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The Hurt Locker

Matt Foley

By Matt Foley,
in Huddle Lounge

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Matt Foley Newbie

Matt Foley

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One of the reviews from imdb.com...

OK, let me qualify this statement- if you are not in the military, or are not a strong military history buff, then perhaps you can enjoy he movie for what it is, a mild action/thriller set in the middle east. Otherwise you will be very irritated watching this movie.

I am on my second tour in Iraq as a Cavalry Scout, currently living at VBC, as mentioned in the movie. I have provided MANY EOD escorts to IED sites. There are some key factors that his movie really gets wrong.

First, EOD almost never, ever disarms IEDs. They blow them in place, using C4, much like the first bomb scene. This is because it is much safer for the EOD team than disarming the bombs, many of which are set with the sole intent of killing EOD, and to prevent another insurgent from coming along and reusing the bombs. Also, the explosion usually will set off any secondary IEDs that may be wired into the first ones, stacked beneath it, etc. Of course, that bomb really only needed one block of C4 to detonate it, and the robot could have easily taken that out in it's claw, but I can buy the excuse as the director needed to kill a character off for the plot. I've seen the guys in the suits as much as with th robot, it all depends on the situation, however none have ever sat around with a Gerber multi-tools, puling on the wires and dragging the bombs around. These are very volatile substances and yanking on the blasting caps can easily set them off.

EOD always has a cordon of security out before going to work. Snipers and IEDs as ambushes to lure EOD techs into the open are very common. Watching his two other soldiers as they stand on HMMWV hoods, stand in the open street and wait to be taken out with a sniper shot is just grating.

A soldier with an M4 carbine is no security against vehicles, as the car scene shows. A vehicle crew would never, ever dismount the heavy machine gun in the turret to stand about with an M4 on the ground. That is just ridiculous. It seems that every time this EOD team rolls up to another bomb, all the crews have dismounted away from their heavy weapon and hide clustered in buildings. There is no security cordon whatsoever.

The car bomb scene was a disaster. First is the sniper using the Chinese AK that sets the car on fire with a seemingly well placed shot to he gas tank? The ca, full of bombs (which are wired together), need to be set off by lighting the car on fire? If this Arab was such a good shot, perhaps e could have just been shooting the EOD team standing out in the open. As it is, he shoots over the heads of these guys just to hit the car. And if that was the method of triggering the bombs, what were they actually wired to? And the wire appears to be thick, like det cord, not electrical wire. Det cord would detonate in a fire... Anyway, EOD, instead of backing off and letting the fire do it's job and destroy the bomb, grabs the fire extinguisher from their HMMWV to put out the VBIED? So if they are ambushed or blown up on their way back to base they won't have anything to put their own vehicle out with because they used it all on a bomb?? So after the sniper shoots the car, a single EOD team member goes in an clears the roof tops, without the aid of the squad of soldiers nearby. He just rushes through a place that is known to have had at least one insurgent in it, by himself. That is just asking to get shot, or worse.

My favorite line at the VBIED scene is when the black soldier radios up that the building is evacuated, and tells the guy ripping through the car looking for the initiator (why?) to leave it for the engineers. WTF? EOD leaving bomb disposal to the engineers? That is what EOD IS FOR! Then there's the disregard for rank structure. The Specialist that refuses to say Sir to a Lieutenant Colonel, when E5 Sanborn slugs E7 James with no repercussions, standing at Parade Rest for officers (never mind they are in a hot area still...). The uniforms bug me, like an American flag on both sides of the ACU top, the green subdued cloth lag is unauthorized for wear according to AR670-1, the sleeves are never rolled up on an ACU top...

And who exactly is this O5 with the 1st ID patches? Is he supposed to be mental health, chaplin, or something like that? Then there's the sniper scene. WTF is happening here? EOD suddenly just goes off somewhere near Najaf, because guess what, there isn't a lot of desert like that near VBC. And who goes off without an escort? And the mercs, the Barret scene... oh God, it just goes on and on painfully.

All this and the movie isn't even half over yet. From my time working with the EOD teams in our areas I can say that this movie is crap. It would be much better as a police story in a busy city, not in a warzone. Then I could buy into why this guy is disarming bombs. I am glad I saw this on a $2 burned Haji copy. If I'd paid real money for this movie then I too would have a death-wish.

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ThPantherFan Grand Master

ThPantherFan

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Posted

One of the reviews from imdb.com...

OK, let me qualify this statement- if you are not in the military, or are not a strong military history buff, then perhaps you can enjoy he movie for what it is, a mild action/thriller set in the middle east. Otherwise you will be very irritated watching this movie.

