Film is a joke

Rating: 1/10 (3 May 2015)

if you expect to view anything close to the way the Army was in that era. I went through basic training at Fort Polk in 1972. It was nothing like this film portrays ... the barracks and mess hall were made of what was called World War II wood -- the typical barracks design that housed millions of soldiers in World War II. That was not what was portrayed in the film. I could tell that the film was not filmed in Louisiana and looked it up -- filmed in Florida. Some filming at Camp Blanding - and I've been there but didn't recognize any of the areas from the camp in the film. I don't know about 1971, but in early 1972 the Vietnam war was drawing down and NO ONE from my company was sent to Vietnam. Personally, I was assigned to Germany. The conduct and troop interaction portrayed in the movie was unlike anything I witnessed at Fort Polk. First, no NCO (sergeant) or officer laid a hand on any recruit. There was no friction among soldiers as portrayed in the movie and no racial issues. We did have one guy who refused to take a bath and several platoon members threw him in a dumpster to get his attention and that worked. It is true that the Army was in very bad shape during that era. I and other new soldiers there were subjected to a lot of harassment, but many things were done as teaching points to help us survive if we had of been sent to Vietnam. Oh yeah, I pulled KP and never had to peel a potato - the Army had machines to peel potatoes in 1972.