Are military movies hard to watch because they are poorly executed?

I liked, "In the Army Now," with Pauly Shore, it was spot on. I like to tell people that's what Iraq was like, for a Guardsman. It was more realistic than "Hurt Locker" anyway.

We all know that no way you can hold a M-60 Machine Gun with one hand and accurately hit a target, or standing directly behind someone who is firing a M-79 Law Anti-Tank Weapon. Hollywood or those who write the scripts given the younger generation the wrong idea about the military, some even think going through Basic Training is fun and games.

I agree, For the very same reasons you mentioned, and more is why I hardly ever watch them, science fiction being exempt.

Some of the movies get it wrong. But you have to realize they don't know everything about the military and are out to make a dollar. Some movies get it right and you can keep calm about the little things because the story line is so good( that lump in your throat kinda good). I am a sucker for patriotic movies and try to hold my knowledge of what is wrong away from the story line and my family because nobody likes a know it all that points every little detail out. Its a movie for relaxing and enjoying not a documentary on the military.

I have been watching this show called "helix" that is from the syfy channel. Anyways, it's an excellent show with the exception of the evil (way too young) major Ballesteros. He is supposedly an army engineer. He constantly wears his acu's with the blouse sleeves rolled up all the way to the elbows. He also keeps the collar popped and the lapel velcroed quite often. I also noticed he likes to wear the black leather combat boots with his acu's. Everything about his character irritates me. But alas, I can't physically stop watching a Ronald d. Moore produced show.

Dear John is a god awful movie.

Just to pile on to what has already been posted....any kids movie made by Disney or their henchmen that depict even tangential military subtext make my skin crawl. Uniforms- worn wrong, worn 24-7, wrong uniform, mixing pieces, ill fitting. Awards and decorations - often used as wardrobe filler for non uniformed characters or worn in some train wreck configuration. What the military actually does vs what Disney has them do. Corny dialogue and buffoonery. Ridiculous Stereotypes from the 50s. Haircuts. Pacifist aversion to weapons (if you don't want kids to see weapons, don't use a military plot device), one such quasi-military junket flashed a "no real guns used" message across the bottom of the screen. Like many things, this fills the heads of our youth with more crap than we can counter with truth. The general public's parents don't know either.

Band of Brothers, Black Hawk Down, Saving Private Ryan, American Sniper & for laughs, Kellys Heroes I like.

For me it is a matter of perspective, the movie "hurt locker" I cant really comment on because I know nothing of EOD, the other 2 you listed were pure fantasy so I can handle being made fun of in that situation.
THAT being said, some movies, TV shows and documentaries, do present problems for me while watching, the movie "Garden of Stone" chokes me up so bad I have to leave the room or pause it, and many of the scenes from "saving Private Ryan" were equally upsetting as are many of the real footage scenes in documentaries on war.
We may be "hardened Vets", but we are still human...and humans are an emotional, varied and confusing sort of creature.

Agree with you SGT Anthony Eashman, always difficult to not notice all the BS within the movies. I did that too, but then spoiling the movie for my ex, I ended up just bringing more snacks to the movie to keep my mouth shut. :D