Rob Riggle; 12 Strong
The folks at the Conan O’Brien show sent us interviews that Rob Riggle, a retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel, did with Conan this week. Riggle is appearing in a movie, 12 Strong, about the guys who went to Afghanistan in the early days of the War Against Terror. In the movie, Riggle plays his former commander Lieutenant Colonel Max Bowers.
He talks about his invitational golf tournament that he does with our friends at We Are The Mighty to benefit the Semper Fi Fund;
Here’s the trailer for 12 Strong;
Category: Who knows
Looks like I am going to be going to the movies soon.
I don’t watch war movies. They all embellish and fake, to different degrees, but they all do.
Neither do I.
Really? Ever read the story about “To Hell and Back”? They had to cut back on filming because no one would believe what Audie Murphy actually did. Want to try that one again?
Yef: Well, since you don’t watch War Movies, you can always sit back and relax and watch the coconut adventures of the Professor, Ginger and Gilligan (God, please forgive me for using the DB word again💣)
Or watch “Unbroken”..or “Hacksaw Ridge”…😎
BTW, Yef, if you don’t watch War Movies, then how do you know they are “fake” or “embellished”?
🤔 (I can hear those crickets chirping..)
I’m crowd-funding a 100% real and completely accurate military movie, with all actors being veterans. It’s a two-hour real-time format called “The Wait: One soldier’s harrowing experience waiting in line at the S-1 shop to fill out a pay inquiry”. It’s going to be so accurate you’ll feel the suicidal ideations from your seat!
There goes MY idea of a movie about the endless wait in line at the Arms Room!
That would be an awesome flick!
I would rather punch the tube on an M60A1/3 to include cleaning the gnarliest cruddiest bore evacuator on any tank in the troop, than have to have an armorer inspect my clean (to me) M-16A1. WHERE IN HELL do those guys get the u-joints installed on their itty bitty fingers with extra knuckles? I had no idea there so many places that could get filthy on a rifle…
You could title your movie: “API Goes Off on the Armorer”
I was thinking more like “A Proud Infidel vs. The Unit Armorer”.
Something like this:
If you said it was going to be titled ‘M.R.E.S.’, I might be interested.
Maybe something like “THE ATTACK OF THE MRE GAS MONSTER”…
Sorry i was busy yesterday otherwise i would have responded to all the love messages in here.
Yef, YOU are like “That ONE retarded Cousin” each and every family has, the one everyone tolerates at family reunions until he says something stupid, then everyone laughs at him! Did you have shaft doodey again? I hope for your sake you remembered to clean under the CO and CSM’s desk as well as keep the coffee pot full!
Some do cough cough Hurt Locker cough, but others don’t. My wife won’t watch Military movies with me though because I can’t help but nit pick them.
Yeah, my wife hates watching “Chicago Fire” because I (loudly) call out all the fakery…which is pretty much the entire show, except for the rigs being painted red.
I’m not allowed to watch Top Gun for the same reason…
Let the record show I was not the one invoking “Top Gun”, Mick.
*grin*
Ha! Roger that, AW1Ed. It is so noted in the official log book of the Navy and Marine Corps Aviation Branch of Team TAH.
Dammit Atkron!
No “Top Gun”!
Aaaaagggghhhhh…
What can I say…I see a pot, I have to stir it. I’m complicated.
@Other Whitey. I did 30 years as a Jolly Volley FF and we used to watch Emergency at the fire house and of course had to make comments about how the job was done. Is “Chicago Fire” which I have never watched the same as Emergency. Is it realistic with the smoke banked down to the floor,VES, roof man dropping down on 6 story OMD’S and hook up with the outside vent man to do searches and vent, fire escape evolutions. I did engine, truck and support 30 years active fire fighting. Actually I should watch the show instead of jawing on this post about my time in the Volley fire service.
