Hand Signals

pudge on 2002-10-24T00:04:08

I can never figure out the hand signals used by the military personnel in TV and movies. I found an interesting and entertaining web site with some information about such things. Warning: many B&W images ahead!

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I can't figure them out either.

brian_d_foy on 2002-10-24T02:27:00

Typically an army shares a basic hand signal vocabulary but small units develop stuff to fit their particular mission. They have to be distinct and easily recognizable to work though, since we typically use them at great distances (think of an baseball infielder making the sign for two outs, for comparison). Besides that, the American military, at least, has ways to confirm signals and pass them along. I hardly ever see that in movies.

Watching most military movies is like watching most computer movies or most police movies or whatever. If you are in the biz you usually scoff at the ignorant portrayal of it. When they make "Perl: The Movie" I'm sure use.perl will have long threads about the use of map in void context in the big climax, or the "!#pearl" at the top of some script. (Anyone remember Hackers?)

Most military movies are just stupid, although I heard an interesting comment from Jeremy Piven who played a pilot in Blackhawk Down. Some of the actual NightStalkers consulted on the film and would give the Jeremy notes such as "When I was saying this on the radio my finger was on that button over there". The level of accurate, technical detail in the movie is astounding.

The recent flick "We Were Soldiers" showed something most people do not think about at all---the use of whistles as signalling devices. They are loud, piercing, and take very little energy. I carry one on my combat vest. Once the shit hits the fan, you do not worry about being quiet. You can barely hear anything at all with the loud gun fire. :)

Re:I can't figure them out either.

pudge on 2002-10-24T03:40:21

Somehow I figured you might respond. :-)

Yeah, I'm sure many / most portrayals are bad, though some are obviously quite good, detailed, and accurate. I was specifically thinking of this while watching Stargate SG-1, which is (or was at some point) granted the seal of approval by the USAF. "The USAF carefully reviews every script for accuracy in scenes involving military storylines, procedures, conduct, chain of command, and policy." (From the DVD of the first three episodes.)

Re:I can't figure them out either.

brian_d_foy on 2002-10-24T16:17:21

Huh---we were sitting around making fun of Stargate this weekend. :)

Our complaint with this and similar movies is that they pick a bunch of bozos to be soldiers.

The commander guy (Kurt Russel?) radios pack to their base camp "Secure base camp." We, in our live action version of MST3K, respond "Oh, you mean stop goofing off and don't let the natives keep stealing stuff, because that wasn't clear before."

That movie was full of people asking to die or to kill their buddies. In real life we do not walk in front of muzzles or let a teammate walk in front of ours. One of my friends who just got back from a Close Quarters Combat school tells me his instructor would beat him with a PVC pipe as he did that---really. I remember a similar thing from basic training. We wear helmets, so we do not get smacked on the head directly, but the back ot the thighs get lots of bruises. You learn quickly that way. :)

I have a couple of pictures from the last tire house I went through. The safety NCO is always ready to slap the shooter upside the head (a sort of LART) and even when I lead a dynamic room entry the safety NCO is right behind me.

Re:I can't figure them out either.

pudge on 2002-10-24T16:30:29

To clarify, I meant the (first Showtime, now SciFi) TV series, not the movie. It's completely different acting, writing, producing, directing. The TV series got the USAF seal of approval in 1999, five years after the movie was released.

On a side note

djberg96 on 2002-10-24T16:42:17

One thing I find amusing about Stargate and JAG is that they give you the impression that military personnel wear their uniforms 24/7. Man, when I was forced to wear my blues while in the USAF I couldn't wait to get out them and into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Are you aware that the men have to wear garters to get their shirts to stay tight? Those shiny shoes aren't the most comfortable things, either.

BDU's (aka fatigues) were comfortable, though. Sometimes I'd leave those on if I was feeling lazy.

Re:On a side note

pudge on 2002-10-24T17:03:14

No, that's not the case with Stargate SG-1. When SG-1 is off duty, or off the base, they are in civilian clothes. But most of the time you see them, they are on duty and on the base (or offworld :-), and usually in fatigues when on duty.