Army veteran ranks the most authentic war films in cinema history

See, at this point, Tom Inks is just like

you know, what more can I do? I'm just gonna keep firing and then, you know

if you kill me, you kill me. First of all, thank you so much for being here. My pleasure, thank you for having me

And thank you for your service. Thank you, sir. I was about 15 years old, saw the two towers get hit

decided that, you know, I was coming from a poor family in Illinois, would have a lot of money for college

So obviously I wanna serve my country, but also pay for college in the future. So that was kind of where I made a promise to myself

to serve the military. I've done, you know, a whole bunch of things, military police, I became a civil affairs

airborne paratrooper jumping out of airplanes, helicopters, Afghanistan, Italy, Germany, Poland. All right, so we're gonna show you a ranking

around how realistically war is portrayed in pop culture. And we're gonna see if you think the public nailed it

or if it needs a bit of a re-rank. Okay, perfect. This is a ranking all around the most

quote unquote realistic war movies of all time. This is number five

All right. This is the second part of the movie because in the first part is when they had Gomer Pyle

you know getting berated by the Arlie army so this is the Vietnam scene

It's pretty cool like what they're doing is they're going from each section like you know they're scanning their sectors kind of going around making sure they don't get sniped actually

that was the main thing during Vietnam. Stanley Kubrick was the director I believe in this one right? Yeah. There he goes

I would have just shot it like, yeah, there you go. I was about to say that right now

I would have just shot a grenade into the building. I was like, wait a second. You're just shooting at a building with a bunch of rifles

but clearly you don't know whether everyone's at. Very realistic, you know, listening to the platoon leader

and kind of reacting. And obviously, no matter what kind of forces you are

what kind of unit you're trained into, there's always going to be the people that are going to freak out. They're going to see blood, their friend get killed right in front of them

And you see like the most battle-hardened, reddening guy that you think is like the best could be the weakest

This was Watanabe. He was the general, well, he was the actor

He was playing, I think, the general during the World War II. This was directed by Clint Eastwood

if I remember right. A long time since I've seen this, though. It interesting to see both perspectives between the Japanese and Americans The Japanese hiding in the hills the secret little tunnels they had It very like wow A lot of times you think your training serves you right but a lot of it luck You really just are kind of praying to God you don

get shot or step on a landmine or something like that. Or you get flamethrowed through your foxhole

So it's crazy to me. We're so centric on what the American sees through our lens of scope through

of war, but to kind of get a perspective and to read the journals that general

the general, the Japanese wrote, it's very cool to get both sides of the story

I would call myself a historian. One of my friends actually is an army historian

but it's definitely good to recognize, you know, former wars, how soldiers reacted, you know

certain things that made them do what they did. If you don't know your history, you're failed to repeat it

Oh, it's Black Lockdown. I saw it already, immediately I was like

it's Black Lockdown. Two of my favorite Eric Bana movies. So crazy. One of my, I used to live in Oxen

I was in the Navy, and one of my buddy's neighbors was actually in Mogadishu

You know, I have someone that I knew, know someone that was like, you know, so humble about this conflict

It's wild. The camaraderie between all the branches, between Delta, you know, Delta's like the elite of the elite

It encompasses not just the Army, but other branches of the military. Is this Weaver Soldiers

Oh, okay, Mel Gibson, okay. Colonel Halmore. Obviously this is Vietnam. We were soldiers with Colonel Hal Moore

It was very interesting. He had a saying, you know, like, I'm going to be the first one to land on the ground

I'm going to be the last one to leave. And he survived. But just as strong a leader he was

his wife was for the spouses. Because every day the spouses, they all lived like in Fort Benning, Georgia

which is a home of Airborne. Let the postman go down the streets. And every day you're just praying to God

you don't get a letter, you know, saying that your husband's died. his wife saw the other wives getting it

and she would like comfort them. So it's very real. And a lot of people don't see that side

They just see the battles, the war. They don't see the spouses side or what they have to go through. We Were Soldiers is very realistic

One of my top five favorite military movies. This is the number one most realistic war movie. Save a Private Ryan

100%. Yeah. This is one of my favorite Tom Hanks movies. One of my favorite actors, but great movie

