“If SEALs did a movie without water, they’d find a bucket.” LMAO🤣

We trained Bruce Willis for this movie out at KBAY in Hawaii 1/3 . 3 days worth in the izmuth and then a couple days out at the army’s school field training area. Played softball afterwards. Awesome guy.

The old man that crys witnessing the village being slaughtered was a survivor of ethnic cleansing when he was younger. The tears he shed were real. It damn near broke the production crew when they saw it.

The village scene was based on a real event that happened in Sierra Leon when the country was taken over by rebels back in the 80s. The established government hired a PMC(Executive Outcomes Inc), mostly made up of former South African SF, to retake the country and they did. Scared the shit out of every government on the planet from the ease and speed with which a private, objective oriented military force fulfilled their contract. One of the squads came across a village that was slaughtered and the SF guys hunted down the assholes responsible and dispensed justice.

They filmed most of this movie on Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps base Hawaii. I was a boot grunt at the time. Bruce came by and shook a bunch of our hands and thanked us for our service, seemed like a stand up guy. Bunch of guys ended up as extras. Pretty cool seeing all the actors in the chow hall everyday.

Vet myself, but not special forces, regular infantry. The most powerful moment for me in that movie is in the initial jungle engagement when things start going south. One of the snipers, played by Johnnie Messner, was initially against their mission of evacuating and exhilarating the civilians. However, in the jungle one of the women gets hit, and as he is getting hit repeatedly, he muscles up enough energy in his dying moments to crawl on top of her body before collapsing, as if to grant one last attempt at protecting them just before the militia overwhelms them. Absolutely breaks my heart every time. When I was overseas I accepted the fact being a new marine at the time I was likely to die, but promised myself a clear conscience by either dying to save a brother, or by taking as many of the enemy with me as possible. However, this mentality, is part of why it’s difficult to transition back to civilian life after service. That opportunity is all but gone, and you have to somehow wrap your head around a less noble existence and dying of absolutely no consequence whatsoever, be it as an old man or to something stupid and slow, while everyone around you has no idea a warrior sees a better way to do it. You just…. Exist now. I know there’s people who feel me on that, they’re the guys you can say everything in the world to with nothing but a nod at the bar when you see the right tattoo.

Dude. Navy SEALS would go find a bucket. That was hilarious.

Underrated film. All the characters kick ass.

Anyone who's ever been in a real jungle know that feeling when he says fighting in a jungle would suck. Going through jungle warfare school gave me a whole nother level of respect for the Vietnam generation.

Tears of the Sun is one of my favorites. It's the village scene. BTW...that was actually from a real world event. You can find it in "Fortunes Warriors." People behaved badly. Mercs got angry...they delivered Justice. HAHO allows a team to jump outside of territorial waters or anti-aircraft envelope. HALO means you got to jump out right over the target. Calling "Danger Close" means the ground observer knows they are bringing artillery or air ordnance within the effective burst range or margin of error of delivery.

During the village assault, the eyes of the actors completely change and you see them become affected by what they are witnessing. Some of the best acting I've seen.

Always thought this was Bruce's most "underrated" movie, never got the love it deserved. Excellent film and he was excellent in it. Antoine Fuqua always shoots the shit out of anything he makes. "Shooter" was also kick ass, that set piece up on the snowy mountain near the end of that film was fucking amazing. A bit of a "stretch", no doubt, but entertaining as hell!

This movie is one of my favorites. Somber fact, it was 5th Special Forces Group that did the HAHO/HALO insertion, and at least one died. It was highly controversial to use the footage, so it cut to the SEAL Surprise scene. Still and awesome movie, much respect to those who died in filming.

Thanks for making the point about serving in a country or situation where you might feel compromised by the people who you are serving with/against. I was in Panama in the US Army back right after Operation Just Cause guarding, protecting and putting down riots in the old housing areas we'd turned over to the Republic of Panama government and I happen to be half Panamanian and even lived there as a child so I felt your comments deeply, much appreciated brother.

Hacksaw Ridge, Hyena Road, Sniper, Jarhead, Midway, American Sniper & Act of Valor are a few other good military/war movies that would be good for this awesome series!

Another classic Bruce Willis kickin' ass & takin' names movie! Definitely a good/entertaining movie for sure! Especially since Bruce Willis just announced his retirement from acting due to medical issues.

One of the most underrated small unit combat films out there. A great lesson in combat ethics and the movie did justice to the high price elite servicemen pay to do their jobs.

