The Pentagon Wars
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Movie Reviews of The Pentagon Wars
Movie Review: I Love Bradleys!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a Mechanized Infantryman in the US Army and I have been on Bradleys for 16 years. I have been to Iraq twice in the Bradley and to four other deployments (peacekeeping) on the Bradley and I know this movie makes fun of the development and fielding of it, but I still love Brads. Even though the Army spent $17 Billion developing and fielding the Bradley, probably another $10 Billion has been spent to take it to what it is today, the most lethal vehicle on the Battlefield. For Mechanized Infantrymen, this is a must see movie. For anyone else, you will find this true, yet hilarious movie a great movie to watch. I recommend it to anyone, even if you are not interested in the massive spending programs of the 70's and 80's.Movie Review: "I Want to Tell You a Story About Phil"
Summary: 4 Stars
While critics panned this movie, I found it well worth watching and consider it one of my favorites. The movie is based on the book "The Pentagon Wars" by Col. Jim Burton. The point of Burton's book was that the Pentagon seemed to be more about procuring new weapons than it was about defending America. What happens in the book is even more incredible than what is desccribed in the movie as to the types of things various companies attempt to foist on the American fighting man.
As an engineer, I found the movie hilarious because many times, rational decisions have nothing to do with what the people operating machines need or really want. The sequence that shows how the Bradley Fighting Vehicle went from being a simple troop transport to a Scout and a whole host of other items is true to life and it represents how designers must often try to accommodate even the most ridiculous requests. In truth, many ideas or features are concocted by people on the top with little understanding or regard for operational or maintenance forces (whether we are discussing a tank or any other complicated engineered equipment).
The movie shows Col. Burton's personal struggles to get the BFV tested under combat conditions rather than the tests proposed by other "experts". To make the story more dramatic, the types of testing performed by other "experts" borders on the farcical in the movie. In the book, many of the tests performed by the Army were based on computer models of ballastic impact. Burton was able to prove that the computer generated models did not work. I would assume that the movie used the stupid tests to play up the drama.
The most touching part of the story comes at the end when Col. Burton gives a speech to the troops (responsible for BFV testing) reminding them not to take the easy way out based on the bad experiences of "Phil" with a different weapon system (the M-16 rifle) which did not work when he needed it to. The movie ending is particularly touching.
Having said this, please understand that while the movie does a great job lampooning the military, there is similar (and far less talked about) waste in procurement associated with everyday things one might find at the state and government level on all types of public projects. Making a movie about waste in a public housing project is probably not easy to do so the military becomes the target. A good case can be seen when one state payed close to 135K to rennovate a single bathroom at a State Park. When a radio talk show host called various contractors and askesd for their prices, naturally they were much lower. The real reason for the high price? All types of government projects require far more paperwork (politely translated as "oversight"). Contractors know this and build it into their price. If such things can happen with the simple rennovation of a bathroom, why would we expect something like a complicated weapon system to be different (when one considers the millions of pages of rules and regulations to be followed)?
One need only look at the financing behind the movie project to see the usual left-wing suspects up to their old tricks.
I did not like the way the Army officers involved were portrayed. Most soldiers (even those at the "Puzzle Palace") are decent people trying to do a difficult job. The movie portrays these guys as venal buffoons. While Col. Burton's book gives us a peak behind the scenes, I felt that the dramatic portrayal of the 2 Army officers in the movie was over the top.
Movie Review: We're Paying for This?
Summary: 4 Stars
My stepson dug back in his archives for this one. It begins in almost farcical manner with Kelsey Grammar as General Partridge doing his best Jack-Nicholson-in-"A Few Good Men" "you can't handle it" imitation. I didn't know the premise of the movie before it started, but as I watched I had the growing realization--this might not be so far-fetched. The Bradley Fighting Vehicle was rattling in my memory--"The Pentagon Wars" is the story of its remarkable track to the field of battle--a track strewn with almost all the seven deadly sins--certainly pride, greed, and envy are in there. It's almost worth the whole show to see the Office of Ruminant Procurement in action--a fabulous parody (I hope) of military procurement. Grammar brings his "Sideshow Bob" voice (the Simpsons episode where he gets ahold of a nuclear warhead) to a live performance. Cary Elwes is appropriately determined and earnest as Col. Burton, and director Richard Benjamin has a nice turn as Reagan's Sec. of Defense Caspar Weinburger. All in all, a very entertaining, while still sobering show.Movie Review: The Way it is in Disney land East
Summary: 5 Stars
A very funny but at the same time sad film about the Pentagon's major mission in life- Weopons procurement. And you thought it was protecting the Republic? Silly Child!Movie Review: A Frightening Look at the Procurement Process
Summary: 5 Stars
This film would be hilarious were it not so frightening.
This film is not portrayed as a documentary Still, it purports to reflect in a semi-accurate manner the convulsions that attended the development of the Bradley fighting vehicle. Based on news reports, it contains more than a bit of truth, even if there is some dramatic license being employed.
The conflict in this film is between a conscientious officer who wants to do real testing and a pentagon general who wants to make contractors and politicians happy. It is a sad state of affairs.
The development of the Bradley had a long history before it ever reached deployment. It was plagued by cost overruns, changing specifications and failed tests. It even went through a phase where it was supposed to be aquatic. In the end, a troop carrier for 11 troops became a scout vehicle that was too prominent to do scout work, had a turret like a tank so it would attract extra fire, had aluminum armor so it would not be too heavy (or stop shells) and would only carry 6 people. The reasons for all of these travesties can be found in pork barrel politics.
This is a comedy and it is funny in its irony. That does not stop it from also being a tragedy.