In Black Hawk Down, the phrase no man left behind is embodied. In this movie a quick extraction mission of enemy VIPs goes wrong when the American military underestimates the reaction and force of the local rebel militia, after that it becomes a chain reaction of unfortunate events. Starting with the convoy becoming stuck in enemy territory and having a tough time finding a way out. Then the catalyst to the entire mission gone wrong situation, was when a black hawk helicopter gets shot down and due to the importance of the helicopter along with the pilots are small squad of Army Rangers are sent out to set a perimeter around the crash site. This is one of the first instances where leaving no man behind is seen and the complete turn around from a quick extraction mission to surviving in enemy territory with little to no support. However, after the mission of returning the VIPs was accomplished, the task turned quickly to the task of retrieving the men who are still stuck behind enemy lines with no safe zone. The mission must be completed before any other task can be started. Mission first, men right after is how Garrison ran the operation. But, right after the mission was accomplished and the convoy returned he gathered up all his resources to focus on the mission of bringing back those left behind. The cost of this rescue operation was costly with another Black Hawk going down and this time the pilot becoming a POW. Then more troops being wounded and lost the longer they waited for reinforcements, with the troops going in also suffering casualties. When a mission goes wrong nothing can be done to avoid the mess that come after.                                                                                                                                                             This movie raises the question of how far should a unit go to really make sure no one gets left behind? In this instance it could be said that the cost did not outweigh the results with all the elite soldiers returning back and those in the first crash being rescued. The helicopters destroyed to prevent enemies gaining intelligence, but the lost of one pilot due to a slow reaction time causes a POW and the deaths of two other soldiers. A unit should always be ready to go in to retrieve those who have been left behind because that is exactly what the other soldiers would do for them in that situation. The cost of a rescue mission should not outweigh the results because every life saved is an important one. One thing which should be done to take preventative measures against losses is having a quicker reaction time to those that are behind. The quicker you can react and retrieve them the less amount of losses there are. Granted in the movie, the reaction time was slow due to the amount of losses they took, and the preparation of additional forces, but the way those in charge adamantly took a stand saying no one gets left behind is commendable they did not give up on their soldiers. This shows that a unit will do what they can to ensure that they get their men back home with a larger force. A unit should always go in for those left behind, however the mission to rescue them should be carefully planned out as to avoid more casualties. This means that for the rescue mission to be optimal it must be react quickly and be carefully planned out. It is hard but this is what is needed to save the most lives and ensure success.

Citation:

Black Hawk Down. Perf. Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor, Josh Hartnett, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner, Sam Shepard. Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, 2002. Film.

In the movie “A  Few Good Men” the effects of group discipline can be seen in the way which Colonel Jessep deals with his men. If one soldier is incapable of completing a task it is up to the men in that soldier’s squad to “take care” of him, so to speak. This means that the men of his squad take it up to themselves to discipline this soldier to make sure they keep up, complete the task, or do not step out of line again. However, in this situation the discipline was ordered by Colonel Jessep, making it a “Code Red” order, which is when a commanding officer orders men from a squad to teach a lesson to a soldier that has been shown to be a weak link, however this ends up causing the weak link to die because of the harsh punishment he received. The pros that can be seen from this treatment is that it will prevent that soldier from being the weak link or risk more of the same treatment. The cons of this treatment is that the soldier could feel threatened and start to reach out to higher forms of authority. The treatment could also not affect the soldiers performance or even push the soldier to not feel like they are worth, taking their own life to end the harassment. Lastly, the soldier could be punished to such an extreme that it causes their body to fail and they die. It can be seen here that in group discipline has more cons than pros which brings the question: why was it in effect? Although disciplinary action was what the military used to correct certain actions of soldiers, if looked at from another perspective this treatment is cruel and unjust. People do not deserve to be treated this way, even if they are in the military, it shows no morality and almost close to no humanity. Especially if it can be shown that this type of treatment can be harsh enough to kill a soldier.                                                                                                                                                            In this movie it can also be seen that the military thinks very highly of themselves, especially in the eyes of Colonel Nathan Jessep. This can be seen in the single line “You can’t handle the truth” by the Colonel himself (Jack Nicholson). There are somethings which the regular civilians should not know about the military to protect them from the harsh realities of war and training people to become killing machines, which usually involves harsh ways of dealing out punishment. The higher sense of authority which the military believes they can carry out any orders they want, no matter what the cost, because they believe that whatever they do it is beneficial to the protection of the United States and all the citizens. But does the treatment of one soldier who is punished to an extent  where they die, really protect America and her citizens? There is no reason behind, besides the Colonel’s reason that if a soldier is not tough enough, they will falter in battle which could affect the battle, then the war, then possibly our country. However, a soldier does not need to be punished to an extent where they die. There are somethings which the military should do and not tell us just for our own safety, but there are other actions which they perform which are not necessary. We have given the military too much control of themselves, which in turn makes them believe that they are higher over regular civilians. This makes them believe that they are also above the laws that apply to us. There needs to be another entity involved in the military in order to regulate them and make sure that they do not perform actions which they believe they can but in reality cannot perform. In this way we can check the military and make sure that at least we know that they are abiding by the rules.