Most people don’t know this but the movie is loosely based on a true story. The story is based on a mission of our Tier 1 anti terrorist unit JTF2 (Joint Task Force Two - Think Canadian version of Delta/CAG) that took place in Colombia. An ex-member of the unit wrote the original story in his book and suggested it when he met the production team of Executive Decision (1996) on a set in Nevada, he then sold the story to the studio and they adapted it for screen. And Bravo Buck…I’d never be able to leave kids to get schwacked either no matter the repercussions.

The directors cut of Tears of the Sun is very, very good. It doesn't add a lot of action but there's more exposition, narrative and dialogue in it and it actually plugs up a lot of the movies holes and inconsistencies. It's annoying because it looked like originally it was supposed to be an 'epic' but people have this fucking aversion to letting films run significantly past 2 hours and they edited the fuck out of it. It doesn't hold true 10 times out of 10 but there aren't many long ass movies that are bad, some depictions and adaptations need length to effectively convey their message, so many shit movies are only shit because they've had all their plot gutted out of them.

As a guy in the sky, I can say pilots will always carry that airstrike with them, no matter if the operators called danger close. What's almost as bad is not being able to drop in support of Troops in Contact, but still be overhead waiting and watching.

I loved this movie. It always brings tears to my eyes. I'm a retired veteran myself having served in Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. I wasn't combat arms, but I was certainly close enough to hear and feel the explosions from IEDs and suicide vests.

As a retired Navy. BM, Police Ret, this movie is Spot on. I was amazed to learn the most decorated Navy Veteran was a BM1 serving on marine riverine forces in Vietnam and not a Navy SEAL. I was a BM1 currently living in Thailand.

I don’t know of any combat vet either in the conventional or special warfare units that didn’t have a form of PTSD or another after they returned from combat operations and their deployment was over. I know of a few vets now that have been homeless, hooked on drugs/ alcohol, or have been accused of violent behavior towards family members, or are thinking of committing suicide because of the PTSD. As a former Combat engineer and from a family of vets this is something the government needs to address and research to help theses men and women that suffer with PTSD and the fear the have trying to return to civilian life. We all gave our time and sacrificed to defend our nation, and with out us there would be no military or defense of our nation, so the government truly owes us a big one in my book.

In Marine Corps boot camp, 1981, our battalion commander had the Medal of Honor. His name was LtCol Barnum. The story was that he got the award for, among other things calling an airstrike on his position in Vietnam after his company was overrun. Danger close is for like, hey, we're gonna die anyway, send us a miracle.

Awesome breakdown and review of Teras of the Sun. Its one of my favorite military movies of all time. It was cool seeing Buck breakdown some of the tactics and shed light on the realities of the scenes given his own experience. Awesome work look forward to future breakdowns.

You've become one of my favorite KZfaq channels lately. Thanks for taking the time to entertain us.

We Were Soldiers would be an excellent breakdown. I've read the book several times, I feel it's as close to a documentary as Hollywood could ever get. What do you think?

By far my favorite breakdown series. There are other experts that are critical solely on realism but don’t take anything else into account. Y’all have a great, balanced approach and I enjoy it.

Really enjoyed your commentary!! Gotta say that, hearing some of your insight into the mindset that comes with different situations was spot on!! I really liked your break down of bleak 30 when, you know you are just fubar, and your mind can just make the most unlikely adjustments to keep you moving!

I always felt Red (m60 gunner) was under appreciated. The Lt says hold the line and then leaves the team and his rifle behind. Red checks every member of the team as they go down and provides covering fire by any means through out the entire exfil. And they call an air strike on him assuming he’s dead but he still makes it out after multiple hits by rifle fire.

You guys do a good job I enjoy everything you say you’re honest and you’re on the point. Thank you both for your service

i enjoy watching your breakdowns, this is the first time im commenting. thank you for doing what you do!

