Dont understand the part of tanks turning off the lights? - Courage Under Fire (1996) Discussion

[–] ken5088us 15 years ago

anyone?

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While shooting your own men certainly sucks, the situation could have become an absolute disaster because the Iraqis had infiltrated the lines. Serling was confused about who he was firing at because enemy and friendly tanks were so close together. The General praised his actions about turning on the lights because he got himself back together in time to prevent more casualties.

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[–] Jigsaw737 15 years ago

Their ranks were infiltrated by enemy tanks. Because all friendly tanks were on a radio channel he told all friendlies to switch on the lights. The enemy tanks that didn't get that message failed to switch on their lights and thusly could be identified. If he hadn't thought of giving that order the infiltrating tanks could have done a lot of damage, including provoking more friendly fire incidents due to the chaos that might ensue.

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[–] Crevan1986 15 years ago

Because quick, unorthodox thinking that saves many lives is a heroic act. That's why it's considered heroic.

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[–] RockmSockM09 15 years ago

Thank God people understood this. I cannot begin to tell you how underrated I feel this movie is, and how it kills me to this day how people still don't understand this resolution at the end. I'm by no means insulting the topic creator--in fact, I'm happy he asked. Many would dismiss this *most important development* and leave the theater none the wiser.

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[–] neamtzu_rau 14 years ago

So... how come Boylar got hit?

Didn't he get the message to turn on his lights in time?
Was his radio busted?

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[–] tbeller80 14 years ago

Re watch the movie. Turning on the lights was in response to accidentally killing Boylar.

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[–] neamtzu_rau 14 years ago

Damn...
Then it was already too late.
I thought that turning on the lights was a positive thing.

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[–] tbeller80 14 years ago

It was positive in the sense that Boylar's tank was the only fratricide. After they turned on their tank's lights they blew up everything that wasn't lit up.

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[–] neamtzu_rau 14 years ago

I guess you can't have a decent war without breaking some friendly eggs.
Anything worse then this is Tom Cruise shooting his buddy in the Born on Fourth of July movie.

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[–] naphythespiffyone 14 years ago

My question is why weren't their lights on in the first place. I am an M1A1 Abrams Driver, and when driving at night using the driver's night sight, in order for the sight to work, you place infrared lens filters in the headlights, this sends infrared light out in front of the tank so you can see. At gunnery, I couldn't see more than 5 feet in front of me without having my headlights on. If the drivers had had their IR lenses on in the first place they would have seen the iraqi tanks coming into their lines and could have prevented the whole incident.

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[–] tbeller80 14 years ago

I'm going to guess the writers of the movie didn't know how the lights (including IR) work. During Desert Storm, we had a few 360 degree tank fights but that was because we drove right through their lines and not because of enemy infiltration.

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[–] Ashley Pomeroy 14 years ago

"My question is why weren't their lights on in the first place. I am an M1A1 Abrams Driver, and when driving at night using the driver's night sight, in order for the sight to work, you place infrared lens filters in the headlights, this sends infrared light out in front of the tank so you can see."

Isn't there a risk, in a war zone, that the enemy will also have infrared night vision gear, in which case they would see your infrared headlights a mile off? You're a tank driver and I have played "M1 Tank Platoon", so you're probably correct, but wouldn't it be more sensible to use passive light amplification when approaching the enemy?

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[–] Razar_C-1 12 years ago

Wow man, if you're talking about the old Amiga game "M1 tank platoon," that'd be awesome!!!

That was a GREAT game, especially for its time! I loved it immensely. It gave me an entirely new perspective on tank warfare, and showed me how truly awesome the modern MBT is. Before this game, I knew nothing of laser range finders, and .50 co-ax's, etc... After the game, I was well aware that the allied forces in Iraq had an overwhelming advantage over the doomed Iraqi forces...

Having said that, Ive also recently played Iron Warriors, a t72 tank sim, and the game suggests strongly, if not outright claiming that the t72 is equipped with the same laser rangefinder that the M1A1 family has. Now, while it's my understanding that the Iraqi army was mostly t62's, with a few t55's and fewer t72's, those t72's that the Iraqi's did have (mostly modded out to what the Iraqi's named "The Lion of Babylon" tanks) should have been -on paper, at least- an equal match for the M1A1 of the 1990's.

Now: I've never served in the military, so I don't know how accurate that actually is. Thus, I'd very much appreciate any info on this, garnered from 1st hand sources, and not -of course- from Wikipedia. Not to deride Wiki, just that I'd much rather know from someone who was there, rather than hearsay, etc...

kk. Thanks and peace out

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[–] clarinath 12 years ago

I was a tank driver in Desert Storm. We never turned on our lights, either IR or white light. Never. I don't know what the guy claiming to be a M1A1 driver is talking about. At the time, the best night vision the Iraqi army had was passive infrared. If we had our IR lights on we would have stood out like bright shining beacons coming across the desert. Our tanks have thermal imaging, and you don't "see" light with a thermal imager, you see heat. Turning on the lights would have done nothing for the gunners using thermals. Until the headlight housings heated up enough to be seen that is. But they would not have seen bright splashes of light in the desert.

A laser rangefinder is good for ranging, but you have to have all of the other parts working together to make the kind of one shot accuracy the M1 is capable of.

This movie was terrible, the military parts were poorly displayed. I have yet to meet a Desert Storm vet who thinks this movie is any good at all.

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[–] first-things-first 10 years ago

The entertainment industry may never get it right. It really depends on the story they want to tell.

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