To Clear up the 'Unrealism of the army'

Well, I disagree with you on some points.

As it happens, I am in the Canadian army.


1. Recruits, especially of the National Guard often times do NOT carry side-arms, thats not a point of the movie being un-realistic, but they do not get issued pistols especially when they're still in their basic training.

I agree with you on this one. recruits do NOT get issued handguns and I imagine less the National guard.

2. They were issued ONE Mag, also realistic. Since these guys are still in basic, they do not have the luxury of having 5-6 fully loaded mags to pop off, thats why they asked if they were using blanks or real rounds, in training you have more blanks than real rounds. this is realistic to have one mag each to go on a what seemed to be quick search and rescue.

In training you always have 5 to 6 blank mags

3. Lack of tactics - They are in basic training you idiots, they are just as stupid as the average person is when it comes to these tactics, once the sargeant goes down it is OBVIOUS that these people cannot manage for themselves in a hostile environment especially use tactics that they probably just learned if not a month ago.

This is where I disagree. First of all no one gets tasked anywhere (or even get a weapon for that matter) if you do not complete at least basic training. And this argument is irrelevant as someof the 'soldiers' portrayed in the movie have the emotional maturity of a 5 year old. No matter how untrained you are or how clueless about weapons you are (and by the way you don't get issued a weapon unless you qualify on it) you do not perform some of the blatantly stupid maneuver they do here. Again, this is irrelevant since untrained recruits would never even be tasked in the first place. In that sense, the movie falls apart.

4. Peeing without telling people/idiot soldiers - They are recruits, there is not a single recruit no matter what you all think that does not have a stupid moment, ask any instructor or even any former recruit. Recruits are idiots.

Again wrong.We are thought to always stay in group. This is true since day one! I don't even believe that training is necessary for this as its common sense that when you are alone you are more likely to get ambushed. Training or not, this is common sense for anyone.

5. Tasked in secret area - also realistic, they were supposed to drop off crucial technical supplies to a confidential mission and carry on. When they approach the camp and nobody is there, it is odd, when they hear signs of distress from somebody over the radio, and they cannot contact anyone else it is almost their duty to try and help the person in distress, firing off live rounds here is permitted since it is a US Base.

Wrong again. Again, untrained privates will never be tasked in a 'secret area' for a 'confidential' mission.


The reaction of every single soldier in this movie was unrealistic and was just an excuse to give the mutants a chance. I guarantee you that you throw a squad of trained professional soldiers in there and the mutants are history.

And recruits never and I mean NEVER leave there weapons unattended and this is true for all of there military career!

I have worked with U.S. army and this movie does not do them justice.

Forgive my spelling, I am french!

Hmmmm....I think it just boils down to the fact that two ultra-liberal guys who have never served in the miltary (and probably don't care for it) wrote a script dealing with the military. I'm a huge Craven fan, and I actually enjoyed this movie. But I think a quick rewrite would have made it a much better film.

National Guard Recruits go through the same Basic Training as (and with) the regular Army. When I was in Boot Camp (Basic Training) I was training to be active duty (non-reserve non-national guard) but trained with people who had signed up for the reserve and national guard.

Troops in Basic training learn...GASP...basic freaking tactics. That's what it's for. They are also not sent on actual missions as that is what the already trained/graduated troops are for.

It is possible for someone to leave their weapon (sh*t happens) and not all troops are given side arms. Other than that this was wrong on almost every account.

Rather than arguing, I will state some more examples of why the sergeant doesn't sound real. I heard the soldiers say "yes sir", "yes sergeant", and "yes sir sergeant". Officers are called sir in the military not sergeants. I think the main reason for this is not that the writers were ignorant about the military, but that movies are not allowed to use proper military protocol and situations, if they did they would be giving away tactics to the enemy. I also agree that somebody might go off to pee by themselves or even leave their weapon, I know of some high ranking people from one of my old units that left their weapon behind and these people had about 10 years in the Army.

Wow you are talking out your ass.

1.) It's Sergeant. Clearly you are coming from a solid military background in the first TWO sentences.

2.) It is true pistols are reserved for NCO's and SNCO's.

3.) The idea that they would be issued ANY live ammunition is laughable. Empty mags for training. The idea that everyone in the military is walking around with live ammunition is ridiculous. On a controlled range and in combat are the only 2 scenarios.

4.) The idea that 'training' is sending a bunch of morons with zero weapon training out in the middle of no-where with live ammunition and a very muddled chain of command.

5.) Women in combat.

6.) Your basic training argument is nonsense. If you think this is what basic training is like then you should be tearing your hair out and writing your congressman. This is absolutely not how things work:

Day 1: 'Here are some fatigues and a gun and some ammunition...I didn't really count, but I eye-balled it at 50 rounds. Go find some guy that looks like he's in charge or something.'

Day 2: Go out in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of live ammunition and guns with complete inept strangers with the intention to...walk around I guess? This is 'training'.

7.) If they were training and had live ammunition, they would have very specific condition codes. All involved would have been Condition 4...and wouldn't have had live ammunition anyway as explained before.

I can go on and on...at the end of the day it's a horror movie. I don't understand why someone is trying to defend the realism of the military depiction in this film. I kinda think the intention is to be campy and silly...but never realistic.

the sargeant is enlisted, is it ok to call him "sir"?

RIP Heath Ledger 1979-2008

You are entirely wrong. They are NOT in basic training.
1. They already have their patches. That means they had already graduated basic training and already reported to their unit.
2. Real training especially in close proximity like that, there wouldn't be any live rounds and explosions. There'd be "Sim-Rounds" or Simulation rounds. Explosions that just pop like a balloon.
3. Active Army, National Guard or Reserve would never let them walk around with their chin strap unhooked like in the movie.
4. There's women and men in the squad. Judging by the female characters, the squad itself would not be in any type of combat training as portrayed in this movie.
Now before you guys mash at me about the female thing, I'm not saying they can't, I'm saying that in a real combat situation they wouldn't call an untrained sqaud like them. Since they have females in the squad, I'm guessing their job isn't infantry but in a support platoon our sqaud.
5. There's no such thing as a fully automatic M4 or M16 as what they're using in the movie.
I, for one enjoyed the movie despite its military inaccuracies. I can look passed that. One thing I can't look passed is US military in movies with beards. That is unauthorized to its fullest unless you're special forces or Delta.

Don't be stupid, seriously. Basic training when they're already issued a rifle means they have taken weapons training. A group of men with the slightest of training packing a 5.56 is more deadly than a bunch of desert mutants with axes. So before you call anyone an idiot, you should think about what you're saying first. I'm not a in the military but I have weapons training, and if you give me a M4/M16 or AR-15 to fight against some mutants, be sure I would walk out alive unless the heat kills me. The military uses the M4/M16 5.56 for a reason and one man with it can probably defend himself from a bunch of ax welders if he keeps his distance. A standard issue M4/16 is good up to 600m and optimize for 300m (m4) and 400m (m16). They are very easy to shoot and accurate.

I've taught girls how to shoot AR-15s, and no they're not some butch tomboys, they're petite girls attractive girls. One was going for her PHD and she was 5' tall who hits the gym daily and she can handle an AR-15 with the minimal time I trained her. That just debunked your theory that recruits are stupid and they can't shoot.

Just because they're recruits doesn't mean they're dumb, which this movie made them out to be. You have to finish a firearms training course in order to even be issued a rifle. I suggest you watch Full Metal Jacket and see how they are trained with firearms before even entering the field.

And for girls that hot in Army, have you seen Gal Godot or Michelle Viscusi?

State champ in martial arts, trained with firearms, I eFF'n dare you!