Citation:

• Reiner, Rob, Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Bacon, James Marshall, J T. Walsh, Kiefer Sutherland, and Aaron Sorkin. A Few Good Men. Burbank, CA: Columbia TriStar Home Video, 1993.

In the movie Saving Private Ryan, it is clearly shown that there is a tension for following lawful orders and following the human body’s natural instinct to survive. This is seen in the group of main characters that make up Captain Miller’s squad. After landing on Omaha Beach, which they barely survived themselves with all the chaos ensuing around them, they received orders to retrieve one Private James Francis Ryan, because it was soon found that everyone of his other brothers serving have been KIA. Since he was a paratrooper and behind enemy lines, they knew that multiple enemy counters were up head. During each enemy encounter they seem to lose one man every time. Each time this happens the squad keeps having doubts about their mission and whether or not they should continue or list him as MIA. Miller shows his strength and skill as a leader constantly by corralling after each unfortunate death, pushing them on to follow their orders to the letter. Everyone, unfortunately, in the squad do not have choice and have to abide by the Captain’s order even though he is starting to begin whether or not this man is alive or dead. Soon, however after Medic Wade’s death everyone is beginning to think that the mission is costing more lives than it is saving one soldier, compared to a hand full of men. If this soldier was dead or if they could not find him then this mission would be a waste of time and lives. This soldier have to deal with the fact that each time they go out their is a high possibility that they will be killed and the fact that each time an enemy is encountered someone dies does not comfort anyone.                                                                                                                            The tension, however for survival and following order, seems to most prevalent in the end of the movie and everyone finds the private, but with faced with one order that could possibly be their last. This order was to help the remainder of men with Private Ryan secure a bridge that was soon going to be under German attack. It can be seen in each of the men that this is possibly the last time they were going fight, since the odds of defending the bridge under a sizable German force when compared to literally a handful of soldiers left. Everyone, however does well to put aside their fear and turn that instinct to survive to something they can use to help them fight, determination. This can be seen in all the scenes in the end of the movie one being the fight to the death with the German soldier and Private Mellish where both men having to follow order to kill each other. Here it is seen that Mellish uses his instinct to help him fight off this German soldier until he is finally overpowered. Also it is seen in every one of the final scenes. All these men fight to their last breath putting away their fear from their survival instinct to follow order that they all realize and understand that they will save more lives then they are possibly going to lose in this fight. In moments such as these is can be seen that although the their tension between instinct and orders in final moments they come together hand in hand to bring out the strength and courage every soldiers has.

Citation:

Saving Private Ryan. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Prod. Steven Spielberg. By Robert Rodat. Perf. Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, and Tom Sizemore. DreamWorks Pictures, 1998. Film.