Cleared Cold with Sean Stumpf! I fell the fk out! 🤣😂🤣 I can't believe I've never seen this movie before. Checking it out tonight! As always great review Boys! 🤘🏼

Really enjoy the movie reviews. Going through a hard time right now so much of what you guys say applies to military and civilian life. Sometimes I'm cracking up at the funny stories and other times I you guys say things that help me through these trying days. God bless

On the variability of danger close. Supposedly a marine unit in Desert Storm called for fire support against an entrenched Iraqi position over 500 meters away, they received a danger close warning and request to confirm. The marine commander was upset that somebody was being overly conservative on the safety margins, that some pentagon bureaucrat had made the artillery unusable. He responded they were half a kilometer away and in cover so they'd be fine. The battery replied (dispensing with call-signs) they were USS Missouri and the safe range on 16" shells was just under a kilometer. Depending on the version, the marines road out the storm and then walked through the remains of an Iraqi company or they thanked Missouri for their time and went calling for another available battery. The version I read (I think it was in Crusade) said they rode it out, but I've seen internet sites say they passed.

Beers and Breakdowns really should be the core of this channel in my opinion its such a great series and idea really unique and always super entertaining and informative

This movie was such an iconic movie I cried all the way through

Y’all give me so many good movies to watch! Thanks for the great selection.

The Beast (1988). Awesome movie about a Russian tank crew caught behind enemy lines during the end stages of their war in Afghanistan. Nobody ever mentions or reacts to that, along with Spartan (2004), and The Hunted (2003).

Wow, Abel is doing an awesome job asking questions. Nice work!

Great review/reaction fellas . One of my favorite movies primarily due to it being one my dad's favs... He was special forces, navy corpsman in Vietnam, Danang 68.. brings back memories for him. Good and bad... We discuss it from time to time, I believe its therapeutic... He relates to the corpsman aka doc in the movies because being in the same scenarios, especially being in the jungle and being in the villages with the people as his groups were embedded in the villages with the people to keep the vc out.. I believe he was also interpreter as he spoke vietnamese as well... Good stuff gentlemen..

Would love to see a breakdown of ' Danger Close' an aussie war film based on the battle of Long Tan

I’m posted up at work rn and am diggin these on my down time. Thanks for these breakdowns!

IMO this was the best breakdown ya’ll have done. Love the focus on the tactics and human element of war.

Another great episode! Always love hearing your stories Buck! The SEAL reveal bit had me laughing so hard, I wonder what Andy thinks haha

Good review Sean, thanks. Although, the real story behind this movie is that it's actually based of of an Op pulled off by Canadian special forces (JTF2); not seals. But in typical fashion, Cdn SF are true silent warriors!😂

Thank You for your excellent brakedown and definition and service.

Seal-reveal in a bucket had me rolling. Love the content! Cheers from Sweden.

What I remember being told about HALO and HAHO. So Halo I was told is when you want to get into an area without people knowing and HAHO is when you want to get into an area you aren't supposed to

For those who don't know: HALO (High Altitude Low Opening): High altitude drop With Air, Fast Drop with very Little Glide (unless you are using a para suit) which doesn't cover much ground during the fall but can still go pretty far. HAHO (High Altitude High Opening): High Altitude drop with air, High Opening that lets you glide for about 50 to 100 km with a nice tail wind, which is also known as a "Machine Gunners Wet Dream" due to your parachute hang time. You got an article 15? Welcome to the crew Brother, got a couple myself. Every one of them was worth it. Would recommend and do again!

Im here for the beer & breakdown series for sure 👌🏾

I watched the making of this movie and there's one scene where they clear that village and everybody else is in the hills waiting. There's one old man in particular that was an actual villager that went through the same thing. He was able to get out of his village but had to hear all the gunfire and chaos of his friends and family being slaughtered. His tears in that scene were real tears.

Love this movie! Definitely one of my all-time favorite military films.

Give the JTF2 boys some of their dues! 🇨🇦

I'm a new subscriber ! I have to tell you guys that I love the content! You guys are reviewing some of my favorite movies .

Love this series 🖤🔥 whole reason I subscribed.

I’m sure someone has said it already but we used to prep claymores to cover our break from contact maneuvers. You can use a short fuse to set it to 30 sec or a min (or whatever) to detonate when you’re running away as fast as you can.

Cheers for Beers 🍻, I haven’t watched this movie yet !!! Thank you for sharing “Buck”✌️🇺🇸🍻🍻🍻 :)

Claymore facts: It takes a blasting cap to set off.Traditionally this is an electric cap,hence the wire and clacker. One could also use time-fuse and a non-electric blasting cap in case you would want to use the mine as a timed rearguard. Even back in the 80´s the military had the XM-121 radio remote controlled detonators which would initiate a cap from line of sight distance. I am pretty sure we have improved on that. Instead of using the Claymore as a last ditch defensive weapon (enemy in the wire) we liked to use it as a initiator for ambushes. Daisy-chain a few together with det-cord along a path, wait for enemy to walk into kill-zone, fire, mop-up.

