European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 07, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Review heroes of desert storm Good hype bad history by Howard Rosenberg los Angeles times now for Only the second time Ever you can see it on television if you missed America s lopsided feel Good War the first time around the heroes of desert storm beckons tonight on an and saturday on seb missiles blazing flags waving Success stories streaming George Bush gushing. Far from being the Mother of All movies however the heroes of desert storm is midwife to history through a Strainer. By design it filters out the big picture in order to present the persian Gulf War solely from the perspectives of troops and their loved ones the heroes of desert storm does eloquently recall How the War altered lives of Ordinary people from professional soldiers already on Active duty to reservists for whom the military was nothing More than part time work to families and friends left behind. While applauding heroes and damning terrorism Lionel Chetwynds script also pauses soberly to note not Only american dead a specifically a female res Kivist who perished in that devastating scud missile attack on a . Temporary Barracks in Dhahran a but also slain iraqi soldiers their hurried Muslim burial in the Field presided Over by a . Army chaplain who is a rabbi. So emotion you get. Enlightenment you Don t. The movie evolves in an information vacuum except for one fleeting sequence there Are no saudis Here no . Allies contributing to the liberation of Kuwait no hint of the War debate that raged in Congress and the streets before the bombing of Baghdad no one lost to Friendly fire no culture clash with arabs no Media pests irritating the military no subtleties and above All no context. Who is this Guy Saddam he again we re lighting anyway and Why did he set Oil this crisis in the first place forget it. Like Omar Sharif first appearing As an readers action line Anonymous speck on the desert horizon in Lawrence of Arabia Saddam emerges without explanation As he fulfils his role As mighty villain. In Broad outline Hussein s forces rape a place called Kuwait. We kick butt. We come Home. End of movie. Run credits. Nothing about Iraq vis a vis Iran. Nothing about the importance of Kuwait s Oil. Nothing about alleged mixed signals Given a Saddam by former . Ambassador to Iraq april Glaspie nothing about nothing. From this narrow account Iraq might As Well be Indiana and Kuwait be Kansas. President Bush was recruited to tape a 65-second preamble to sundays memorial and the message he delivers from the White House is a generic one that celebrates the United states and Quot the american heroes of our time without specifying this War. Not that he needs to. The movie begins by monitoring the Day to Day routine in the lives of various sets of americans who will be personally affected by the War. Meanwhile the . Military continues its buildup in response to Iraq s aggression and the taking of Western hostages. Then very quickly it seems the Battle of Baghdad is under Way As the screen is taken Over by news footage of tracers wildly zigzagging the night skies backed by Sylvester Levay s pounding hard driving adrenaline pumping music. The same music accompanies much of the re created combat footage. See War can be exciting. The heroes of desert storm arose from a desire by Abc and executive producer director Don Ohlmeyer to make instant movies about True life events. Copying the style of special bulletin the vastly Superior movie from de Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz that he produced for Abc in 1983, Ohlmeyer has achieved a heightened sense of intimacy and reality a by shooting with videotape instead of film thus by liberally threading his dramatization with actual Abc news footage and combat pictures supplied by the approving Pentagon he achieves a quasi documentary effect on the screen. For example Are those famous actual videos of banged up pos who were Abc tvs a War heroes from my Angala Baa Aat Gary Hershberger Kria Kamm Michael Champion Laura laugh Hugh a Steven Williams and Danny Baldwin. Made by their iraqi captors to appear before a to camera. Then Cut to actor Michael Champion As Marine chief warrant officer Guy Hunter jr., whose harrowing experience As a captive includes being forced at gunpoint to make a televised anti War statement. Such juxtapositions of reality and recreation while dangerously misleading in a news or news related Magazine program Are a perfectly appropriate Means of storytelling in an entertainment program whose intent is Clear. Reports have already surfaced that some of the movie embellishes reality. Such Are the perils of docudrama. Very obviously it is docudrama however. And although the prisoner and combat sequences Are especially authentic looking anyone coming away from the heroes of desert storm believing he has watched an Abc news documentary has a serious problem. The movie s serious problem lies not in the Way it is presented but in what a and what it does t a present. One could argue with Merit that Only a Cave Dweller would t be acquainted by now with the background and events leading up to the persian Gulf War. However one could argue with equal Merit that the Type of human interest stories depicted in this movie Are at least As Well known. After All with at times Little else available to be reported Given Pentagon restrictions on the Media the one Story that the press did cover very thoroughly was the wars Impact on Ordinary citizens. And such stories proliferated further in the Welcome Home euphoria of the War s aftermath. With no insights to offer and no new stories to Tell then what is the purpose of the heroes of desert storm other than to join the marketing Campaign seeking to Cash in on the War besides the Celebration May be premature. The tone of this movie conveys a message that operation desert storm put Down tyranny in the persian Gulf and ended the threat from Iraq. Judging by recent headlines however someone forget to Tell that to Saddam  assignment trading for outbound soldiers with the recent return of soldiers from saudi Arabia and the renewed efforts to draw Usa eur Down by Multi thousands of soldiers Many soldiers did not receive assignments to the geographic area or Post of their choosing. While that is obviously a Quot condition of employment a Why is it virtually impossible to Trade assignments among Peers i suspect every Soldier involved understands that Grade and mos military occupational specially must match and Deros Date of return irom overseas should be very close in order to request a Trade. With the curtailed Deros dates that Many soldiers received Why is it not possible to hasten the process and remove some of the bureaucracy e.g., approval by every organization from company to corps level it the process were limited to a 30-Day response time i believe rapid acknowledgement would be assured although Many soldiers Are making unit moves to conus Continental United states not All of the soldiers in the unit want to go to that particular location. Why does it require concurrence of More than the affected unit commander s and 1st per com to accommodate the soldier7 after All the unit is departing Usa eur. Sgt. 1st last Dewey Cooke Mohringer Germany _ be maj. Paul c. Proffitt office of the Deputy chief of staff personnel has Usa eur replies what the Reader has suggested is similar to an army program outlined in a 614-200. This program allows soldiers assigned to conus and Uconus outside of Continental United states locations to Exchange assignments with other soldiers in conus and the same Uconus command respectively providing All commanders concerned concur with the proposed Exchange of assignments. Under this program prior agreement Between the two soldiers will be arranged on a person to person basis. If approved soldiers involved will pay All costs incurred in relocation the Exchange assignment program does not currently allow soldiers in Usa eur to Exchange their programmed assignments in conus while allowing Lor the Exchange of programmed assignments in conus May outwardly appear to make sense final approval for expanding the current program rests with has department of the army. As such the readers proposal has been provided to them for consideration. Meanwhile soldiers should ensure that their conus assignment preferences Are reflected correctly in their personnel files. If not they should submit an updated a form 2635, enlisted preference statement to their supporting personnel service  write us readers action line is the readers Quot court of last resort Quot striving to answer some of the questions about Fife overseas in a military environment or questions about policies and guidelines when other avenues for answers Are not reality available Tayou have a question and Don t know where to turn for the answer write to readers action line co the stars and stripes. Apo 09211-421 / All letters must be signed and preference will be Given to those seeking information of general interest to our readers. Page 16 a the stars and stripes monday october 7, 1991