# Army reporter in Vietnam **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 3, 2022, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647 "2022-06-03T22:19:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/1 "2022-06-03T22:19:46Z")
In the movie Full Metal jacket the character Joker is a reporter for stars and stripes in the Army. But then is he sent to join a regular combat unit and gets involved in combat. Is this something that would happen. ? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/2 "2022-06-03T22:45:34Z")
The military has journalists as a military occupation specialty. When I went through A-school it was Defense Information School at Fort Benjamin Harrison outside Indianapolis, training all four branches plus the coasties. It was relatively slack for navy guys, but the grunts had to do “soldierization,” with shooting and marching and yelling “ooo-ah!” and being supervised by a non-journalists cadre of infantry noncoms yelling “you’re a soldier first and a journalist second!” ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/3 "2022-06-03T22:52:40Z")
Reporters would often be sent to join regular combat units. The term is “embedded journalism.” You don’t even have to be a member of Stars and Stripes. Regular civilian journalists can be embedded with combat units. An embedded correspondent like Joker with Stars and Stripes is still a soldier and can still be considered a combatant. Civilian embedded correspondents are not permitted to pick up a weapon and fight. If a civilian correspondent picks up a weapon and shoots it at the enemy, he or she then becomes a combatant and is now a legitimate target for the enemy to shoot at. I don’t know how common it was for someone to do what Joker did. Usually their job is to keep taking pictures, but hey, if someone’s shooting at you and you’re likely to be killed, maybe shooting back isn’t such a bad idea. I do know that I have read several stories of civilian correspondents picking up a weapon and firing it at the enemy, even though they aren’t supposed to. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/4 "2022-06-03T22:52:42Z")
Lawyers, Drs, Nurses etc also get minimal combat training? I read that the US Marine band that plays for the president and other events , they get no military training. at all They are recruited simply based on musical ability. Don’t know if that applies to other military bands. The air force had (maybe still do) a pop/rock band for recruiting events. They came to my HS ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/5 "2022-06-03T23:05:10Z")
I’m assuming bias/prejudice and all that isn’t considered important here, because you could hardly expect someone who is a soldier in the Army to be objective in his media coverage of the Army. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/6 "2022-06-03T23:07:24Z")
As I’ve said before, if truth is the first casualty of war, we were the killer elite! ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/7 "2022-06-03T23:24:28Z")
Bill Mauldin, a cartoonist for the 45th Infantry News and Stars and Stripes, wrote in his memoirs about a friend and fellow journalist soldier who got pulled off of the paper and assigned to clear mines in the first wave of Omaha Beach. He was killed. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2022, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/8 "2022-06-04T00:23:06Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Lawyers, Drs, Nurses etc also get minimal combat training? I have a woman lawyer friend who was an officer in the Air Force Judge Advocate General’s office in the 80s and 90s (i.e., peacetime.) She was trained and authorized to carry a sidearm. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2022, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/9 "2022-06-04T00:44:23Z")
That _is_ minimal combat training. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2022, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/10 "2022-06-04T01:33:11Z")
[Here is the National Guard’s description of MOS46 (Broadcast Journalist)](https://www.nationalguard.com/46r-public-affairs-broadcast-journalist). This bit under **Training** is informative: > Job training for a public affairs broadcast specialist requires 10 weeks of Basic Combat Training and 12 weeks of Advanced Individual Training with on-the-job instruction. I don’t think I’d classify BCT as _minimal_. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2022, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/11 "2022-06-04T01:44:50Z")
I attended a writers workship with Gus Hasford, the author of _The Short-Timers_, the book the movie was based on. He had been a combat reporter in Nam, but never engaged in combat himself. This was years before he wrote the book although he already told colorful stories about his experiences. Both the book and the movie are savagely bitter condemnations of the army and the war, not to be taken as literal portrayals. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2022, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/12 "2022-06-04T01:46:49Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > I read that the US Marine band that plays for the president and other events , they get no military training. at all They are recruited simply based on musical ability. Don’t know if that applies to other military bands. The air force had (maybe still do) a pop/rock band for recruiting events. They came to my HS The Marine Band and the Coast Guard Band are excluded from regular military training. They are not the only armed forces bands, not even the only Marine bands. They probably wouldn’t get sent anywhere near a war zone. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2022, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/13 "2022-06-04T01:57:01Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > I don’t think I’d classify BCT as _minimal_ . Except it kind of is, relative to the military. That’s just army boot camp. Although, caveat, there are people who join the military without even that. So maybe not “most” minimal, but certainly very near to the low end of the bar. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2022, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/14 "2022-06-04T03:15:00Z")