Bruh, your commentary on culture was awesome. Thank you for acknowledging that!!

I was just watched a vid about a Green Beret in Afgan that got the Silver Star . He called in danger close ordinance where they had approached a compound and the compound opened up heavy on them that left them separated from the rest of their guys . The Air force tac on the ground with them but with the other group wished them luck after he called it in , came across unsettling when he related it . Thanks for the video Buck . Hey ... the Marines tried HANO for awhile but quit after a couple years .

Peter Mensah is that actor from 300! Also played Aenomaus the doctore (combat trainer) for the gladiators in Spartacus

One of my favourite films lol superb as always lads take a bow 👍👌

loved this movie. seen it when it came out. thanks Buck for the insight.

Claymore mines can be fitted with a reciever for remote detonation. They also can be fitted with ir parameter detonators. Neither of which I believe that they would kit up with for a simple snatch and grab op.

I mean, Blackhawks were a lot like taxis for my unit, but you're right about the pilots. They're not turning around period. Even if they left a unit on the ground, higher ups would be contacted and an order would be given. Blackhawks are sitting ducks when they unload/load. Plus, they only carry the fuel required for the mission.

Rewatched this last night, and in perfect 2024 fashion, went straight to youtube to see if there were any reaction videos from a veteran POV (and here we are). First time I saw this movie, I was on my cot in a pitch black tent, at a FOB just outside of Mitarlam, Afghanistan. Watching with headphones on a 6-inch foldable/portable DVD player that was propped up on my chest, holding back tears as I was crossing my fingers that none of the guys were awake to see me. I should have been sleeping, but it was the only down time we had between missions since there was so few of us. It's funny to me how poorly this movie was received by Hollywood critics. Citing how thin the storyline was and how implausible it would be in real life. And yet, every vet I talk to always brings it up as one of their favorite war movies. Me included. I really love this movie and have a deep connection with it. Even though Bruce's PAC-4 was mounted backwards in 1 close-up insert, and there's no such thing as a NVG scope (SMFH). But I'm still always willing to suspend disbelief on a few small production errors because I know the feeling at the end is worth it every time. If you made it this far, thanks for reading.

Love that I can search for content like this.

HAHO insertions are to give the team the ability to travel up to 30 miles from the drop point-silently.The MC11B’s are extremely steerable and you can land where you wish easily.Adds another layer of stealth to the mission.

In the 60s they used something called a time pencil that screws into the fuse well of a claymore.. the fuses had different time settings. Don’t know if they still use them.

Really appreciate your takes and perspective. I ususly find it cringey and cliche to thank people "for their service" without unpacking how complicated "service" is, but Thanks. It seems like what you're doing now is a legitimate continuation of what you did before, since the understanding of the average person is so simplistic and polarized. I'm really glad I found this channel.

Love your comment about “You are a human being we care about you, you matter.”

Awesome review guys. A long time fan of this film. Antoine Fuqua who directed this film did a period piece that is similar. It’s King Arthur starring Clive Owen. I’d like to offer 13 Hours as a suggested movie to review.

Great job guys on one of my favorite movies. And thank your for your service, and expert commentary. It’s odd to me that in these unusual times I mostly get guys that already have a military or police background come to me for private self defense lessons as opposed to people that have no idea what they’re doing. In another way, I guess it makes perfect sense because they don’t struggle as much with delusions of grandeur. I’m an Older guy with still much to learn, especially in the firearm tactics aren. I learned some good stuff just listening to your commentary tonight. Appreciate you guys and Godspeed. I would suggest “Sand Pebbles” with Steve McQueen👈

It is possible to run claymores off timed fuses. I wasn’t aware of this until I heard John Stryker Meyer talk about using them in Laos. Mac V Sog used them with great effectiveness. They were often being chased by hundreds of NVA to their extraction points so what they would do is set like a 5 or 10 second fuse and just stab the thing in the ground quick and continue hauling ass through the jungle. They carried many of them. The NVA would run right up on them and then SURPRISE!

A couple cool details about this flick: The team are all using Emerson PUK fixed blades on their shoulders with Bruce also having a custom Emerson Kandahar fixed blade on his leg. Emerson is near Coronado and has a huge connection to the SEAL community. The cool mohawk dude (also a "cool guy" in the Kilmer classic Spartan) has the letters "JKL" tattooed on his neck, which you can only assume stands for Team Five.

