Media representations of the Green Berets
Members of the
U.S. Army Special Forces
will emphatically assert that the "Green Beret" is a hat and not the man who wears it. Nevertheless, for a time in the 1960s the Green Berets and the men who wore them became a national
fad
emerging in a wide variety of
popular culture
referents. After a decline in popularity during the 1970s ? coinciding with the American public's
backlash against the Vietnam War
? the Green Berets gripped the popular imagination again beginning with the
Rambo film franchise
in 1982. They continue to appear as both major and minor referents in popular culture ? especially in movies and television ? often serving as a shorthand signifier for a shady or
covert
military background for a fictional character. As a
dramatic device
, this can cut both ways ? i.e., lead an audience to either admire or fear (or both) a character.
Soldiers of the "New Frontier"
[
edit
]
Although the
U.S. Army Special Forces
were created with a low profile in 1952, and the green beret was not officially authorized, things changed dramatically with President
John F. Kennedy
. He wanted to challenge Communist influence and wars of liberation in the recently decolonized
Third World
, and bolster pro-American regimes with the U.S. Army's own
special forces
and
counter-guerrilla
fighters.
On 12 October 1961, Kennedy visited the U.S. Special Warfare Center, where his aide,
Major General
Chester V. Clifton
(and friend of the SWC Commander, BG
William P. Yarborough
) informed Yarborough that the President was keen on the Special Forces ? but would not visit the SF base unless they were wearing their green berets. The Army, having previously forbidden the green beret, allowed the soldiers to wear them, lest JFK not visit.
[1]
The Special Forces displayed their capabilities, impressing the President; so often, in the next years, that they referred to it as "Disneyland." President Kennedy's visit was topped with a
Bell Aircraft
pilot (dressed in Army fatigues) flying with a
rocket belt
to the President, and saluting him.
Kennedy approved of the Green Beret, and the U.S. Army authorised it. In 1962, he called the green beret, "a symbol of excellence, a badge of courage, a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom." Special Forces soldiers in berets and dress Greens were President Kennedy's cortege in 1963. An SF beret was photographed atop his grave at
Arlington National Cemetery
.
Earliest media
[
edit
]
The first Special Forces Group on
Okinawa
provided a number of troopers to act as extras in director
Samuel Fuller
's
Merrill's Marauders
(1961) and were credited at film's start. On U.S. television, a March 1962 episode of
Surfside 6
titled "The Green Beret" featured SF training.
Henry Fonda
appeared in, and narrated, a 1962 "Special Forces" episode of
The Big Picture
series of U.S. Army-produced films that found their way to U.S. television. In 1963, a Green Beret appeared in the episode "
In Praise of Pip
" of
The Twilight Zone
though the U.S. Army told the
CBS
television network to not name the Southeast Asian country where the story occurred. The Green Beret's first Hollywood appearance is in the futuristic thriller film
Seven Days in May
(1963) wherein
Andrew Duggan
is a Special Forces officer loyal to the U.S. president, not the traitorous JCS Chief
Burt Lancaster
; the film also gave the U.S. filmgoer a first glimpse of the
M16 rifle
.
Mattel
toys made "Guerrilla Fighter" playsets in 1962 containing a commando green beret with an interesting tin "Guerrilla Fighter" badge depicting the crossed arrows insignia of the Special Forces, (formerly worn by the
1st Special Service Force
, and before that the
U.S. Army Indian Scouts
) and a jungle knife in front of a parachute. The set also contained the Mattel
Dick Tracy
automatic cap firing "
tommy gun
" or "
Scattergun
" (the Dick Tracy cap firing but no longer water firing riot shotgun)
toy guns
, both now in
military camouflage
plastic, a military camouflaged
poncho
, and in some sets, a rubber
Ka-Bar
knife and a
tripwire
booby trap
. Mattel later made the "M-16 Marauder", in 1966, which appeared in
The Green Berets
film wherein an enraged
John Wayne
smashes one against a tree.
