Top Shot, Adam and Marines: A Question

Cafe Society
1

It is about a TV show, so I’m putting it here, but it could really go in any one of the forums based on which direction the thread takes, so mods, please feel free to play pingpong with the thread.

In the episode of Top Shot that was on tonight, Adam of the Blue Team started conspiring to eliminate the top shooters on his own team, trying to take advantage of the rules to move away from a shooter’s game to more of a true reality show conspiracy/alliance game. They try to recruit Caleb into the plot, which backfires. Caleb goes and tells the two guys who were targetted for elimination, primarily because he doesn’t think this plotting is cool.

From that moment, the entire show turns into one long extended child’s tantrum by Adam, who calls Caleb a “rat” and drones on endlessly about how being a rat is the worst thing in the world and he wants to eliminate Caleb.

At the end, they lost the challenge, it came down to Adam and Caleb, Caleb lost and was eliminated.

Adam made a big deal out of being a former Marine, and how horrible Caleb’s ratting him out was, and how Caleb would never make it as a Marine. Now, one of my former bosses was a former Marine, and the guy acted very similarly. It didn’t matter what HE did, it didn’t matter how much of a complete scumbag he was…it was all about being loyal to him, keeping your mouth shut even when he was telling you to break the rules. Once I busted him for violating our employer’s policies, I became Public Enemy #1 and every nasty thing, every lie he told, was completely justified by him on the grounds that I was being insubordinate and didn’t do what HE told me to do.

So my question(s) is/are this: Is this kind of thing common in the Marines? Is loyalty and silence more important than INTEGRITY and HONOR? Has SEMPER FI - faithfulness to one’s fellows, replaced doing that is right?

Is ratting out someone who is conspiring against their fellows actually worse than conspiring against one’s fellows?

2

First, Marines will insist that there’s no such thing as a former Marine.

If anything, it’s probably a self-selecting thing. Certain people get in the Marines because they buy into the culture, which is a bit self-aggrandizing. It’s not the Marines that make these people a dick, they started that way.

3

Bump of a sort.

Anyone else? Or anyone else who is actually watching this show with an opinion on the episode?

4

I did not see the episode, nor was I ever a Marine. So I have no anecdotes about whatever “code” may be commonly found in todays USMC, and everything that follows is strictly based on my own interpretation of the meaning of honor.

IMO, you made Adam sound like an ass, whining in a self serving manner.

If the show’s premise is about winning by displaying shooting skills, then winning by some other method (like applying some kind of social engineering skill) should not be under consideration for someone with a strict(er than average) code of honor, and/or pride and confidence in his shooting skills.

In my Humble Opinion, it doesn’t sound like Adam (or your former boss) has a proper or full understanding of honor and loyalty. It’s not a “get out of jail free” card; it IS a two way street. If you break the “trust” (by behaving without honor in an agregious way), you don’t deserve the benefits.

Also, I doubt Caleb swore an oath to Adam, anyway. :slight_smile:

5

no-snitching only works if everybody buys into it. organizations of all shapes and sizes clearly have their best interests at work if they didn’t have whistleblowers. you’ll find this “code” in fraternities, companies, the military, gangs, families, etc. i don’t think it’s strictly a marine thing at all.

to be fair though, the shooting is moderately entertaining, the drama notsomuch, and overall this show isn’t cool enough to warrant a 2nd season unless there are major changes done to it imo.

6

I’m also watching this show and saw the episode. The show is not just about the shooting. I mean they live in a house together and when a team loses the members vote who to send off to the elimination contest. So the reality show aspect is there and a part of the game. Adam is taking advantage of that part of the show to better the odds for himself. (Which makes sense at certain level, JJ is really good and seems to be able to shoot any weapon well. He’ll be tough to eliminate and he and Blake are easily better than anybody else on the blue team.) The thing is that Adam kept ranting for the rest of the show that Caleb is rat for finking him out. The thing was Caleb never agreed that this was confidential and should be kept private. I mean he kept it up, doing stupid little displays and all and wouldn’t shut up about it. I’m honestly surprised Adam won given it seemed like it had wounded him up alot.(Seriously, Adam was trying to use the reality show aspect to give himself an advantage and it back fired. While I don’t think Caleb should have passed on the message Adam has little to complain since he was using the same system to help himself.)

Actually to be clear I didn’t have a problem with Adam’s method to give himself better odds.(That was smart and worth the risks.) It was his antics afterwards, playing the wounded party that got on my nerves.

7

I just finished watching this ep, and to me, Adam is incredibly two-faced about the whole thing. He’s willing to scheme to eliminate team members (which is within the rules) but thinks that Caleb’s decision to tell the people he’s betraying is someone the worst possible behavior. Adam lied when they had the team meeting saying that he just felt that the pro shooters should be put up against each other.

Caleb showed a lot of grace when he was eliminated. I think Adam proved on national TV that he’s a douche. (And I’ve never used that phrase before to describe a person, but I can’t think of a better word).

StG

8

That was it to me.

“Hey, let’s fuck over these other guys on our team! That’s the way to play the game!”

Oh wait, I got caught? Well the guy who said something is a RAT!! There’s nothing worse than A RAT! He’s dead to me! blah, blah, blah.

Adam is a douchebag with no honor. I think the other guys were right - it was far too early in the competition to be scheming against your own team mates. But if you want to play it that way, then suck it up and be a man about the ramifications of your actions. Don’t turn into a five year old crybaby on national TV.

Edit; Guess I’m not alone. http://community.history.com/topic/13870/t/Re-Adam-Makes-ALL-Shooters-Look-Like-A-Holes.html?page=-1

9

“Sorry, that topic was deleted.”, can you remember what it was about?

10

Here it is. It seems pretty much unanimous: Adam is a douche and “a disgrace to the Marines”

11

Thanks for that. My guess is that when the teams merge (Should be ‘if’, but my guess is that it’ll happen) then he’ll be target number one since he’s been outed as a conspirator, and you can’t leave voting blocks together.