I LOVE this movie! Great dialogue for this episode. Good laughs but also some hard truths. The podcast should be named “Clear By Fire!”😂

HAHO is usually for when you have to travel over borders like say jumping over Afghanistan to land in Iran or something various jumping into a country your able to fly over directly & still need to be as stealthy as possible.

Great channel keep up the good work!

Pretty work guys. Enjoyed the commentary and thank you for your service. Got 3 kids in the .mil

Have you guys ever read the book SOG: Secret Wars of America's Commandos in Vietnam by John L. Plaster. The reason I bring this book up, is because in the book. There is a play by play breakdown of a breaking contact tactic. If the team made contact, the point man ( the first man in the patrol ) would do a mag dump in 3 round bursts. The rest of the team split either to the right or left. Making a route down the middle to escape. After the point man emptied his mag. He would turn and run down the middle, as the second man in the patrol would start doing his mag dump in 3 round bursts. As this is going on, the last man in the patrol would be setting a M18 claymore mine as the final part of the breaking contact tactic. Once the second to last man dumped his mag, and ran by the last man. Then the last man would command detonate the Claymore mine. Hopefully giving the team enough time to break contact with the N.V.A., and try to disappear into the jungle.

You can pop a fuse into a claymore, MACVSOG guys in Vietnam (not while in Vietnam 😉) really thought they were worth the weight penalty of often carrying several... Sometimes even using as low as 5 second delay fuses! 🤯 But I don't remember seeing in the movie if he actually pulled the ring or anything 🤔 But they definitely don't have to be command det, although I think in almost every situation that opportunity would 110% be preferred!

This was a great episode boys.

I love this movie for all the reasons you guys stated. I also love that ending with the F-18s coming in and bombing the enemy because it really shows the value of technology and air power. I mean, if you think about it, they said there were over 300 men chasing them at one point. So here you have a situation where there's now 2 (pilots) versus 300, and the 2 overwhelmingly, hands-down, no contest, win that fight in an instant.

Saw this movie a few days ago. It is a good movie & I personally recommend it. 👍

Describes the whole movie in 23 seconds. 🤣

Very new to the channel, freakin love it! Have you covered Heat or Cop Land?

As far as remote detonation of a Claymore mine. I didn't see anything other than the M57 clacker set up in my unit when I was on active duty, but when I was in the Reserves one of NCOs in our unit had worked as a combat engineer he mentioned that you could set up anything that would trigger a blasting cap to detonate it. So I assume that would include remote detonators. I would guess that might be the case. I mean engineers cut down trees with det cord, I would guess they would wire up whatever...

Great movie, definitely makes you get in touch with the human side of war.

Love your content. Just to let you know that you are motivating not just potential SF candidates but private f… civilians too 😎

You guys are awesome! I watch as many of your videos I can. Saving private Ryan is a great one y'all can do.

I couldn't help but notice Bruce Willis had his Aimpoint on backwards in a few scenes. Great video, brother! Thank you!

I loved this movie when I was younger. Now that I know more about how this stuff actually works its still a good one just for the entertainment factor instead of being necessarily accurate.

One of the best stories Ive read and learned about was Aussies in Vietnam, was the battle of Long Tan. they were a platoon of men who came up against 700-1200 Viets. The Viets attacked them in waves and had to call artillery on themselves to survive. some of the interviews with the diggers talked about how wild it was watching these Vietnamese run through the barrage of artillery with bits and pieces going everywhere. they called the arty multiple times over the day on themselves.

That "Danger Close" instantly brought me back to We Were Soldier's "Broken Arrow" 😵.

Im so fuckin happy yall did this one i dont hear anybody talk about it enough thanks yall

I do have a soft spot for this movie, humanizing local nationals from booger eaters begging for free shit to people with lives. I could totally see that bucket scene in something like Lone Survivor

That was set during the Rwandan Genocide, right? That would have been the definition of a FUBAR situation.

i realy love the small details of this movie, that as soon as bruce willis get the pistol the other soldiers dont even wait for the comand and grab their own pistols as well, they are so ready for combat all the time that they react before any orders are even give to get ready to when the comand comes... there are some movies that we watch that we find hard to believe that a group of 8 guys manage to defeat hundreds of enemies, but this one is not it, this one realy makes you belive that they are capable enough to do so.

Gear is on point! Wicked movie.