Plus ca change...........(The More Things Change)

Rating: 8/10 (17 March 2006)

A gentleman (from France, I won't hold this against him), wrote a comment about the ironies and callousness of the characters of FMJ. I would like to politely disagree with him on several points. As a former marine myself, I went through boot camp at Parris Island, SC, where we were taught to be killers. I was fortunate to never have to do so. In 1998, I was deployed to Japan as an electronics technician with an aviation unit, and prior to deployment, my squadron received several hundred hours on Japanese history, culture and tradition, in addition to the requisite safety, security and terrorism briefs that occur when deploying to a foreign nation. The process was the same when I deployed to Saudi Arabia in 2000. As for the Mickey Mouse at the end, they were not being callous (as a group, individuals are another story), but the battle depicted in the movie was Hue (pronounced WHEY) City, and one of the bloodiest of the war, and were all trying to remember a happier, simpler time in their lives. I have been through the training that Joker, Cowboy, Sno-Ball and Gomer Pyle went through, and I would like to think that I became a better man because of it.