The public was fascinated with this new type of soldier of the
New Frontier
, and the Army reluctantly gave journalists' access to many of Special Forces often
top secret
missions. One writer was
Robin Moore
, who used his connections with
Harvard University
classmate
Robert F. Kennedy
to write a book about the Special Forces. The U.S. Army agreed on the condition that Moore (then 38 years old) complete the
Basic Airborne Course
and SF training before being allowed to visit the Special Forces in
South Vietnam
.
Saturation
[
edit
]
Robin Moore successfully completed the courses and was allowed to live with the soldiers in Special Forces and their South Vietnamese,
Montagnard
, and
Nung
allies. His book,
The Green Berets
, was published in 1965, but, because he mentions the American presence in
North Vietnam
and
Cambodia
, he published
The Green Berets
as a novel. The U.S. Army was upset by the book; the reading public was not and it became a best selling book, especially its paperback edition in 1966.
At the time of Moore's book and the increasing U.S. Military involvement in the
Vietnam War
, Special Forces
Staff Sergeant
Barry Sadler
wrote a song with Robin Moore and recorded it under the title "
The Ballad of the Green Berets
", which became the number-one single of 1966 in the U.S. In addition to the single, Sadler released an album
Ballads of the Green Berets
with Sadler's photograph of him in a green beret appearing on the single, the LP, and on the paperback cover of Moore's
The Green Berets
. SSgt. Sadler later recorded an additional, but lesser, song "The A-Team" and released two more long-playing albums, then wrote his autobiography,
I'm A Lucky One
.
"The Ballad of the Green Berets" had many cover versions ranging from
Ennio Morricone
and
Duane Eddy
to "
drugstore records
" on labels such as Diplomat and Wyncote records.
Hanna-Barbera Records
released a children's LP
The Story of the Green Beret
available to members of the
G.I. Joe
club. The album was a tie-in with the release of the G.I. Joe Green Beret
action figure
that had appeared in 1966. The record had an album cover of Special Forces in action and a picture of the
Medal of Honor
. The record started off with a cover version of "The Ballad of the Green Berets" but was a spoken account with sound effects of Colonel Pat Lawrence (
Mike Road
) taking two small boys (Andy and George) to visit
Fort Bragg, North Carolina
, to learn about the training and capabilities of
The Green Berets
. The album then featured an exciting account of the
Battle of Nam Dong
where Captain
Roger Donlon
received the first Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War.
A less successful song was
Nancy Ames
' "He Wore The Green Beret" with a flip side of "War is a Card Game".
Dickie Goodman
pitted the two fads of 1966 against each other in
Batman & His Grandmother
where the Caped Crusader went up against the Green Beret.
Robin Moore also wrote a 1965
Tales of the Green Beret
newspaper
comic strip
with artwork by
Sgt. Rock (comics)
Joe Kubert
that was also published in paperback. It later became a
Dell Publishing
American comic book
in 1967 replacing their earlier
Jungle War Stories
and
Guerrilla War
comics. When
DC Comics
's Larry Rock (brother of the Sergeant), the replacement in
Our Fighting Forces
for the Marines Gunner and Sarge and their dog Pooch proved unpopular, DC replaced him with a Green Beret named Captain Hunter in 1966. Captain Hunter's adventures featured him hunting for his twin brother, a pilot shot down and captured by the
Viet Cong
. Other
war comics
put in their own Green Beret characters, such as
Lightning Comics
'
Todd Holton-Super Green Beret
(1967).
[2]
Children could also enjoy
Philadelphia Gum
"Men of the Green Beret"
trading cards
of photographs of the Special Forces in action with a stick of
bubble gum
. The artwork on the box was by artist
Norm Saunders
of
Mars Attacks
fame.
Aurora Models
came out with a model of a Green Beret soldier.
Feature films
[
edit
]
With all the interest in the men of the Green Berets, a film version seemed a long time in coming.
Columbia Pictures
had bought the film rights to Robin Moore's book before publication, using the title,
The Green Berets
, for a screenplay about the training of an SF Team and their deployment in Southeast Asia, but dropped the idea, because of the U.S. Army's many conditions and the U.S. public's dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War. Producer
David L. Wolper
then bought the rights to
The Green Berets
, and dropped the idea for reasons like Columbia Pictures. A screenplay was written by
George Goodman
who had served with the Special Forces in the 1950s as a
military intelligence
officer and had written a 1961 article about the Special Forces called
The Unconventional Warriors
in
Esquire Magazine
. Columbia sent Goodman to South Vietnam to research the screenplay.