“Emergency” was a great show! They tried really hard to be realistic, within the constraints of 1970s special effects, performed real-life evolutions, actually listened to their technical advisers from LA County Fire (which was and is a rock-solid fire department, even if everything else about the Los Angeles area sucks), and didn’t make it a soap opera. They didn’t get everything right, but they tried hard. “Chicago Fire” is an abomination. The truck only ever does primary search and/or technical rescues, no ventilation, no master streams, damn sure no salvage or overhaul! The engine is always seen in the bay, but its crew is apparently invisible since we only ever see the truckies and the heavy rescue company. The one time they do show a guy from the engine, he can’t figure out a basic water supply problem and has to be told what to do by the female lead, who’s a probie (“candidate” in Chicagonese), in the name of girl power or some shit. Nobody who has ever witnessed combustion will believe their depiction of fire. They clearly don’t know what radiant heat is, or convection, for that matter. There’s no ICS, no personnel accountability (and people occasionally die—go figure! ). They use tools the wrong way (apparent stabilization struts hold a vehicle DOWN, in defiance of all known laws of physics, common sense, and every auto ex class I ever attended), lift without cribbing, don’t bother with C-spine, the medics violate Scope of Practice at least hourly, medical errors are the norm, they transport conscious and oriented patients against their will… Their TIC sees through walls. Seriously. Oh, plus, the truck Lieutenant is banging the senior medic, who then goes to the academy and gets assigned to his company, then they get married while still assigned to the same company. Every female at the station bangs at least one, if not more, of the guys on the crew. High school drama ensues. And any visiting chief officer who finds their little shitshow of a “fire station” unamusing is automatically a bad, bad, BAD guy. I could go on… Read more »
Feel better now, TOW?
I used to watch ‘Stoney Burke’. It was as much about rodeo as my chocolate chip cookies are. They never showed the real parts about pro or amateur rodeo, just the drama queen crap that let some good actors like Warren Oates make a living.
Never showed Barrel racing or calf roping, seldom showed steer roping, bulldogging, or bull riding, never focused on the clowns and how dangerous their job really was.
It was a joke, and I knew it, but I watched it, anyway. It had horses in it.
Thanks for the heads up on Chicago fire. I thought that maybe after all these years after Emergency ran, things would be a little more realistic and have their hydraulics down pat. Maybe I’ll tune it in one night to check it out.
I’ve never watched “Chicago Fire”, but I LOVE “Emergency!”. The producer of “Emergency!” insisted that the writers take EVERY story line out of an actual log book from an actual fire/EMS service. There were real firefighters on that show, as well, and the two principles went through fire-fighter training as part of their preparation for the roles. That show was a catalyst in the public acceptance of paramedics and the EMS we have today, and was instrumental in inspiring an entire generation of fire-fighters and EMTs.
Wait…you mean there aren’t 3 jobs everyday? You mean a rookie can’t go to a SOC company within the first 2 years of his career? You’re telling me that you can’t see everything perfectly in a completely packed down dwelling fire pre self ventilation and you can walk up right in the thermal layers and never get burned? I DO NOT BELIEVE YOU.
Same reason I haven’t watched that movie that just came out about the Granite Mountain Hotshots. Judging by the trailers, I doubt that they’ll mention the fact that the crew boss was notorious for doing stupid shit on the fireline (the “SEAL Team Six of firefighting*” crap was apparently something he not only really said but was reputedly a classic case of someone believing their own bullshit) and ultimately got himself and all but one of his crew killed through a series of bad calls that violated almost all of the 10 Standard Orders and 18 Watchout Situations. The trailers look like the filmmakers also believed the bullshit and decided to lionize the guy whose idiocy cost 19 lives in a completely avoidable burnover, so I think I’ll pass.
I do enjoy a good war movie (keyword here is “good;” there’s plenty that suck), and admittedly lack the firsthand experience to recognize the inaccuracies, so I’ll probably give this one a shot.
* For reference, there is actually no aspect of the fire service for which that comparison can be made. Firefighting is sufficiently different from warfare that anyone such a claim can be safely assumed to be dick-beating. While Hotshot crews like to consider themselves a cut above just because they carry the “Hotshot” title—and to be fair, the process for a hand crew to get an IHC rating is fairly rigorous, and established crews usually have a pretty demanding physical ability test for new entrants—some of them are good and some of them suck.
