CHARLES HILL: Most military related movies aren’t too realistic. They’re not always on target because any movies that depict military life like Renaissance Man or Rules of Engagement will always have something in them which is incorrect.

JC: Purposely incorrect?

CH: Purposely incorrect. Filmmakers are not allowed to have an exact account of what goes on in the Army. They are not allowed to have access to all areas of the Army, or to show how a soldier actually performs. Whether it’s the rank on the collar, how the soldiers march or live, or how the officers speak to their soldiers, there’s always something slightly unrealistic.

JC: Is this very obvious in any films?

CH: We all know that Pauly Shore In the Army Now isn’t realistic, but it’s not always a black and white issue... Take Sgt. Bilko for example: that was a comedy but there was no way that an NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) was supposed to fraternize with his soldiers like that. That is unrealistic. NCOs are the bosses and the soldiers are the worker bees and there’s not too much room for friendship. The movies make it seem like that’s normal. You’ve got some NCOs that are friendly, but they’re not playing poker with their soldiers or anything like that.

JC: So there is a distinct barrier between NCOs and the enlisted?

CH: Yeah, between the NCOs and the lower enlisted, there is a big difference. There are sometimes exceptions, but there is supposed to be a barrier.

JC: Given your training, do any of the war movies strike you as being more accurate than others?

CH: The Walking Dead [about six black soldiers and one white soldier] seemed pretty accurate from the training I’ve received. But I’ll tell you this, the cursing? The military, and the army? We’re down like that. Fuck you, shithead! And we’re all one big happy family. When it comes down to getting the job done, the movies do depict [the commaraderie] well. I mean we can have all the problems in the world, hate each other because of race or whatever, but when it comes time to go to work, we all stick together, the commaraderie thing is about right. Most films generally show the correct usage of weapons as well. The weapon of choice in the US military that every soldier is trained on is the M-16 A2 rifle. That’s a 5.6 millimeter rifle, NATO standard. That’s the weapon of choice, my weapon of choice. The officers carry 9 millimeters but, the M-16 A2 is the one everybody uses.

JC: And you’re fairly proficient with that rifle?

CH: I’ll just say this: if you gave me 20 rounds and set me up a couple hundred yards away, I’d hit you about half the time. Just about every war movie has the A2 in it. In Vietnam, they used the M-16 A1 which was automatic, but that was replaced with the A2 which is semi-automatic. The reason they changed from automatic to semi-automatic was, back in the day, people used to get crazy and just hold the trigger down and waste all the ammunition shooting at nothing.

JC: You mentioned Renaissance Man earlier, you actually appeared in that film, right?

CH: Yes. Parts of Renaissance Man were filmed at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, just outside Columbus, when I was stationed there. They had my battalion participate in certain parts of the movie, such as the pugil pit training and, consequently, that turned out to be quite realistic (the pugil pit is like the American Gladiators event when the gladiators are fighting each other with the sticks that look like big Q-tips). Instead of beating each other up with weapons, we beat each other up with sticks. The marching sequences in that movie are good and if you look closely, you just might see me.

JC: Do soldiers actually march the way they are shown to march in movies?

CH: Some places are different than others. Some places you run in uniform. At Fort Bragg we ran a lot in uniform, but mostly you run in physical training uniforms.

JC: Like sweats?

CH: Well, yeah. I haven’t seen that in any movies, by the way. They don’t show how we do PT (physical training), and that quote, "we do more before 6 a.m. than most people do in a day," is mostly true, although our day generally starts at 6:30 a.m.

JC: What is the relationship between male and female soldiers and the barrack arrangements?

CH: Well, it’s sort of like a college dorm. Women have their own facilities and men have their own facilities. We might stay in the same building, but we don’t share the same rooms.

JC: How often do soldiers sleep in big rooms with approximately 100 other guys on bunk beds?

CH: There are a few places like that, but that’s the training environment. If you’re seeing that in a movie, chances are really good that it’s taking place during basic training. That lasts for eight weeks. You start in basic training right after you join the army. That was about the only time I ever slept in facilities like those.

JC: And it’s during basic training that you get into Army shape, right?

CH: Yeah. You don’t see too many people in the Army like John Candy in Stripes. I mean, they have physical standards for being in the service. We do have an overweight program and there are overweight people, but, if it’s visible that a person is fat, it’s more than likely you won’t see them in the military for much longer. In Sgt. Bilko the dude was obviously fat, but, again, that’s not going to happen. Some guys have weight on them, but the military has a tape test, and as long as the soldiers meet the tape test standards–they base your weight in relationship to your height–you’ll be okay. So someone like me, I weigh more than I’m supposed to be for my height, but my body fat percentage is low. You know what I’m saying? My body fat percentage is way low for my height. Ultimately though, you’ll never really see anybody fat, we’re all in shape, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week protecting America from harm.

JC: Is the food as bad or gruel-like as it has been made out?

CH: No. Sometimes its good, sometimes it’s bad. It’s just like anywhere else. It can’t always be perfect. Sometimes the portions are a little small, but that’s my only gripe about it.