What film best captures what being in the military is truly like?

The Pentagon Wars, at least for staff officers....

Old Post ..but I'll play along ... Full Metal Jacket and the less touchy feely military was closest, ... May try to get back in if the coed showers of Starship Troopers ever gets implemented

LOL

Haole

Y'all mean the army isn't like Mash?

Being a nurse, my experiences were different than most, but I just watched a short series on Acorn, depicting a group of Aussie and New Zealand girls who were nurses during WW I, following them from Gallipoli through the rest of the war, that was quite good depicting their difficulties gaining respect from the soldiers and Medical Corps alike, gaining and keeping supplies to care for their patients, the deplorable conditions in which they worked. It's called "Anzac Girls".

From my experience: Mr. Roberts.

Jarhead is the closest Hollywood could get I’ve seen

The 1st half of full metal jacket depicts perfectly marine Corps boot camp. The second part is nothing like real life.

Major Payne

My favorite of all time is TO HELL AND BACK- AUDIE MURPHY. NAVY CB'S - JOHN WAYNE some of the others are THE BRIDGES OF TOKO RE,D DAY THE MOVIE. IN HARMS WAY. RUN SILENT RUN DEEP.PVT BENJAMIN. SGT BILKO, GOMER PYLE the movie. TH FLYING TIGERS, YOU NEVER HEAR THE BULLET, THE GREEN BARET THE DIVALAS BRIGADA/ THE DEVILS BRIGADE, TWELVE O CLOCK HIGH, FAIL SAFE, FULL METAL JACKET, COL OLIVER NORTH'S NARATION OF OUR ARMED CONFLICTS, THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE, ANYTHING WITH THE NAVY SEALS IN IT. AS OF LATE I HAVE BEEN REALLY HEARTFELT AND TOUCHED BY A PRESENTATION YOU CAN FIND ON YOU TUBE CALLED ( ANGEL FLIGHT ) BRING EM HOME BOYS.
ED TAYLOR PO2 AND SGT NAVY AND ARMY ( MANY MANY HATS )
THERE ARE TO MANY TO EVEN CONSIDER,SAVING PVT RYAN, A BRIDGE TO FAR, JAG.
THE PASTOR OF MY CHURCH AN AIR FORCE VET PUT TOGETHER ALL OF THE MILITARY CEMETARIES AROUND THE WORLD, WHERE DIFFERENT COUNTRIES HAVE PAID HOMAGE TO OUR DEAD FROM OUR FIGHT TO KEEP FREEDOM RINGING NOT JUST FOR THE USA BUT FOR ALL WHO WISHED FOR GODS FREEDOM. THIS PRESENTATION I THINK IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL OF ALL TO THOSE WHO HAVE GIVEN ALL.

For the fun of it, I am going to say "Stripes." While I did not get to guard General Barnaby's EM-17, I did get to dry fire missiles in Germany and fire live rockets off the coast of Crete. Plus, I think Warren Oates as the drill sergeant was the funniest of them all. My unit was called by our evaluators "the most profane unit in the history of NATO to fire a live missile from Crete."