After the Hot Shot tragedy, I made a donation to their fund raiser and received 2 nice silk screened memorial tee shirts. I get Wildland Firefighting emailed to me along with Fire Engineering. We had a guy who was a suffolk County Volley who moved to Nassau County,NY and used to tell us that fighting a large brush/pine tree fires was like fighting a number of house fire at the same time. Never did the large brush or wild land FF’ing so I would not know.
Wildland comprises the majority of my firefighting experience, as we do the all-risk thing and California is, well, California. Wildland varies wildly based on local fuel, weather, and topography. Fires in the west tend to move a lot faster than those east of the Mississippi. That being said, it is my understanding that wildland fire back east is still no joke. Especially in the south, where swamp fires are a thing. I’ve fought one swamp fire in my life, might even be the only goddamn swamp in California for all I know, and it wasn’t very big, but it was a pain in the ass. The big ones they get from east Texas to Florida are not my idea of fun.
Fucking moron. Did you consider the impact that your stupid bullshit worthless comment has on my ability to attract attention to the blog? I’ve cultivated a working relationship with the Conan show, one that I’m pretty proud of, so how about helping me out here.
Jonn: 👏👏👏. SALUTE.
As shared before, those crickets in Yef’s AOR will be chirping away…
FWIW, Jonn, I personally am much more likely to spend my paycheck on a movie that is vetted and recommended here.
Or buy a book, for that matter.
I don’t have time & moola to waste. Thanks for letting us know about this one.
Yef makes me almost miss Lars.
Almost.
A tiny bit.
Maybe.
Not sure.
Well, when Lars was on his meds/off the booze he could be quasi-coherent even if I disagreed with his worldview.
But miss his ranting inane defense of communism, leftism, etc.? Nope.
WHO is this “Lars” character y’all are talking about?
A bad dream, fading fast in the light of dawn.
Lars reminded me of an old commenter (which might be before your time) named Insipid who finally got the ban hammer after he called Jonn a racist one too many times.
For Pete’s sake, could you post a spew alert, Chip????
That was just mean!!
Well Yef, aren’t you just special….
I’d like to point out that Yef, being the curmudgeon that Yef thinks Yef is, has attracted multitudinous comments on this particular article that might otherwise have focused on some perplexed soul’s attempts to say something important.
So Yef has stirred a pot (mostly for attention’s sake) and the post got a lot of comments out of it. I may watch this movie just to spite Yef. It has horses in it. Every time I see a horse’s ass, I will think of Yef.
Funny you should say that Ex-PH2, from now on every time I see a pile of horse poop I will think of Yef.
Ex-PH2 and API: Please don’t to say “Frau Blucher”!!!!!
https://youtu.be/zdIID_TGwhM
Should read “Please don’t FORGET to say “Frau Blucher”!!!!
One of the best movie lines…so, Yef, if you don’t know Frau Blucher, I posted you a You Tube link. Just remember to “Put the candle back!” and “No matter how much I scream, do not open this door” because if you do respond, I will shout “He’s Alive!!!”
(Whispering) Blucher….
Ex:
🤣🤣🤣 with 👏👏👏!!
Now you are officially a bonafide “Horse Whisperer”…😉
Yef left a rather large, steamy, and particularly odiferous pile of shit in the pot, then proceeded to stir with great vigor. Another fuckin’ GT waiver.
He decided to stir the pot so now he gets to lick the spoon!
Ok, ok. I’ll watch the movie. There is no need for so much hatred.
Man… You guys are always ganging up on me for no reason.
Yef, there are three lists of war movies and/or war-related movies down the page. That should keep you busy for a month or so.
Just consider it part of the job as a curmudgeon, to hone your skillsets.
No reason? Hmm, that might not translate so well into your native language.
You’re so chic.
So, why should we care that you don’t?
Really, the purpose of a movie or a book or a show is to tell a story and to entertain. The ability to relate what happened over a prolonged period of time in a 60-90 minute format requires some freedom to illustrate those events in ways that are not 100% matches for the real-time events.
Unless you want to watch a movie that takes weeks or months or years to finish.
