{"id":2607,"date":"2004-07-31T21:27:38","date_gmt":"2004-07-31T21:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sgtstryker.com\/index.php\/archives\/memo-john-wayne-is-dead-and-arnie-has-a-day-job\/"},"modified":"2004-07-31T21:27:38","modified_gmt":"2004-07-31T21:27:38","slug":"memo-john-wayne-is-dead-and-arnie-has-a-day-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/archives\/memo-john-wayne-is-dead-and-arnie-has-a-day-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Memo: John Wayne is Dead, and Arnie Has a Day Job"},"content":{"rendered":"

To<\/strong>: Providers of our Movie & TV Entertainment
\nFrom<\/strong>: Sgt Mom
\nRe<\/strong>: Lack of Spine and Relevant Movies<\/p>\n

1. So here it has been nearly three years since 9\/11, two years since the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan, a year since the thunder run from the Kuwait border to Baghdad, and all we get from you is a TV movie, a couple of episodes from those few TV serials that do touch on matters military, and a two-hour partisan hack job creatively edited together from other people\u2019s footage. Ummm\u2026 thanks, ever so much. Three years worth of drama, tragedy, duty, honor, sacrifice, courage and accomplishment, and all we get is our very own Lumpy Riefenstahl being drooled over by the French. Where is the \u201cCasablanca\u201d, \u201cSo Proudly We hail\u201d, \u201cWake Island\u201d, \u201cThey Were Expendable\u201d? My god, people, the dust had barely settled over the Bataan surrender, before the movie was in the theaters. You people live to tell stories— where are ours? What are we fighting for and why, who are our heroes and villains, our epics and victories?<\/p>\n

2. And it\u2019s not like other media people have been laying down on the job: writers, reporters, bloggers have been churning out stories by the cubic foot: the brave passengers taking back Flight 93, the stories of people who escaped the towers, and those who helped others escape, as well as those who ran in, the epic unbuilding of the Trade Center ruins. What about the exploits of the Special Forces in Afghanistan, on horseback in the mountains with a GPS, directing pinpoint raids on Taliban positions, the women who ran Afghanistans\u2019 underground girls\u2019 schools? What about Sgt Donald Walters, Lt. Brian Chontosh, the 3rd ID\u2019s fight for the strong points at Larry, Curley and Moe and a dozen others. There\u2019s enough materiel for the lighter side, too: Chief Wiggles, Major Pain\u2019s pet turkey, the woman Marine who deployed pregnant and delivered her baby in a war zone, the various units who have managed to bring their adopted unit mascots back from the theater. (Do a google search, for heaven\u2019s sake. If you can\u2019t handle that, ask one of the interns to help.) The shelves at my local bookstore are pretty well stocked with current writings on the subject, memoirs, reports, thrillers and all. Some stories even have yet to be written; they are still ongoing, and even classified, but I note that did not stop the movie producers back then: they just consulted with experts and made something up, something inspiring and convincing.<\/p>\n

3. Of course, actually dealing with a contemporary drama in the fight against Islamic fascism would mean you would have to actually come down out of Hollywood\u2019s enchanted world, and actually, you know\u2026 speak to them. Ordinary people, ordinary, everyday people, who don\u2019t have agents and personal trainers and nannies, and god help them, they don\u2019t even vote for the right people, or take the correct political line. Some of them (gasp) are even military, and do for real what movies only pretend to do\u2026 and besides, they have hold to all these archaic ideals like honor, duty, and country. (Ohhh, cooties!)<\/p>\n

4. And since even mentioning the Religion of Peace \u2122 in connection with things like terrorism, mass-murder, and international plots for a new caliphate is a guarantee to bring CAIR and other fellow travelers seething and whining in your outer office\u2026 ohh, best not. Drag out those old villainous standby Nazis, or South American drug lords, even the odd far-right survivalist for your theatrical punch-up, secure in the knowledge that even if you piss off what few remains of them, at least they won\u2019t be unleashing a fatwa on your lazy ass, or sending a suicide bomber into Mortens\u2019. Just ignore the three large smoking holes in the ground; cover your eyes and pretend it away. Never happened, religion of peace, all about oil, la-la-lah, fingers in my ears, I can\u2019t hear you. <\/p>\n

5.To make movies about it all, is to have to come to grips with certain concepts; among them being the fact that we are all potential targets for the forces of aggressive Islamo-fascism, that it is not anything in particular which we have done to draw such animus, and that we are in this all together, and that we must win, for the consequences of not winning are not only unbearable for us all\u2026 but they would be very likely to adversely affect you, too. I would expect an industry dependent on the moods and fashions amongst the public at large to have a better feel for what would sell\u2026 but I guess denial is more comfortable, familiar space, Sept. 10th is what you know best.<\/p>\n

6. Still, if you could pass a word to Lumpy Riefenstahl, about getting signed releases, for footage, interviews and newsprint. It would be the courteous gesture towards all the little people for whom he professes to care, and save a bit of trouble in the long run.<\/p>\n

Thanks
\nSgt Mom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To: Providers of our Movie & TV Entertainment From: Sgt Mom Re: Lack of Spine and Relevant Movies 1. So here it has been nearly three years since 9\/11, two years since the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan, a year since the thunder run from the Kuwait border to Baghdad, and all we get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-gwot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}