to view the complete essay. An official website of the United States Government. The design-by-committee is one of the funniest moments in the 1998 HBO film The Pentagon Wars. The movie really fails to deal with the motivations of the people who so unethically push the project through; they must have some rational for their actions, which could result in untold deaths, but we never hear an explanation. Did you find something inaccurate, misleading, abusive, or otherwise problematic in this essay example? Typical Benjamin. Fortunately, no!The US Army's Armor and Cavalry Collection (and the Infantry Museum) have some of the progenitors of Bradley, and we can compare the film's development sequence with what the Army was really building.Note. Since this is somewhat of a satire, I expect a lot of hyperbole put into this movie. financial donations):Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/The_ChieftainDirect Paypal: https://paypal.me/thechieftainshat Unfortunately, when not fighting, the Officers and senior staff are anything but. When it is used to fight wars, there is no finer in the world. But the night before the tests, ammunition holds were removed from inside the vehicles and replaced with five-gallon water cans. U.S. planning for the combined use of conventional and nuclear weapons isnt new. Truman did so to end a world war in which perhaps75 millionpeople died, most of them civilians. I was driven to take notes after the first few minutes and got over sixty substantive errors. They call it the Bradley Fighting unit. Having just watched "the Pentagon Wars", how has the Bradley - Reddit Pentagon History: 7 Big Things to Know - U.S. Department of Defense The Army recoiled. international and security policy has as its primary goal the preservation of what we might call the Fifth Freedom, understood crudely but with a fair degree of accuracy as the freedom to rob, to exploit and to dominate, to undertake any course of action to ensure that existing privilege is protected and advanced.Noam Chomsky (b. The Soviets upgraded their heavy machine guns and artillery, and we responded by upgrading our vehicles to be survivable for it's designed role in the new expected combat environment of West Germany. Nuclear weapons are an expensive insurance policy that no leader wants to cash in because the costs of doing so are far, far greater than the premiums. You are using an out of date browser. The team working those initial renovations was tasked with rebuilding the damaged portions. A must see film for anyone who does give a dam. But this analysis begs the question of why U.S. forces would execute conventional military campaigns that would invite Armageddon. The Pentagon Wars Richard Benjamin's The Pentagon Wars is an outrageous yet historically accurate film depicting the hurdles and roadblocks Lt. Col. John Burton has to overcome in order to properly test the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle. no star! Its also uncomfortably close to the truth. Clearly i'm not up to date on civic problems. Supporting players are adequate, especially the full colonel and the major who are Grammar's flunkies. Chinese and Soviet leaders, including those with severe personality disorders like Mao Tse-tung and Joseph Stalin, have understood this. He exposes serious flaws in the military policy-making process, particularly in weapons development and procurement. The main objective was a vehicle that could get combat troops into the battle as quickly and safely as possible. ****. I have two places I can begin: My assessment of the accuracy of this movie, and my true opinion of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. The norm of non-use has been sustained even when losing wars, facing painful stalemates, or when fighting against a country that couldnt retaliate in kind. 1 Reviews 500+ Ratings ALL CRITICS TOP CRITICS VERIFIED AUDIENCE ALL AUDIENCE. In reality, James Burton was a full colonel. The current Pentagonbuzzwordfor this is conventional-nuclear integration. Deterrence strategists believe thatrivals are thinkingthis way, so the Pentagon must, as well. So when the design was finally established certain generals decided they wanted the Bradley Armored Personnel Carrier to be able to do additional missions as well. But I still find it incredulous that the US military brass can be so short-sighted and inept. What makes you cringe? After The New York Times began publishing the Pentagon Papers on Sunday, June 13, 1971, the nation was stunned. "A Film Analysis of the Pentagon Wars by Richard Benjamin." Well, there's no generals involved, but check your PMs. It's based on events the miltary due with the taxpayers money. The Pentagon Wars by Jim Burton This is an excellent book on the culture of the Pentagon and military industrial complex in the 70s and 80s. It's a must see, if not for the funny parts(not everyone has a sense of humor), at least for the message: watch your government very, very close, they usually screw up. The Bradley was a rolling powder keg; the Army knew it, and the brass wanted to avoid the live-fire tests because they knew a single Soviet antitank round could pierce the Bradley's skin, blow up its stores of fuel and ammunition and burn its crew to death. Gen. Brehon B. Sommervell, who, in the early 1940s, pitched it as a temporary solution to the then-War Department's. Email my twitter handle at gmail. Colonel Burton, who will do everything he can to prevent that from happening; and Viola Davis as an admin sergeant assigned to help Burton. The 1,100 acres of land on which the Pentagon sits was once part of the sprawling estate of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Ukraines Biggest Howitzers Are Firing