You are being inane.
Hollyweird not being historically accurate? Pass me the smelling salts, ah do believe Ah’m getting faint! Which, translated, says “No shit?” And here all this time I thought “They Died With Their Boots On” was a documentary.
Anything’s possible. I’m still reeling from the formal announcement this week by the scientific community that dogs are smarter than cats. My dog sent me e-mail about the study awhile back, but I thought she was being ironic…
Always thought my dog was stupid… no matter how many times I taught her to refold the Times when she read it on the toilet, I could NOT get her to flush consistently.
Dogs are considered smarter ONLY because they suck up to anyone with food and a comfy chair to sleep in.
Cats are smarter. They only have to be cute, make happy paws, and wind around your feet.
Being the doting owner of individuals of both the feline and the canine persuasion (and neither set of individuals confused about their identity) I have to come down on the “Dogs are smarter” side of the argument.
Dogs never have to stand at the open door trying to determine whether or not it is going to transform into a portal to another dimension before they get through it.
Dogs don’t become paranoid on a walk when we get further than 50′ from the front door.
Both enjoy curling up on laps, laptops, and bedspreads.
Both figure that if you put food out, you intend for them to eat it and make themselves at home.
Dogs will warn you of a perceived threat, while cats will run off to leave you to fend for yourself. (I count team loyalty as a sign of intelligence.)
Other factors could be listed.
“Dogs never have to stand at the open door trying to determine whether or not it is going to transform into a portal to another dimension before they get through it.”
I beg to differ. My dog does!
Dogs are loyal. Cats are evil.
HEY Yef, did you remember to clean under the CO and CSM’s desks while you were on shaft doodey? I hope you remembered to keep the coffee pot full!
Yef
— sigh —
I have trouble watching war movies after reading a lot of what Ben Stiller put into Tropic Thunder, about how Hollywood really exploits people who have been put into tragic and vulnerable conditions, and how those people are really just an opportunity for famous actors to make a push for an award.
Waiting for ” INCOMING!!!” from API (trademark) for Yef’s comment about War Movies…😉
I actually blew him off this time and let everyone else dogpile on him like the nerds and tattletales always got in gym class. To me Yef is often like a lobotomized 2LT on LSD with a map and compass!
A map and compass and a 7 digit grid
Thank You, API. I remembered you said that Yef was growing on you. 😉
In the meantime, those durn crickets are still chirping in Yef’s location….
Yes, Yef DOES grow on you.
Like a wart.
I was thinking toe-fungus, but don’t blame Desenex.
I’ll be watching it, thanks.
‘General Abdul Rashid Dostum was quoted, ‘I asked for a few Americans, they brought with them the courage of a whole Army’ according to eyewitness Robert Young Pelton’s in his March 2002 National Geographic Adventure article “The Legend of Heavy D and the Boys”. Pelton was the only journalist with the Green Beret and CIA team whose story is featured in “Horse Soldiers”.’
IMDb
My nephew and girlfriend just wrapped up a visit to NYC this week, they posted a photo of the “America’s Response” monument to FB (I wish they made miniature reproductions of that sculpture). I remember reading some first hand accounts of the Horse Soldiers in a few articles, I’m definitely interested in seeing this movie. Everything that Hollywood puts out is going to have inaccuracies/embellishments to certain degrees, but if it’s a movie I happen to like enough – it really won’t be a downer for me personally (Ron Howard’s “Rush” comes to mind).
Somehow I’d not heard of the “America’s Response” monument & had to go look it up.
Thanks.
I think it’s a magnificent piece of work, if I ever get to NYC again I will definitely see it.
Always heard Riggle was a good guy, but Don’t forget about the shitty actor and Phony Marine Sniper Travis Aaron Wade! His new movie The Last Full Measure is coming out soon. Hopefully he gets edited right the fuck out of it!
When Riggle went undercover to join the protestors at the USMC recruiting station in Berkeley, CA. it was hilarious.
