearly all the rest of them wounded.

But in reality the men don't talk about grief as they lay down their red, white and blue chips and smoke the cigars they've ordered on the Internet. Their memories are private. Without fanfare, one young man wears a baseball cap sent to him by the mother of a killed sniper....

Throughout the first episode, the squad members are shown getting to know one another, learning the backgrounds of each other's nicknames, asking about families. Not since Vietnam, when drafted soldiers were assigned to whatever unit needed a new body, would most U.S. soldiers be getting to know each other on the ground in a war zone. Most active-duty soldiers have trained together for months--if not years. They don't need to ask the origin of nicknames; they gave them to each other.

In May, when Sgt. Benjamin "Rat" Morton, 24, was killed in Mosul, his fellow soldiers gathered to mourn him. One friend stood in front of the hundreds of somber soldiers and told the story of how Morton once spent so long inside a Humvee during a weekend training exercise that when he finally got out, the litter-covered seat where he had been sitting looked "like a little rat's nest."

Bochco's Iraq shows soldiers agonizing over whether they have permission to return fire at attacking insurgents; in the real Iraq, no G.I. would dream of not firing back to save his life or the lives of those around him. In Bochco's Iraq, soldiers eat Meals Ready to Eat in makeshift field tents; in the real Iraq, the days of MREs are largely over because million-dollar mess halls--that serve lobster and crab legs once a week--have been built on bases throughout the country. In Bochco's Iraq, living conditions are austere; in the real Iraq, some bases have Harley-Davidson reps who promise to have your new bike waiting when you get home....


Comments For "War as entertainment":

I just saw the repeat showing last night. I was curious.

Twoums, you are right on!! Good job !!

Posted by: Karen | July 31, 2005 8:15 AM

as the parents proud by the way of a 1-5 soldier we watched the first ep with a feeling of dread wondering what politics would be injected. we still hold our opinion for a while knowing that the truth on the ground is differant.
hopefully hollywood and the rest will see the truth and not demonize. but somehow i doubt it.

Posted by: azSTRYKERdad2 | July 31, 2005 3:28 PM

I am a proud wife of a soldier at FOB Marez in 1/24, and I can say that the fact that this show is even being made sickens me. I wont even watch the previews for this show, it makes me so angry that Hollywood is trying to glamorize what is going on "over there". What makes me even more sick is that my husband is there fighting for their right to do so. My husband was friends with Ben "Rat" Morton and 2 of the snipers that were killed, I think that this show does nothing to honor their lives and I will be glad when it goes off the air. While I am glad that my husband does not have to live in squalor as he proudly serves our country, I wish he didnt have to be there at all, as do all loved ones of those that are there!!! My only wish is that one day people will understand just exactly it is that our boys do to make this country what it is today, and not to believe everything that they see on TV. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the families who have lost someone, they did not die in vain and will NEVER be forgotten.

Posted by: 1/24 Stryker Wife | August 1, 2005 12:18 AM

This show should be turned off by the goverment.No
one in the civilan world can begin to understand the fear that a family lives with each day. Then to turn on the tv and see this show, were does the media get off at. No one except the real soilders know or can tell what is really happening there or back home. If these actors want to get paid for acting in these roles, why not just join the service and experience the real thing. I bet not, no let the real men and heros do . My hat off to all our guys over there or who have been there, and to the media that does this show, called (Over there) Get a real job and stop playing soilder boy.

Posted by: mother of one servicing in Rawah | August 1, 2005 9:27 PM

Censorship in Television isn't the answer to the gripes people have about this show. Instead, education should be the answer. Hollywood is often considered ignorant and misinformed, but isn't American society as a whole just as ignorant and misinformed? Instead of thinking that the government should step in and censor an interpretation of what is really going on in Iraq, perhaps we should think of making the situation better... Or maybe we shouldn't blame Hollywood for the fighting that is taking place in Iraq.

Yes, Steven Bochco gives somewhat of an inacurate view of life for these soldiers "over there." But, we all know that he is not overly exaggerating the situations. There may be inconsistencies and misleading information, but we all know that behind the mind of this director, there is truth. Truth that affects our lives, our soldiers' lives, and the lives of the people who are too ignorant to even know what is really going on in Iraq... That every day, our soldiers dream about what they're going to do when they get home from combat... That they hope that they'll make it through another day... That their marriages will last and their children will remember them... That the memories of their friends who died in combat won't fade... And that they aren't having a party over there, whether they're playing poker, on a mission, or eating lobster.

I applaud Steven Bochco for being one of the few brave minds in the media to step up and remind America of what is happening overseas. Too often, Americans take this war for granted. They take our soldiers and our freedom for granted. The war is replaced with sensational headlines by Fox News and other networks honoring celebrities like Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt instead of honoring our troops. We are surrounded by fictional press, celebrity gossip, and reality television. America has forgotten about this war, and it's about time the Media has put a spotlight on the fighting that's taking place "Over There."

Posted by: Anonymous | August 3, 2005 10:20 AM

This isn't the whole article... You neglected to include one of the last paragraphs, among many others...

"Yet the overarching message of at least the first episode is one that most viewers--those who have been to Iraq and those who have not--could probably agree with: War is an ugly thing, and the people sent to fight it are just everyday heroes caught in the middle, doing their jobs."

Posted by: Christine | August 3, 2005 6:56 PM

Christine,

In most cases we are prevented by copyright laws from reprinting entire articles. Consequently, we try and post the first few paragraphs, or the most relevant parts.

Todd

Posted by: Todd | August 3, 2005 7:19 PM

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