American-Made Shells. The Department of Defense provides the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security. Four of the five sides of the Pentagon come into shape during the buildings construction, April 18, 1942. Clearly we've still got big ones. Kibin does not guarantee the accuracy, timeliness, or completeness of the essays in the library; essay content should not be construed as advice. . We'll take a look right away. Two years after the imbroglio began, Mr. Burton fired off the most explosive memo of the internal war. The generals approve the project. The short answer is that an adversary might cross the nuclear threshold first, and U.S. forces need to plan for this eventuality. Richard Schiff plays Gen. Smith who bends over backwards to please Partridge and the brass hats. The men he fought against had long careers. But untold billions of dollars and an invaluable measure of public trust were squandered. As a former member of the military I find it all too easy to believe. That was the Millennium Challenge 2002. You may opt-out by. Overview. The details he gives on the unrelenting push for high-tech weapons, despite their ineffectiveness and extraordinary cost-overruns, provide a strong case for the charge of ethical bankruptcy. See the article in its original context from. So a larger cannon was added which caused it to be larger. On the contrary, many are rewarded for their behavior.". The Pentagons procurement process still produces broken weapon systems. Nor does he stop at the walls of the Pentagon. Since it was larger it became more of a target so additional armor was added. thankfully we did not have any conflicts requiring the use of the vehicle until most of the defects were fixed. The Pentagon is a universal symbol of U.S. strength and security known around the world, but do you know the history behind it? Which is exactly why I shouldn't be surprised so many SBers look up to Colonel Sandbag and Not-Steve-Jobs. All of these contingencies have one thing in common: U.S. forces need useful and usable military capabilities when placed in harms way. Fighting a losing battle Col. Burton nevertheless tries to built a safe vehicle and one sympathies with him, but while no one on the hill cares, it is the fighting man in combat who will ultimately pay the price. Kelsey Grammer(Maj.Gen. Some. I'm not American so any sense of disbelief and anger can be tempered by the fact that this is just a movie. The Bradley proved vulnerable to improvised explosives and rocket-propelled grenades. The tests and the hearing are hysterical, I coudn't stop laughing, the general explaining himself to the senator it's worth the movie. Worse, in the view of some inside the Pentagon, Congress would get wind of all this and cancel the program. Yet rather than admit these design flaws the decision was made to hurry up production as if getting the project approved was the ultimate symbol of success. Choose which Defense.gov products you want delivered to your inbox. So why is the Pentagonplanning to fighta war using both conventional and nuclear weapons? The story in the movie about the M-16 rifle was a perfect example. The war for a good quality troopers-transport vehicle. The Pentagon Wars is a film, based on a true story, and the Bradley, (a military vehicle), and Colonel Burton, the man who finally made Congress aware of the potential hazards of the tank's design. Sign up to get updates about new releases and event invitations. Truth be told even the book, to a lesser extent than the movie admittedly, does sorta rely on the reader/viewer to be ignorant of the reasons for the Bradley's creation. Bradley Development: What Pentagon Wars got right. - YouTube - Alfredo Alvarez, student @ Miami University, We use cookies to provide the best possible experience on our site. Limiting the level of damage in nuclear warfare depends on escalation control. 10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Pentagon In the mid-1980s USAF Lt. An implicit question haunts this illuminating and richly detailed memoir by Michael G. Vickers, the senior intelligence official at the center of America's long war for the greater Middle East. And his revelations offer insights not found elsewhere into the motivations and actions of the people who wield power from within. Amazingly lighthanded telling of infuriating Pentagon bureaucraticinfighting. Its not an ideal counterinsurgency vehicle. When the Army began to produce it in the early 1980's, Mr. Burton made a modest proposal: test the Bradley's aluminum armor against Soviet antitank weaponry. Co-host and producer of the War College podcast. The grounds and building went up in a stunning 16 months. He took the reasonable position that if the Bradley went untested, soldiers in battle could die unnecessarily. The Bradley is fired upon with the sheep inside. As Colonel Burton suspected, when enemy weapons fire upon the tank, the inhabitants perish from smoke inhalation. The Pentagon is divided into five wedges, and the renovation project was going wedge by wedge when terrorists flew American Airlines. The Pentagon Wars (TV Movie 1998) - IMDb These plans didnt make any sense at the tactical or operational levels of warfare, so they were scuttled. For more information on choosing credible sources for your paper, check out this blog post. Nowadays, it houses the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the highest echelons of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force. While the film insists the Bradley was hoped to be sold on export market, this is either a misstatement, or a failed attempt, as the only foreign user of the Bradley is Saudi Arabia.

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