MovieChat Forums > Lebanon (2009) Discussion > Soldiers in front of the tank not behind...

Soldiers in front of the tank not behind to take cover when under fire


Come on, no army is that incompetent, make Israel looks like that have crappy tanks, radio intelligence and soldiers Israel may be a small country but they are well equip and train to take on the entire middle east, they know this is coming.

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In modern warfare armies use what's known as a 'combined-arms' approach, rather than say, all-tank or all-infantry. In such a doctrine infantry fight alongside tanks, and this is pretty much where the whole idea of mechanized infantry (i.e the US's Stryker brigades). This doctrine comes arose because few battles occur on locations favourable towards all-tank combat (i.e the large desert plains of Gulf War 1 which saw allied tank forces pretty much decimate the Iraqi army with some help from the air force). Most battles in recent history occur in built-up areas, where the tank's advantage of speed and range is useless. In built-up areas the tank is extremely vulnerable to mobility kills, where the tracks are shot off or the engine destroyed making it a very heavy, well-armoured wreckage.

In mechanized infantry fighting doctrine, the infantry are supposed to protect the tanks. That's why the paratroopers weren't riding in their own APC in the first place.

Also the war depicted in the movie took place in the 1980s and that tank is pretty close to 60s technology.

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While it's okay that they are not constantly behind the tank to take cover - that can be the case - it's not okay that they stand in front of the tank when it fires its main gun. Seriously, an MBT's main gun is such a large caliber weapon that the shock wave and report from the muzzle would either kill, wound or deafen the men standing in front of the cannon as it fires. Still, this gunner fumbles with his controls and fires the main gun at the farmer as the infantry unit is standing literally meters away from the muzzle.

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As an Israeli who served in the infantry (1986-1994) I was rolling my eyes and cringing with embarrassment over the lack of realism in this abortion of a movie. So many things were wrong and have already been listed here in the discussion forum....

As we say in Hebrew: "booshah v'cherpah"

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