A long standing RANT - Military Officers portrayed on TV

I was watching the “Closer” last night and once again TV did a terrible job of portraying a military officer. They can’t get it right. How can they be so stupid time and time again.

The guy playing the part did his job fantastically. He played it just as they had written it; he couldn’t have been better. The basic drawback is that I never met an officer that was that stupid and the guy playing the part of a major in the United States Army didn’t know how to wear the uniform. It is not easy to deck yourself out correctly; but, on the other hand, it is not very hard either.

The little catch is the epaulets. Epaulets, you know the epaulets. That’s right, those little decorative deallies up there on the shoulders where the put the officer’s rank and maybe a unit crest when appropriate. The epaulet is actually too long for its intended purpose and needs to be tucked under the collar of the jacket. If it was just a slight bit shorter, it would not matter – but it isn’t. Take a look at the rerun of this episode if you get a chance. You will see that not one soul on the set knew what was wrong with the epaulets. It wasn’t just one side either. The problem switched from side to side in almost every shot that the dunderhead was in. He must have gotten so tired of taking off and putting on that coat, that he just didn’t care any more. It is obvious that not one soul on the set of the show had ever served a day in the military service – they would have hid their head in shame. And a shame it is that not one soul on the set of the show had ever served a day in the military service.

Getting back to the portrayal - during my entire time in the service, I never came across an officer that acted as the dunderhead did in the script that was presented for our viewing. This almost always seems to be the case. The “part” played last night couldn’t see the obvious if it had a two-by-four and whacked him up aside his head. All things considered, it was as far from reality as it could be. It matched the Hollywood version we are lead to believe; but only that version. Where are the directors and producers who used to put forth a worthwhile product? It wasn’t always this way. What happened? Where did these guys go? You would think they could get it right just once. The military we see in the news these days absolutely does not fit this image – well except General McChrystal and his guys, but they were exceptions. It just really makes me mad.