Combat!

Combat was a really good show. Anouther one that was good to watch was Tour of Duty. It was about Viet Nam. I wish they still showed both of them on some channel.

 

I can't find much to fault COMBAT on but tell you one thing-when Vic Morrow directed an episode-you KNEW it was going to be an excellent one. Im on season 4 disc 2 episode 3--which also has a fine guest star in it--Kurt Krueger--who sadly, passed away last year. You would easily recognize him if you watched: Sahara--w/Humphrey Bogart, and The Enemy Below w/ Robt Mitchum & Curt Jurgens. In Sahara-Kurt Krueger was the German Fighter Pilot that Bogie & his tank crew shot down. In TEB, Krueger was one of the U Boat Officers.

I agree, Tour of Duty was a great show-lasting only 3 seasons. I liked it when they added Lee Majors and I think Carl Weathers-to the cast.

 

I know i'm a bit late on this thread here, but I thought i'd just mention that for those of you in the states who have time warner cable, Combat! along with other shows like 12 O'clock High and Rat Patrol, air on the station ALN (american life network) usually later on at night. I know for me, combat comes on around eight and i do agree, it is a good show. Definatly my favorite out of the three.

 

Tour of Duty was excellent. Sgt Anderson reminded me of Sgt Saunders at times.

 

Rat Patrol was great. The characters were believable.

 

I just recently heard of this series and after watching the first 4 episodes of season 1, I like it so far.

 

I liked the idea that Saunders used short bursts when firing the Thompson. It made the show more realistic IMHO. In some war movies the characters are firing at such a fast pace[ Nicholas Cage in Windtalkers ] that they run out of ammunition quickly.

 

I too loved watching Tour of Duty. I also loved it's theme music as well: "Paint It Black".

I had watched and taped all of the first two seasons and enjoyed the third because of adding Lee Majors and Carl Weathers to the cast. I THINK www.deepdiscount.dvd.com still is running a special on the three seasons for around $35-or so?

 

Im glad to hear that ALN is still playing episodes of 12 O'Clock High. I have been looking for someone who I can make a deal with who would be willing to tape or get on DvD-as many episodes of 12 O'Clock High as they can get for me. Any takers?

We have Time Warner here but no ALN is on their line up-which is a butt singer to say the least. Oh and, Paul Burke from that show-recently passed away. :-(

:mourn: Paul

 

That's whom his character was based on. I remember the actor saying so in an interview he did just before the first season came out on TV.

 

Vic Morrow quickly learned the ins-and outs of his Thompson. Rick Jason said in an interview that he was offered Vics Thompson but opted for an M-1 Carbine due to the differences in weight. Vic Morrow was a stranger to firearms when he got the role as Saunders on COMBAT.

 

Kruska

I have to respectfully disagree with your opinion about "Combat", I think it is probably one of the most realistic shows ever done. Part of this is perspective, based upon our life experience.
Until recently I just remembered it as a good show from when I was a kid. My younger son got me the complete set for Christmas this year and I started watching it again. I had both sons home, and tried to get them to watch it with me but neither seemed really interested. I hadn't seen it since I was a kid so I remembered it from my perspective as a kid, but here again my perspective was different from many others. I was raised around the military. I can remember when I was in like the third grade, my father was the XO of the training company at Camp Pendleton, preparing Marines to go to Vietnam. He had just recently returned from the war and hadn't fully recovered from wounds recieved there. We used to watch the long lines of Marines road marching down the roads behind officer housing or maneuvering through the woods of the training area on the hills on the other side of the road. My father was really hard to get along with during this period, I've since learned that it was really hard on him mentally, training these men to send them off, many to die. I would watch "Combat" at night, then see the Marines the next day, I'd notice similarities to what I'd seen on TV so I thought the show must be good. I couldn't ask my dad's opinion, he wouldn't watch the show, he had enough war in real life.

I am a combat veteran (obvioulsy not a WWII vet), I have served as an infantry Marine and later as a soldier. Watching it now, from that perspective, I notice how so many of the small things in the show ring true or are done correctly. I finally got the older son to watch an episode with me, he being a combat veteran with two tours in Iraq. He was really impressed with the small things that were right. Saunders and his men were clearing a town and he would go on and on about how the "feeling" was correct, how he'd felt the same feelings while clearing buildings or patrolling towns in Iraq. Saunders in one scene was opening a door in the floor, suspecting a German soldier was in the celler and he was doing it right. Using angles to observe without exposing himself.
Another thing that's correct is as paul1967 wrote:

He always, as do others, fires in short bursts, this is both for accuracy and ammo conservation. Most of the time, full auto, except in certain circumstances like suppression or final protective fires is a waste and usually reflects a lack of training and discipline. Three to five round bursts is the rule. In fact there isn't room to list all they got right, what they got wrong would be easier and would be a very short list.

Kruska wrote:

Meaning no disrespect, I used to wargame myself, as do several of my son's fellow Marines from Iraq but, I hardly think most wargamers are really qualified to say that a show is realistic. They, by and large do not have the military or combat background to be an accurate judge.

I disagree, they came across to me as an armed mob, using thermonuclear hand grenades. They neither talked, acted or operated like Marines. Personally, I think their technical advisor should have been shot.

Anyway back to "Combat". After getting the older son to watch, he got the younger son to watch a couple of episodes and they both got addicted. They stayed up all night one night watching episodes and went on about how good and accurate they were and how come they didn't know about the show. After you watch a number of episodes the feeling you come away with is that of the high attrition. How did anyone manage to survive from June 1944 to may 1945. While one dig against the show is that the new guy always gets it. That's how it is in the real world. Anyone can catch one at anytime but attrition among the new guys is highest. In the series you do have a core group of characters that are occasionally wounded, however there is also a large group of secondary characters that appear in an episode, then reappear from time to time. If you pay attention the "new guy" that gets it is not always a new guy. He is actually a character that has been around for a while just not as the focus of an episode. Here's a couple of quotes to support my statement:

source:Military History Online - US Army in World War II

"the reality became that replacements came in, and with no combat experience and no one in their new unit looking out for them (the "I don't know him and don't want to know him, he's only gonna be a casualty" syndrome), they quickly became casualties."

"on 8 December 1944 the Third Army was short 11,000 infantrymen. This was only about four percent of the Third Army's total strength, but was the equivalent of fifty-five rifle companies - the rifle strength of two infantry divisions - or close to fifteen percent of the infantry combat power of the Third Army."

Also, I don't see why you feel the Germans come across badly. The GI's take a town the Germans drive them back and retake the town. They're GI's always squeaking through, always hurt, always fighting for all they're worth and the difference between victory and defeat is almost always narrow. They also don't always win. I would say this indicates a parity between the forces. If the Germans were as poorly played as you describe, the squad would wipe out a battalion with the only loss being Kirby who went down with a broken fingernail.

I'd highly recommend "Combat" to anyone. While they may occasionally use the wrong vehicle, or a korean war era carbine with bayonnet lug. All in all, they do look and act like real combat infantry. Well done, well acted , authentic.

 

It turned out that the props department had to go to work by making an artificial Thompson for Morrow to carry when there were no firefights taking place. The weight of the real Thompson tended to tire out Morrow.