I thought he blended right in with those women.
http://www.cc.com/video-clips/9fgyc6/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-marines-in-berkeley
HOW did he keep his composure? I don’t think I’d have lasted five minutes without going on a hippie-stomping spree, he’s a better man than I am!
Rob was in Kosovo with the Marines in 1999. He got his CAR there.
http://digitaledition.qwinc.com/publication/?i=425867
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How come the top pic of the man in the jeep has his rolled down lower cuff sleeve inside out. the camo pattern is ruined now.
Jeff LPH 3, 63-66: ????
Please help me out..Am confused..Don’t understand what you wrote.
Thank You!
I didn’t know that the Marines wore the sleeves like that. When I was in the ARNGUS, 1975-1977, which I do not talk about that too much, we had the sleeves rolled down like in the picture I mentioned but then the sleeve was turned back to right side out so there was a consistant cammo pattern. I assumed that all the branches did it like that but you know the word assume can get one in trouble like it just did to me. Sorry about my mistake.
His sleeves are rolled up in accordance with Marine Corps uniform regulations.
That is why I was confused, because all the Marines I worked with had their sleeves rolled just as Riggle does in his picture.
Agree with Dinotanker..
for a while, we were wearing our BDUs with sleeves rolled just as the Marines and then the Army just had to go and change the policy. It was indeed a pain in the donkeys rear end.
I remembered while working with the Marines in Okinawa, a couple of them asked me to show them how roll the BDU sleeves the Army way…and then they tried it. The comments were “Thank goodness we don’t have to go thru that “ritual”..
P.S. Jonn, thanks for the post on the movie. We are definitely going to see it (Movie Theaters in our area give Military discounts).
😎
I may have missed it but I don’t recall seeing any Marines with their sleeves rolled up while deployed, certainly never on patrol. Maybe on a FOB? But I never spent much time on a FOB so I can’t say.
However, the trailer looks good. I think I’m going to have to see it when it comes out.
That’s the way Marines roll sleeves. I must say, those are surprisingly tight rolls for an officer, so good on Rob Riggle! haha
They are called white sleeves. Look it up.
I envied the Marines the ability to simply roll up their BDU sleeves. Us Army folk had to roll ours up and then turn the last roll down so as to maintain the camo pattern above our bare arms. I thought it was a complete pain in the ass…
One of my MOPP course briefers years ago said the army & air force sleeve roll method is preferable in case troops have to go sleeves down quickly. To each their own.
As a former chemical guy, I can tell you that is reason we got for why it was required in the USAF.
I hated rolling my sleeves up with the pattern out. Took years to learn how to do it right and they’d still be tighter on one arm than the other and come undone when you took the blouse off.
I wondered how the Army did that of late, as in RVN the Army rolled the sleeves on OD jungle fatigues and also camo jungle fatigues the same way as the Marines do. Maintaining the camo pattern seems rather ridiculous with exposed non-camo’d bare forearms, especially when not in the field.
Yep, as those above mentioned, when I was in (1988-1996) It was explained to me that it allowed you to pull them down much more quickly than unrolling them if done USMC style..
The casting for this is atrocious. Michael Shannon is a piece of shit delusional leftist cocksucker. Fuck that guy until the end of time. Same with that notoriously unfunny cocksucker Michael Pena another illegal alien advocate delusional leftists. Know wonder these fucks are bent cast in movies.
Easy pass. Fuck Hollywood and these phony scumbags. You aren’t fooling this veteran.
Gee whiz, FatCircles0311. I really respect your honest opinion (not sarcasm), but did you not read Jonn’s comment to Yef?
I meant to say no sarcasm on my part, because I do respect your thoughts and feelings on the actors.
I respect Jonn’s effort to build the blog, and I hope the good guys in Hollywood like Riggle get paid, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to go along and not call out the movie industry for generally putting out shit.
This one looks interesting. If nothing else I want to read the book.
Seeing the scenes with them charging those T-62 tanks on Horseback made me think about the old photo that was labeled as Polish Cavalry getting ready to charge Nazi Tanks.
Yes, but the Poles had no RPG’s. They might have done better if they had them.
