A Few Good Men (Rob Reiner, 1992)

I've known several Marines and ex-Marines and there was nothing special about them. Half of them were drafted, the other half joined for stupid reasons. One was promised training he never received, another intended to join the Army but switched to the Marines at the last minute because he heard they still had bayonet training.

A couple of ex-Marines I met were in the Communist Party. One had volunteered to fight in World War Two and one was drafted into the Korean War. 

I am not the least bit physically imposing, but I'm pretty sure I could have beaten up two of the Marines I knew. I was horsing around with one and lifted him up off the ground. He was light as a feather.

I never met anyone who was proud of being or having been a Marine. They all seemed to hate it. The one I knew who loved "the Corps" felt betrayed when they kicked him out for mental illness.

I remember when the Marines were the last branch of the armed forces you could join without a high school diploma. I don't know if not having a diploma would keep you from being drafted. Kids should look into that. I've never had anyone ask to see a high school diploma and not getting one could save your life.

So all the Marine-worship in A Few Good Men left me cold. If producers of the movie got any assistance from the military, they would have to have make changes in the script that made the Marines look good. I don't know if that was the problem or if Rob Reiner, now a neo-McCarthyite railing against "the Russians", has a thing for he-men. 

It reminds me of The Caine Mutiny with everyone enthusing over the Navy. Their defense attorney tells the court that it would be IMPOSSIBLE for a captain in the Navy to be a coward. So Humphrey Bogart must have been crazy. 

On the other hand, I had an uncle who was in the Army in World War Two. He went nuts when his daughter wanted to join the Army because the WACs had way too much sex back then. He warned his sons not to join the Marines because it had "more dead heroes" than any other branch of the service. But he tended to be overly agreeable. He went with his son to the recruiting office and they gave him their sales pitch. They'd teach my cousin to be a truck mechanic. My uncle smiled and nodded and signed him up for the Marines. When he got home, he thought, What have I done??