Not Really 'Over There'

Faces From The Front ^ | Monday, 01 August 2005 | JD Johannes

[tgslTakoma]

I found this critique of "Over There" on a blog. This information below is from the website that hosts JD's blog:

The writer, JD Johannes had been out of the Marines for almost 6 years, working in television, radio and politics -- jobs owed to the training received at the Defense Information School, and to the experience as a combat cameraman for the Marine Corps.

JD would go to Iraq as an embedded reporter with a Platoon from his old unit—the 24th Marine Reserve Regiment--shoot video of the Marines in action, interview them, and observe first hand to provide a view of what it is like for Marine Infantry Platoon in Iraq, instead of the daily car bombing or weekly kidnapping seen on the Network News. JD's reports were syndicated to local television stations in Kansas and Missouri.

Staff Sergeant Pollock, Staff Sergeant Rider and Gunnery Sergeant Tomileri were interviewed and video was taken of them leaving Kansas City for Camp Lejeune North Carolina for a Demo-Reel and as part of the process of becoming an embedded reporter.

In March, JD flew out to Camp Lejeune, met up with the Platoon and began the project in ernest. He was with them until the beginning of June and will return to them in the beginning of July.

=======================================================

The blog is pretty good, and there are some short videos of some of the Marines in the platoon that Johannes was embedded with. He's also working on putting his footage together into a documentary to be aired on (hold onto your hats, folks) a Kansas public television station.

Anyway, I liked Johannes' writing style and thought I'd share it with folks at FR. Check out the website for more video, photos and trailers for the documentary.

[dandiegirl]

Last night, Over There, pushed my new favorite show- Rescue Me back an hour. Had to stay up until midnight. I didn't bother to watch Over There.

[Prime Choice]

Just from watching the ads and reading a few remarks from actual soldiers in Iraq, I renamed "Over There" as "Out There."

Who knows...maybe I'll make a parody of it.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.

Just for the LOVE of it:


Hit: 'posted by ALOHA RONNIE' -Here

Hit: 'Links' -There

---

Hit:


MEL's -PASSION- sparked by -WE WERE SOLDIERS-

http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085111/posts

.

[CyberAnt]

I only lasted 5 minues on the first night .. can't figure out how a person can produce a series on the war when he's never been "over there" to see what the real war is like.

[mvpel]

In the real war, if a group of Soldiers or Marines take fire from a building, that building may not be standing for very long, no matter if the building is a mosque or has an Al Jazeera reporter in it.

Video: 500lb Bomb Hits Iraqi Building

[Iam1ru1-2]

The title of the series says it all: Over There, meaning he's never been there so it wouldn't be called "Over Here in Iraq".

[FlingWingFlyer]

Same old stereotypes and tired cliches, different war.

[BroncosFan]

He's a bit harsh, but I mostly agree. Still, it's very watchable. (But A&M don't give partials -- jeez!)

[Sender]

Tonight's episode has a lot of shooting innocent people who drive up to checkpoints in cars. A burning trauma of shoot first, kill em all, write a report in the morning. Traumatized young Americans forced to kill grandma.

While it's partly based in fact, the reality exists that any car could be a bomb, any road could hold an IED. It's a nasty world 'over there'.

[blu]

Sorry, guys, but this is a good show, from a female non-military point of view. Watching tonight, I had to keep turning the TV down, and turning almost all the way away from the TV. I knew something bad was going to happen and I did/did not want to see it. I'm lucky that I have that choice. I now know for sure there's no way in hell I could man one of those checkpoints.

I don't know how realistic tonight's portrayal was, but I now have a better idea of the risks our soldiers take when they do the checkpoints. I found that whole situation done very sympathetically...all the people who were killed had been sent to test the security.

Heck, I'm even starting to like the Sarge! Some of the soap opera aspects of the home life are cliche', but I suppose Bochco has to get some sex in there! Is it possible for the storyteller to tell his tale without a political spin?

[speed_addiction]

Tonights episode was actually pretty good. While it did take a few dramatic licenses, it did capture the harrowing and terrifying nature of manning a checkpoint in a war zone. While it did appear that the soldiers were firing on innocents, in reality, the soldiers held thier fire until they had no other choice. They turned out to be right in every shoot.

One thing that they showed and I am pretty sure that it was by accident was how hard it was for the Sergeant to keep his young troops away from the booby trapped car. I was a squad leader and was always having to keep an eye on my curious young Privates


What We Are About To Do Here Is What The Good Lord Would Call A Cleansing of the Wicked. I Call It A Good Old Fashioned Texas Ass Kicking.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

To Hollywood, every war is the Vietnam War replayed.

For example, "MASH" was Vietnam transplanted to Korea.

"Over There" is Vietnam transplanted to Iraq.

[FreedomCalls]

To Hollywood, every war is the Vietnam War replayed. For example, "MASH" was Vietnam transplanted to Korea. "Over There" is Vietnam transplanted to Iraq.

Another great example is the movie "Kelly's Heroes" which is pretty obviously Vietnam transplanted to a WWII-era France. Maybe "Catch-22" as well.

[FreedomCalls]

To Hollywood, every war is the Vietnam War replayed. For example, "MASH" was Vietnam transplanted to Korea. "Over There" is Vietnam transplanted to Iraq.

Another great example is the movie "Kelly's Heroes" which is pretty obviously Vietnam transplanted to a WWII-era France. Maybe "Catch-22" as well.

[AmericanDave]

Hey guys! It's E N T E R T A I N M E N T !

Far as I'm concerned if the show has them blowing up some Syrian college boy terrorists and then showing that they DID have a car bomb in the trunk (and thereby justifying the shooting)it can't be ALL bad!

Heck, from The Longest Day to Saving Private Ryan, it's a lot of fantasy mixed with fact (every GI's war experience was unique - my uncle was 82nd airborne 1942, Sicily and Italian campaigns), but can still be good entertainment IMHO...

[Christian4Bush]

bump for later

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Another great example is the movie "Kelly's Heroes"

Agreed!

[El Gato]

In Iraq, individual replacements are pretty rare. Whole units replace each other

Just means Hollyweird is fighting the Vietnam war, their version of course, all over again. Individual replacements were SOP, but not universal either, during that "conflict".

[blu]

By Jove, I think you've got it!