Excellent read. Movie should be good.
https://www.amazon.com/Horse-Soldiers-Extraordinary-Victory-Afghanistan/dp/1416580522
In reality they had to ride these small horses (pony sized) and frame like saddles. They probably would have felt better walking with the horses as pack animals.
Give the book a read…there is great detail and will make the movie better when you see it IMO.
If you look at the available photos of the Afghan ponies used, it’s not as if they were riding burro-sized animals. The formal definition of “pony” is less than 14.2 hands (around 58 inches) at the withers which covers a broad category. By way of comparison, the famous racehorse Seabiscuit was 14.5 hands and considered small by the usual thoroughbred standards.
Something else to consider is that wild horses still rounded up in the western U.S. have had 500 years to evolve from those brought over by the Spanish conquistadors. Anyone who has been around herds of Mustangs could probably tell you that although they generally qualify as ponies by height, they are also almost bomb-proof in the sense of ruggedness and ability to survive in a harsh environment.
They are not the kind of animal you might see at a kiddee-go-round.
Is this ODA triple nickel? Or is this the one Billy Waugh was with?
Best fake war movie ever:
Tropic Thunder
I’m the dude playin’ the dude disguised as another dude!
One of the best movies of all time. Easily up there with the comedy greats like Blazing Saddles or Airplane!
Absolutely not. Jack Black is the antithesis of funny. I’ve never finished watching that movie before and I’ve tried at least 3 times.
Wottabout “Hot Shots” and “Hot Shots Part Deux”, some say those are more realistic than “The Hurt Locker”!
Nah. You guys have it all wrong. If you’re going to have a list of really, really good fake war movies, you start with something like this:
Wings (1927)
The Blue Max
Lawrence of Arabia
Dirty Dozen
The Man Who Never Was
The Great Escape
Operation Crossbow
Guns of Navarone
A Bridge Too Far
Dunkirk (1958)
Bridge Over the River Kwai
Then you go to more oootchy stuff such as:
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Troy
Battle At Apache Pass (1952 – I never did get to see this, and the movies were 10 cents at the time.)
War and Peace (yes, there IS a movie 1956)
Siege of Vienna
Hope and Glory
Memphis Belle
Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)
Charge of the Light Brigade (1936 or 1968)
There’s tons of stuff. Just get yourselves a bunch of DVDs, pop some pocorn, fix some (Polish? Italian) sausage sandwiches, make sure the beverages are cold and plentiful and you have a comfy chair, and go for it.
You can probably get them on Netflix, too. I like movie marathons. They’re a great way to pass a cold, snowy winter day.
I’d recommend adding:
The Longest Day
Ambush Bay
The Bridges at Toko-Ri
The Cockleshell Heroes
The Lighthorsemen
Sands of Iwo Jima
Flying Leathernecks
Das Boot (The Director’s Cut)
Gallipoli
Cross of Iron
Fighter Squadron
Twelve O’clock High
The War Lover
The Sand Pebbles
Battle of the Bulge (1965)
Patton
Gung Ho! (1943)
Breaker Morant
It would seem that Battleground was left off the list.
To that, I say “NUTS”.
Good catch, Claw. I also forgot:
Hell Is For Heroes
Fixed Bayonets!
Battle of Britain (1969)
The Dam Busters
The Four Feathers (1939)
Zulu (1964)
None But The Brave
Halls of Montezuma (1951)
The Naked and the Dead
bear in mind that Breaker Morant, while a GREAT movie, is based on very bad biased info and essentially fiction per its author, Kit Denton.
Let’s add these, also:
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Midway (1974\6)
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
In Harm’s Way
A Wing and A Prayer
The Dam Busters
From Here to Eternity
Where Eagles Dare
In Which We Serve
South Pacific
Henry V
Braveheart
El Cid
London Can Take It
Flying Fortress
The Bells Go Down
and my personal favorite documentary, Victory At Sea
And last, but certainly not least, because there is a sort of pre-battle scene in it:
Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Best military movie ever: “The Last Detail”
IMOSHO of course….
Good thing there are so few submarine movies. All but two I’ve ever seen make me want to hurl.
Gray Lady Down was rather tense.