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A reality show on the frontline of the German army's battle for public support
- sandworm101 9y ago1) Canada went through a similar series of scandals in the 90s. With public opinion of the military at an all time low, with some soldiers being attacked in public, the order went out to not wear uniforms in public. A generation of soldiers drove to work in civilian clothing to then don uniforms once out of public gaze. That time is over but many still feel uncomfortable in public. 2) Enough with the reality TV look at boot camps. Basic training is like 1% of the military. It's a bit of a joke, something that everyone has to do but nobody takes too seriously once over with. You have to pass, but much like highschool, once you graduate nobody really cares whether you did well or barely squeaked through. Trade training is what counts.
- cyberferret 9y agoYes but basic training is often the most romanticised aspect of army training. A myriad of movies focusing on just this 1% (however inaccurately) attests to that. The article kind of reminds me of that Bear Grylls 'Foreign Legionnaire' docudrama that he did some years ago. Once again turning the boot camp recruitment and training aspect of an oft fabled unit into a reality TV show. I wonder if the show saw an uptick in recruitment for the FL as a result? (Even though none of the soldiers in the show were current FL servicemen).
- sandworm101 9y agoThey are also projections by the unit of how they want to be perceived. They never show the actual realities of daily life. My strongest memory is of sitting around waiting for things. Half of us started carrying game of thrones novels to read during all the down times. I only wish I had pictures of playing cards against humanity in the field while waiting for trucks. Canada also mixes male and female, both recruits and staff. So it is a very different atmosphere than any movie or show I've ever seen.
- jmnicolas 9y agoSame experience when I did my military service in France. A typical day : we had to hurry to be ready at 6 in the morning then wait till 10 that the trucks pick us up ...
- icebraining 9y agoI can't speak for its overall veracity, but if nothing else Jarhead (the movie) did show the life of deployed Marines as endless, frustrating waiting.
- toomanybeersies 9y agoInterestingly enough, Australian Defence Force personnel are not allowed to wear their uniform in public unless performing official duties. The reason for this though is terrorism concerns, as wearing the uniform could make them a target.
- rdtsc 9y ago> The reason for this though is terrorism concerns, as wearing the uniform could make them a target. Curious, what is the background of that. Basically who would be attacking them and for what reason? I can't think of as Australia as an overly aggressive military power. Does it have to do with the treatment of Aboriginal Australians somehow?
- fractallyte 9y agoFear of Islamic terrorism. Here's one recent news item: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-42146664 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-42146664
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- cyberferret 9y agoAustralian armed forces have a presence in the Middle East and in Afghanistan etc. We have troops on the ground in firefights, and F/A-18s from our air force conducting missions dropping lethal munitions. Our forces have fought alongside US and other allies in nearly every major conflict, so our flag and slouch hat regalia would be well known to most on the 'other side'.
- lostlogin 9y agoThat applies to a fair few other countries with far more interfering governments, yet they don’t have laws like this that I am aware of. Do the rules even apply on home turf?
- mtmail 9y agoThere's a possible translation error: The documentary follows sailors through boot camp, not marines. (German Navy is called "Marine").
- slededit 9y agoDoes anyone know how to see them with English subtitles? YouTube's auto translate is producing gibberish.
- sfifs 9y agoThe more years pass, the closer to reality Snow Crash and Neuromancer and Rainbows End appear. In Snow Crash, the central intelligence agency has become a commercial entity that produces a aynducated reality show by putting cameras on their spies.
- kencausey 9y agoPerhaps you aren't aware that the CIA sponsored some authors of fiction and this was known, at least in part, well before these books were written. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/18/books/how-the-cia-played-dirty-tricks-with-culture.html http://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/18/books/how-the-cia-played-d...
- a_bonobo 9y agoCould it be that Germany's army is so unpopular as a job because of its good social security system? It seems the US has so many soldiers not because of patriotism, but because of job security and good health coverage, which is already mostly a given in Germany.
- arekkas 9y agoNo, it's so unpopular because with the last "great military" we started a war that killed 50 million people, and exterminated 13 million people (civilians) in concentration camps. Definitely nothing to do with welfare.
- regularhackerer 9y ago>started Ah, if only everything else in this world was so simple.
- arekkas 9y agoI'm not sure if you dispute who started the war in Europe (I hope you don't) or if you imply that the causes of WWII are not one-sided (which is obvious and true). In case you dispute who started the war: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II#Course_of_the_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II#Course_of_the_war
- dmichulke 9y ago> we In line with the sibling comment, note that the word "we" is subject to a 70 year scope creep here.
- coldtea 9y agoThere's such a thing a state continuity though -- and oftentimes cultural continuity. It's not implausible to imagine a ruling AfD in the next 15-20 years.
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- kachurovskiy 9y agoAs a side note, I'm often amazed at the presence US Army has in Germany with > 30,000 military personell and 36 military installations. It's been on a steady decline in the past decades though. For comparison, German Army has 178,304 soldiers.
- muninn_ 9y agoWhy do you find this surprising?