Dear Kathryn: Your interview with 60 Minutes was excellent. You helped me put my life in perspective with how you explained your portrayal Jeremy Renner in the ?Hurt Locker.? No I wasn?t a bomb guy. I was in Vietnam as a Navy LT in 1968-69 in the combat zone on a Destroyer. Nothing near as dangerous as what your bomb team faced in your movie. Reflecting back over 40 years ago, I was very dismayed with how I felt when I joined the civilian work force in late 1969. All the rush of adrenaline was gone, the constant activity every minute of the day no longer existed, no longer was I responsible for ?gun target lines? and ordering ?shoot? for targets in the Mekong Delta, II and I Corps, always worried about hitting ?friendlies? and wanting to hit my spotter?s target. I no longer had to wear a flack suit on the bridge as we were so close to sniper and mortar fire, and I no longer had fear of trips into DaNang and other contested areas which were subject to regular mortar attacks. There were no longer the experiences of being in command of a 390? ship and for the safety of its 280 crew members during my 4 hour watch every 12 hours as officer of the deck. I was 25 and had had enormous responsibilities.
At 26, I was now a System Analyst in a cube writing code for COBOL programs and wondering why I was so jumpy, frustrated and lost? I was actually bitter that no one really understood or cared what I had been through or what combat was like. And then to hear excuses from those 22 year olds I worked with when they complained that they were called in the middle of the night to fix one of their programs that had ?bombed,? when I barely got 4-5 hours sleep ever 24 hours because of Deck watches, call for fire missions, the loud noises and shaking of the ship every time we fired a 5? round, or to ?break? an encrypted Top Secret message, just last year. I barely slept for 30-40 days at a time as we would always at sea and would do underway replenishments, then finally go into port for just few days when we had to, immediately returning to the gun line or some other mission. I did this for 8 months and became exhausted! It was hard for me to me to be a civilian, just as Jeremy Renner felt when he first came home.
Over the years I got used to it, buried these feelings. But the bitterness remained for years of how many steps backwards I had taken and how much I had to catch up with those my age who didn?t serve. When 9/11 hit, suddenly, the country was patriotic once again since WWII. It was okay to be veteran and maybe, if you were lucky, someone cared enough ask you what you did in Vietnam, and actually listened. Most couldn?t believe, relate to, or doubted the responsibilities I had. This year I asked my wife to join me for a visit to Battleship Cove in Fall River, MA to see the battleship USS Massachusetts and the destroyer Joseph P. Kennedy DD-850. I served on the USS Corry DD-817, which was ?carbon copy? of the Kennedy. We had lunch on the battleship and then I took Linda to the Kennedy. Her comment was ?you lived on this peanut shell for 2 years and spent100,000 miles at sea on this?? I proudly showed her where after officers quarters was where I slept rarely, as it was just forward of our aft twin 5? gun mount, Radio Central where my Radiomen team was, CIC where I lived overseeing gun target lines for call for fire missions and the Bridge where I ran the ship for the Captain as the General Quarters OOD. That was my standard job as Communications Officer. I also stood regular 4 hour OOD watches underway. Linda watched a 30 minute circular video tape from a former Captain of the Kennedy and listened to every word he said about what it was like being underway, deck watches and combat missions in Vietnam as I had had and so on. Linda commented on our way back to NJ, that she was surprised I was able to adapt to the slower pace of civilian work when I returned in 1969 and how hard it must had been for me. Your movie just punctuated that feeling for those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. It is so hard to readjust to such a slower pace, lack of the adrenaline rush of not being in harm?s way and the minuscule level of responsibility veterans find when the return from war. Thank you for your movie to help me (and others) see this with a clearer perspective after 40 years. Best regards, Bill Baldwin
Unfortunately, "hummarstra" is just one person who is probably too young and too male to recognize a great film when he sees it. Although there are obvious exceptions, so don't get your boxers in a bunch, The Young American Male seems to like only movies where there is A.) an easy to follow, obvious story-line/plot B) No emotions expressed by heroic male characters except violent anger or stoic reserve to "follow through no matter what". C)Lots of explosions-which "Hurt Locker" had, but no D) car chases and E)gratuitous sex,usually following an amazing, He-should-be-dead battle scene, and MOST important of all, E)Profane Language, all the time, throughout the film. By leaving out an abundance of variations of the F-word, the screen-writer confused the Young American Male,(and sadly, far too often, the Young American Female)who would have to watch it with an interpreter to get the gist of what is happening. Also, I did not find there to be too much "camera shake"; what there was gave the film a more realistic, documentary-type feel. And by not watching the rest of it after 45 minutes to "go find a good movie instead",(ie.-car chases, gratuitous sex, and plenty of moronic cussing) "hummarstra" missed the main point of the movie, which is both profound and poignant. My guess is that he will enjoy the movie a great deal more if he gives it another viewing in 20-25 years. For now, he can be comforted that Hollywood will undoubtedly keep turning out the "good" movies he can understand, and people like me, (who do not gauge our entertainment opinions upon "South Park" scripts) will say, "Yes. This film deserved all the accolades it received." While reading this comment, feel free to consult a dictionary-(big,thick book, the one with all the dust on it, right next to the equally ignored Holy Bible- the best selling book of all time.I'm sure "South Park" has some snide comment about that as well.)