Such a powerful movie So many great actors that end up becoming huge you know See at this point Tom Hanks is just like you know what more can I do I just gonna keep firing and then you know

if you kill me, you kill me, and then, you know, that happens. It's crazy

So much emotion in this movie. The way it's filmed, you know, it's very, like

first person right there in your face. It shows, like, the compassion between each soldier

These rangers are like, why the hell are we looking for one guy? We're over here trying to find our own guy

It's like, who the hell is this? And you know, they say, hey, no, we gotta find this guy is by order of the president, this is your duty

A lot of them don't get it, but throughout the movie they start to understand. What if that was one of our brothers

It's transitioning through war and going through your mindset, where you don't become so selfish thinking about yourself

or the people right next to you, but you're starting to think about other people in the war that are also very important

Those are the top five most realistic war movies, again, as voted on by the public

We're gonna have you re-rank this list. Okay. First of all, is there anything that you feel should have been on that list that was not on that list

It's tough to take off one of these five because most arguably, most people would have this

in the top 10, 100%, almost everybody. But if I were to add a six through 10

I would definitely add, definitely American Sniper. It was big on the war, but it was also about Chris Kyle

and how he was at home, dealing with the PTSD side of it

I like Jarhead. Some of these guys, they just wanna go fight. They wanna go shoot their weapons

They wanna go, you know, destroy the enemy. Some of them never even get to

and that's what kind of Jarhead depicts, is the hurry up and the wait. You're just sitting there waiting for something to happen

and you have no idea if or when it's gonna happen. And then boom, war's over

you never even got to find your weapon. I don't think I would take away from the top five though, as far as realistic

So what are you gonna put as number one? Number one, I'm keeping safe and private, definitely

Number two, I would definitely, because I like both sides, I would say Full Metal Jacket

Just cause you got to see the basic training side, which all of us, oh my God, we dread

Very realistic, where they're yelling, when you're trying to train people for war, specifically what he was trying to do

he had to do a lot of the things he was doing. You will not laugh! You will not cry

Nowadays, it's very different. Like, there's no more yelling, and there's no more finger pointing

there's no more cussing. Any of these that you feel that should be in the five slot

In the five slot, I'm gonna go with Letters from Iwo Juma. It's a little slow compared to the other ones

Not a lot of battle scenes, as compared to Saving Private Ryan

and Black Lockdown is just intense from the very get Three I gonna go with We Soldiers Black Hawk Down it was more modern but not modern enough I say for me

Like, the way it was filmed, the specific actors in it, they were all great actors, but We Were Soldiers

Mel Gibson just killed that role. Like, Hellmore just, that was a crazy role

All right, so this is your new re-ranked list. How does it look to you

I think it looks good. Yeah? Yeah. Is the list locked? I think it's locked. You've re-ranked this list. We're going to have you put together your own list now

All right. And these are going to be the top five life lessons that you've learned while in the military

Okay. Definitely always have a five-year plan. And I say five-year plan because a lot of people

in the military, they mostly join for four years. Some people will say, I want to do 20

but they never know what they're going to do. And you have no plan. You're just kind of like throwing darts at a wall, blindfolded, praying to God you stick something. Never give up. A lot

of times when people they always give up really too early you don't always know

the plan if you have someone that's a commanding officer they don't always depict what they're trying to do and they should I think you know being

transparent should be very important a lot of people give up just before they

would succeed and I think it's a life lesson just for life period and I would

say number three loyalty is more important than selling your soul loyalty

is always key I will never sell my soul for a rank for money for anything you

always say, you know, I have my word and my balls and I won't break them for nobody

It's a true statement. A lot of people, you know, take that out of context, but you need to be loyal

to the people that you serve with. So that's huge. Number four, always know your audience

You never know who's around you. Like I, you know, I'm not going to speak about certain specific

people that I know, but a lot of times, you know, they're partying or they're in a different country

A lot of times people are saying things, they're bashing their leaders, they're bashing people

they've known in the military. And then all of a sudden, some guy in the background, some girl in

the background's like, you never know, that's a general or a colonel

She just happens to know who you are, you have no idea who they are, and then bam, you just screwed yourself

Never forget those who have helped you. A lot of times when you move up the ranks, you get out of the military

a lot of people tend to forget those people that were there in the shadows helping you out

Just be a good person, be humble, and try to remember all those people that you've met

as best as you can, no matter how many people you've met, because you never know how you can

in some capacity, help someone that's in need