Which works of art most accurately and strikingly capture the modern military experience?

Capt Richard I P. — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 22:38:14 -0500

I am floored by the work of Max Uriarte of Terminal Lance Fame. I was one of the Kickstarter supporters for his White Donkey project and received and read my copy the other day. It is now sold out but has my strongest endorsement for when it's back in stock.
The artistic quality and skill and the depth of the content got me thinking: what is the best medium for modern military art you have seen?

Response by LTC Yinon Weiss made Feb 4 at 2016 10:42 PM

LTC Yinon Weiss — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 22:42:45 -0500

I would say Duffel Blog, but that may not be a work of art in the classic sense. The pieces that "best" capture the military as it really is could never be a book or a movie, as it would have to be too boring and too bureaucratic to ever sell. Humor is therefore the best platform to relay the military through a relatively unfiltered lens.

Now if you ask which one captures the greatest heroism in the military, that's a different question.

Response by Capt Richard I P. made Feb 4 at 2016 10:48 PM

Capt Richard I P. — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 22:48:54 -0500

Sorry I should have added an "other" category to this survey, rookie mistake, if anyone is interseted in a more thorough review of White Donkey:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-graphic-novel-looks-at-war-in-iraq [login to see] ?tesla=y
Want to keep an eye out for when it's back in stock?
http://www.amazon.com/Terminal-Lance-Donkey-Maximilian-Uriarte/dp/ [login to see] /ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid= [login to see] &sr=8-1&keywords=white+donkey

A Graphic Novel Looks at War in Iraq

Maximilian Uriarte sent up life in the Marine Corps in his comic strip “Terminal Lance.” Now he’s getting serious, using his Iraq deployment as material for “The White Donkey,” a graphic novel.

Response by SFC John Birks made Feb 4 at 2016 11:21 PM

SFC John Birks — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 23:21:52 -0500

On a lighter side of the Army, I'm gonna have to say Bob on the FOB cartoons are my favorite.

Response by Cpl Jeff N. made Feb 5 at 2016 6:55 AM

Cpl Jeff N. — Fri, 05 Feb 2016 06:55:58 -0500

I love Terminal Lance. It is very well done, always on point and usually pretty funny. My preference though is Non Fiction books. You get depth and breadth in a work of non fiction that you simply cannot get from a film/cartoon/ song etc (although there are some great songs, Goodnight Saigon by Billy Joel is a good example).

Some of the Non Fiction works I think are stellar are:

With the Old Breed and Peleliu and Okinawa - Sledge
Band of Brothers - Ambrose
Helmet for My Pillow - Leckie
The Hill Fights - Murphy
The Last Stand of Fox Company - Drury & Clavin
Generation Kill - Wright

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Feb 5 at 2016 6:56 AM

Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS — Fri, 05 Feb 2016 06:56:47 -0500

The one with the fewest people "involved" in the approval process.

The beauty of Terminal Lance & the White Donkey is that Max Uriarte has almost complete artistic control of the process from birth to grave.

If we were to involve a "producer" or "publisher" in that process, we could end up with an entirely different piece of work. Marked examples include my own favorite Robert Heinlein. His Stranger in a Strange Land was cut by over 10% (I want to say it was closer to 15%) in the edited version. If we were to apply that same logic on his other works which are nominally military themed like Starship Troopers, or Glory Road what would we have "lost" because his editor was worried more about profit than message/story?

This is not to imply profitability is a bad thing, but it can run counter to the question as posed. The book First Blood is rather "different" than the movie First Blood. Even their endings change. But both tell an amazing story, and are good. The same could be said for films like Saving Private Ryan which I'm not sure could be captured as well on page (I read the adaptation).

I do agree with LTC Yinon Weiss though that Satire as an inclusive medium is probably the best though. Conveying things through humor regardless of paper, screen, or song just seems to get me every time.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 5 at 2016 9:08 AM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 05 Feb 2016 09:08:28 -0500

I thought the movie Jarhead did a good job depicting Marines on a day to day basis.

Response by A1C Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 5 at 2016 9:37 AM

A1C Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 05 Feb 2016 09:37:15 -0500

I would have to vote for Non-fiction books when it comes to "Lone Survivor" and Film when it comes to "American Sniper." I would rather have never seen the Lone Survivor movie if I would have known how different it would be from the book. American Sniper, in my opinion, got as close to showing the realities of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars as a film could.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Feb 5 at 2016 12:26 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Fri, 05 Feb 2016 12:26:49 -0500