I am not a marine and I am not in the infantry, but I have experienced the military enough to tell you that this movie does tell a very realistic story of what most soldiers have to endure. What it is like to be a cop, training to be ready to kill someone should the moment call for it. But cops aren't sent to another country and cops aren't trained in the same manor. There are several professions that have to go through a lot physically and emotionally for their jobs, but everything they do is usually training for an event that sometimes never happens. A fire fighter can put everything he can into training to save someone's life and never save anybody or experience anything in movies like Ladder 49 or Backdraft. There are many movies that depict soldiers as heroic and brave. Yes, many of the scenes in movies are events that do happen. Soldiers get shot, soldiers do brave things. Being in the military you learn something. Wars of the recent generations are not like WWI-II and Vietnam. Over $100,000 casualties in WWI, over 400,000 in WWII, and over 58,000 in Vietnam. The Iraq/Afghanistan War is around 5,500. The point that this movie makes is that the majority of soldiers, particularly with Desert Storm, go through extensive training to prepare for a moment that never comes. Soldiers have to put up with a anti-democratic environment, just like in this movie. There have been several American soldiers shot this year by Iraqi soldiers, shot while conducting training for Iraqis. An investigation is done and American soldiers than have to go back to training the Iraqis. I camp with infantry soldiers and many complain about the politics they endure. Soldiers don't want to kill people or watch their friends die, but soldiers join so that when they are sent away from their families and placed in a harsh environment, the work and sacrifices they have been making are worth it in the end. What makes all the work and sacrifice worth it? When the training pays off. When all the preaching you have had to hear by your superiors about being prepared was for good reason. When you go to war and do nothing, it is demoralizing a frustrating. If you complain all you will hear is "be glad the violence is down and nothing is going on, those who want violence are psychotics". For a lot of soldiers, this movie explains what this is like. No, this movie is not a story of heroism. There are hundreds of movies you can watch that have gun fire and explosions and death. This is the one that shows the sacrifices that most soldiers have to go through. There are soldiers that say they experienced the violence of war. Some will tell you that even though military service caused their divorce and took time away from their children, they served their country when it counted. The actions they made in a hostile and chaotic moment proved both something to themselves and tested all the work built up to that moment. Many, many others will also tell you that they are divorced and missed out on a lot of their children's childhood, and they never were shot at once. They never were placed in a situation where their years of training and expectations of putting it on the line were tested. Never having this experience leaves a lot of soldiers wondering if it was worth the trade.

"...the majority of soldiers, particularly with Desert Storm, go through extensive training to prepare for a moment that never comes..........Never having this experience leaves a lot of soldiers wondering if it was worth the trade."

Great comments bluegrasssoldier. Thanks for the insight.