Living Dangerously: 42 Days of 666: Day 30 and My Favorite Military Movie

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Weston Ochse is a former intelligence officer and special operations soldier who has engaged enemy combatants, terrorists, narco smugglers, and human traffickers. His personal war stories include performing humanitarian operations over Bangladesh, being deployed to Afghanistan, and a near miss being cannibalized in Papua New Guinea. His fiction and non-fiction has been praised by USA Today, The Atlantic, The New York Post, The Financial Times of London, and Publishers Weekly. The American Library Association labeled him one of the Major Horror Authors of the 21st Century. His work has also won the Bram Stoker Award, been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and won multiple New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards. A writer of more than 26 books in multiple genres, his military supernatural series SEAL Team 666 has been optioned to be a movie starring Dwayne Johnson. His military sci fi series, which starts with Grunt Life, has been praised for its PTSD-positive depiction of soldiers at peace and at war. Weston likes to be called a chaotic good paladin and challenges anyone to disagree. After all, no one can really stand a goody two-shoes lawful good character. They can be so annoying. It's so much more fun to be chaotic, even when you're striving to save the world. You can argue with him about this and other things online at Living Dangerously or on Facebook at Badasswriter. All content of this blog is copywrited by Weston Ochse.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

42 Days of 666: Day 30 and My Favorite Military Movie

For the next 42 days we're going to be counting down to the release of SEAL Team 666. Why 42? Because it's the answer to the universal question.

Today you have me to talk about my favorite military movie.

You know, it could be argued that I have been forged by movies and television. From my earliest memory, I can see John Wayne as an American Cowboy or a Green Beret or a PT Boat driver. He always played the same sort of reluctant patriot, who is forced into a bad situation.

Then I saw another movie, the Boys of Company C and it confused me. And a few years later, I saw Platoon, which confused me more. Weren't military movies supposed to be patriotic? They weren't supposed to openly be against the war or against fighting, were they? It took me a long time to figure this out, but in the end, I determined that yes they are okay. Patriotism is not a simple red, white and blue construct. Creating a movie that at once show the heroism of a soldier and argues against fighting is patriotic as anything John Wayne ever produced.

Many of my friends have mentioned movies such as Apocalypse Now, Kelly's Heroes, Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, etc. I agree with everything they've said. These are all magnificent movies. They cover the gamut of human feeling and notions about patriotism and what men and women will go to prove themselves.

But my favorite military movie is The Deer Hunter. Starring Robert Deniro, Christopher Walken, and Merryl Streep. It tells the awful tale of what war can do to a human soul and how impossibly unforgiving it can be. The Russian Roulette scenes have stayed with me since I first saw the movie at a drive in in 1978. How could I have watched this and still wanted to become the hero I've tried to be ever since I joined the military in 1984? Did I somehow understand it on a cellular level, because I got to tell you, this movie has some deeply moving subplots.

This is a movie about the effects of war on people and a community. It has been argued that The Deer Hunter is not a way movie. Of course it is. War movies can be about people, especially when people are forced into wars.

And everyone please don't forget to Pre-order SEAL Team 666 from your favorite store:

Powell's ~ Amazon ~ B&N ~ Indiebound ~ Overstock ~ WalMart ~ Books-a-Million ~ Mysterious Galaxy ~ Poisoned Pen ~ Dark Delicacies ~ Hastings Books and Music