What a joke. Hurt Locker is so over-rated and almost unwatchable due to what is now the scourge of Hollywood -- shaky cam. The over use of this technique is has to stop. South Park was right in asking "did Hurt Locker really deserve the Oscar?" No, it didn't. I watched the first 45 minutes and then decided to watch a good movie instead.
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Reflecting back over 40 years ago, I was very dismayed with how I felt when I joined the civilian work force in late 1969. All the rush of adrenaline was gone, the constant activity every minute of the day no longer existed, no longer was I responsible for ?gun target lines? and ordering ?shoot? for targets in the Mekong Delta, II and I Corps, always worried about hitting ?friendlies? and wanting to hit my spotter?s target. I no longer had to wear a flack suit on the bridge as we were so close to sniper and mortar fire, and I no longer had fear of trips into DaNang and other contested areas which were subject to regular mortar attacks. There were no longer the experiences of being in command of a 390? ship and for the safety of its 280 crew members during my 4 hour watch every 12 hours as officer of the deck. I was 25 and had had enormous responsibilities.
At 26, I was now a System Analyst in a cube writing code for COBOL programs and wondering why I was so jumpy, frustrated and lost? I was actually bitter that no one really understood or cared what I had been through or what combat was like. And then to hear excuses from those 22 year olds I worked with when they complained that they were called in the middle of the night to fix one of their programs that had ?bombed,? when I barely got 4-5 hours sleep ever 24 hours because of Deck watches, call for fire missions, the loud noises and shaking of the ship every time we fired a 5? round, or to ?break? an encrypted Top Secret message, just last year. I barely slept for 30-40 days at a time as we would always at sea and would do underway replenishments, then finally go into port for just few days when we had to, immediately returning to the gun line or some other mission. I did this for 8 months and became exhausted! It was hard for me to me to be a civilian, just as Jeremy Renner felt when he first came home.
Over the years I got used to it, buried these feelings. But the bitterness remained for years of how many steps backwards I had taken and how much I had to catch up with those my age who didn?t serve. When 9/11 hit, suddenly, the country was patriotic once again since WWII. It was okay to be veteran and maybe, if you were lucky, someone cared enough ask you what you did in Vietnam, and actually listened. Most couldn?t believe, relate to, or doubted the responsibilities I had.
This year I asked my wife to join me for a visit to Battleship Cove in Fall River, MA to see the battleship USS Massachusetts and the destroyer Joseph P. Kennedy DD-850. I served on the USS Corry DD-817, which was ?carbon copy? of the Kennedy. We had lunch on the battleship and then I took Linda to the Kennedy. Her comment was ?you lived on this peanut shell for 2 years and spent100,000 miles at sea on this?? I proudly showed her where after officers quarters was where I slept rarely, as it was just forward of our aft twin 5? gun mount, Radio Central where my Radiomen team was, CIC where I lived overseeing gun target lines for call for fire missions and the Bridge where I ran the ship for the Captain as the General Quarters OOD. That was my standard job as Communications Officer. I also stood regular 4 hour OOD watches underway. Linda watched a 30 minute circular video tape from a former Captain of the Kennedy and listened to every word he said about what it was like being underway, deck watches and combat missions in Vietnam as I had had and so on. Linda commented on our way back to NJ, that she was surprised I was able to adapt to the slower pace of civilian work when I returned in 1969 and how hard it must had been for me. Your movie just punctuated that feeling for those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. It is so hard to readjust to such a slower pace, lack of the adrenaline rush of not being in harm?s way and the minuscule level of responsibility veterans find when the return from war. Thank you for your movie to help me (and others) see this with a clearer perspective after 40 years. Best regards, Bill Baldwin