I am on my second tour in Iraq as a Cavalry Scout, currently living at VBC, as mentioned in the movie. I have provided MANY EOD escorts to IED sites. There are some key factors that his movie really gets wrong.

First, EOD almost never, ever disarms IEDs. They blow them in place, using C4, much like the first bomb scene. This is because it is much safer for the EOD team than disarming the bombs, many of which are set with the sole intent of killing EOD, and to prevent another insurgent from coming along and reusing the bombs. Also, the explosion usually will set off any secondary IEDs that may be wired into the first ones, stacked beneath it, etc. Of course, that bomb really only needed one block of C4 to detonate it, and the robot could have easily taken that out in it's claw, but I can buy the excuse as the director needed to kill a character off for the plot. I've seen the guys in the suits as much as with th robot, it all depends on the situation, however none have ever sat around with a Gerber multi-tools, puling on the wires and dragging the bombs around. These are very volatile substances and yanking on the blasting caps can easily set them off.

EOD always has a cordon of security out before going to work. Snipers and IEDs as ambushes to lure EOD techs into the open are very common. Watching his two other soldiers as they stand on HMMWV hoods, stand in the open street and wait to be taken out with a sniper shot is just grating.

A soldier with an M4 carbine is no security against vehicles, as the car scene shows. A vehicle crew would never, ever dismount the heavy machine gun in the turret to stand about with an M4 on the ground. That is just ridiculous. It seems that every time this EOD team rolls up to another bomb, all the crews have dismounted away from their heavy weapon and hide clustered in buildings. There is no security cordon whatsoever.

The car bomb scene was a disaster. First is the sniper using the Chinese AK that sets the car on fire with a seemingly well placed shot to he gas tank? The ca, full of bombs (which are wired together), need to be set off by lighting the car on fire? If this Arab was such a good shot, perhaps e could have just been shooting the EOD team standing out in the open. As it is, he shoots over the heads of these guys just to hit the car. And if that was the method of triggering the bombs, what were they actually wired to? And the wire appears to be thick, like det cord, not electrical wire. Det cord would detonate in a fire... Anyway, EOD, instead of backing off and letting the fire do it's job and destroy the bomb, grabs the fire extinguisher from their HMMWV to put out the VBIED? So if they are ambushed or blown up on their way back to base they won't have anything to put their own vehicle out with because they used it all on a bomb?? So after the sniper shoots the car, a single EOD team member goes in an clears the roof tops, without the aid of the squad of soldiers nearby. He just rushes through a place that is known to have had at least one insurgent in it, by himself. That is just asking to get shot, or worse.

My favorite line at the VBIED scene is when the black soldier radios up that the building is evacuated, and tells the guy ripping through the car looking for the initiator (why?) to leave it for the engineers. WTF? EOD leaving bomb disposal to the engineers? That is what EOD IS FOR! Then there's the disregard for rank structure. The Specialist that refuses to say Sir to a Lieutenant Colonel, when E5 Sanborn slugs E7 James with no repercussions, standing at Parade Rest for officers (never mind they are in a hot area still...). The uniforms bug me, like an American flag on both sides of the ACU top, the green subdued cloth lag is unauthorized for wear according to AR670-1, the sleeves are never rolled up on an ACU top...

And who exactly is this O5 with the 1st ID patches? Is he supposed to be mental health, chaplin, or something like that? Then there's the sniper scene. WTF is happening here? EOD suddenly just goes off somewhere near Najaf, because guess what, there isn't a lot of desert like that near VBC. And who goes off without an escort? And the mercs, the Barret scene... oh God, it just goes on and on painfully.

All this and the movie isn't even half over yet. From my time working with the EOD teams in our areas I can say that this movie is crap. It would be much better as a police story in a busy city, not in a warzone. Then I could buy into why this guy is disarming bombs. I am glad I saw this on a $2 burned Haji copy. If I'd paid real money for this movie then I too would have a death-wish.

Ha! Ha! Thanks for the information. I do not wish to see the movie. Thanks for serving.

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Raskle Contributor

Raskle

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My brother is always tearing down military figures in movies. He told me that Hollywood has to fudge little details (like uniforms for officers, etc) in order to not be arrested for impersonation.

Me? Inaccuracies can be tolerated if the movie is decent. The trick is: Does the movie become teh suk due to the inaccuracies, such as this one sounds like, or can the plot carry it enough to ignore them? That's the sign of a good military movie.

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