A [considered and thoughtful piece](https://thepointmag.com/examined-life/the-good-airman/) from a more recent US Airforce journalist who questioned what she was actually part of. Hopefully unpaywalled. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2022, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/15 "2022-06-04T03:42:34Z")
When she mentioned the Armed Forces Network that was downright triggering for me. Terrible. Only thing worse than the news stories are the commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2022, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/16 "2022-06-04T04:06:22Z")
We understood that our job was public relations, not really journalism, but it still chafed when we couldn’t do journalism. The local civilian media wouldn’t give us the time of day when I tried to send them a story with pictures of us rescuing a dad and his kid who’s sailboat had sunk. Of course my captain blamed me for that. We did stories on the community service projects our guys performed, but heavily edited. Yes, they went and repainted an orphanage in the Philippines, but it was hard to overlook what a hellhole the place was and how absurd it was to slap a coat of paint over it. (The real point was to show the sailors and Marines who’d volunteered the consequences of impregnating the B-girls, but that couldn’t be printed). One quashed scoop had occurred in the Gulf of Thailand, when everyone was ordered to stay inside the skin of the ship because the weapon systems were going to be activated. Afterwards it was revealed that we’d encountered some pirates. Well golly, suppressing piracy is a great story of mission accomplishment, right? Nope: a big ship using a little ship for target practice just looked bad, even if the little ship was sailed by baddies. It was just one of many times we were told to keep our mouths shut. One story I did come close: we had a Marine officer onboard who really stood out because of his prosthetic hooks coming out of the sleeves of his cammo, where Marine regulations dictate hands should emerge. He’d blown them off somehow, but had talked his way into being retained to operate a small radio-controlled aircraft with a TV camera in its nose; borrowing my shipboard CCTV station to fly it from an airstrip in the desert to our flight deck. This was the genesis of the military drone program. Ooh, can I do a story about this? Oh no, too secret, forget what you’ve seen. A year later an AFRTS land-based navy TV station does a feature on him, with a Lt commander getting the by-line. And yes, I got to stand watch with a M1911 45 on my hip, expected to repel boarders from the Iranian navy. ---
**Author:** ![19USMC69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ac91a4/32.png) [@19USMC69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/19USMC69)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2022, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/17 "2022-06-04T04:09:48Z")
That’s true. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2022, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/18 "2022-06-04T06:05:24Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > In the movie Full Metal jacket the character Joker is a reporter for stars and stripes in the Army. _Full Metal Jacket_ is about a platoon of Marines, not Army. That is my factual contribution! Now I am tempted to venture a notion that: Marines with a PR / Journalism / communications M.O. who found themselves in a combat zone in Vietnam during the war might sometimes have been purposely sent into combat. I would think that, as U.S. Marines they all had basic infantry training, but then again, before I read this thread I would have thought that about the US Marine Band, too. Not directly connected but: In _Saving Private Ryan_ didn’t the Army journalist in that film end up in combat? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2022, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/19 "2022-06-04T07:38:31Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > In _Saving Private Ryan_ didn’t the Army journalist in that film end up in combat? Corporal Upham wasn’t a journalist. When Miller first encounters him, Upham says that he makes maps and translates. > [@](#): > > UPHAM: “ _Yes sir, um, sir there are, there are a_ lot _of Germans in Neuville_ . _”_ > MILLER: “ _You have a problem with that, Corporal?”_ > UPHAM: “ _No sir. It’s just that if you consider I’ve never been in combat, sir. I make maps and translate. And that’s-_ ” > MILLER: “ _I need someone who speaks French and German._ ” > UPHAM: “ _Yes sir._ ” > MILLER: “ _My two guys were killed._ ” > UPHAM: “ _Yes sir it’s just that I never, I haven’t held a weapon since basic training._ ” > MILLER: “ _Did you_ fire _the weapon in basic training?”_ > UPHAM: “ _Yes sir._ ” > MILLER: “ _Well then, get your gear._ ” > UPHAM: “ _Yes sir._ ” > UPHAM: “ _May I bring my typewriter sir?”_ Upham drops the typewriter as he is asking the question. Miller holds up a pencil. The typewriter and the fact that he has clearly never been in combat might give the impression that he’s a journalist, but he actually works in Intelligence. He does end up in combat. It doesn’t go well. He freezes in combat, leading to the death of Private Mellish. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2022, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647/20 "2022-06-04T16:14:28Z")
> leading to the death of Private Mellish. Too bad for him the name of the movie wasn’t _Saving Private Mellish_, am I right? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-reporter-in-vietnam/965647.md?page=2)