[3]
[4]
Wolper later produced
The Devil's Brigade
(1968) with Utah-based
National Guard
SF soldiers as extras, wearing attractive, but imaginary
red berets
.
Thus, it fell to John Wayne to buy the rights and ask President
Lyndon Johnson
's help in obtaining the assistance and cooperation of
the Pentagon
in filming the book. The Army set strict conditions, forbidding Moore to work on or be associated with the film, though the
film trailer
has the caption "TOLD TOUGH - LIKE THE BOOK". Despite Wayne's box office prestige and public interest in
The Green Berets
, the film was rejected by
Universal Pictures
and
Paramount Pictures
. Wayne's preferred film composer,
Elmer Bernstein
, refused to write the score. Wayne used his
Batjac Productions
money to make the film, which
Warner Bros.
profitably released to some public protest.
John Wayne's version of Robin Moore's
The Green Berets
begins with a choral version of "The Ballad of the Green Berets" heard behind
Wayne Fitzgerald
's titles that segue to an SF A-Team putting on a "Disneyland" show for journalists, including skeptical
David Janssen
. From SF Colonel John Wayne, reporter Janssen wangles a trip to the Vietnam War, and, eventually, participates in a large-scale battle, based on the
Battle of Nam Dong
. In the end, Janssen tells Wayne "If I write what I feel, I'll be out of a job". Wayne tells Janssen he'll always have one with them.
The last third of the film is Green Beret expertise in a
commando
mission to abduct a North Vietnamese General who has been seduced by the sister-in-law of an ARVN Special Forces Colonel (played by
Jack Soo
). The climax is a superb demonstration of
combatives
by former-
Tarzan
Mike Henry
killing a horde of
Viet Cong
who attack him, even impaling one on a low tree branch. The
martial arts
inspired many film producers.
Tom Laughlin
made a highly profitable
American International Pictures
film called
The Born Losers
(1967) featuring
Billy Jack
, a half-American Indian former Green Beret Vietnam War veteran using his martial arts on a
motorcycle gang
. The 1971
American International Pictures
film
Chrome and Hot Leather
features SF men Tony Young,
Peter Brown
, and
Marvin Gaye
using their training and Vietnam War experience to avenge the murder of Young's girlfriend by
William Smith
's motorcycle gang. The film's poster shows a uniformed Green Beret using a biker as a sub-human punching bag with the
tagline
: "DON'T MUCK AROUND WITH A GREEN BERET'S MAMA! HE'LL TAKE HIS CHOPPER AND RAM IT DOWN YOUR THROAT!"
Decline
[
edit
]
Disenchantment
[
edit
]
As the public wearied of the Green Berets, so did the American
Regular Army
. The 1969 "Green Beret Murder Case" in which Colonel
Robert B. Rheault
and several of his men were tried for assassinating a
Communist
spy was used as a discrediting tactic against the Special Forces.
[5]
[6]
The case also contributed to the plot of the movie
Apocalypse Now
in which a Green Beret Colonel accused of the same offence has gone rogue.
Rambo
[
edit
]
In 1972, author
David Morrell
published
First Blood
, a novel that features a former member of the Army Special Forces named
John Rambo
. The novel focuses on the struggle Rambo faces when he attempts to return to civilian life following the end of his tour of duty in Vietnam, and he eventually turns to violence. In 1982, a
film adaptation
of the novel was released, starring
Sylvester Stallone
. The film altered many aspects of the novel, including excising the self-loathing characteristics the protagonist possesses in the novel.
[7]
The film was a box office success,
[8]
and spawned a media franchise.
Ongoing references
[
edit
]
Movies
[
edit
]
- In the 1968 film,
The Green Berets
,
John Wayne
portrays Mike Kirby, a Colonel with the
5th Special Forces Group
during the
Vietnam War
.
- In the film
Billy Jack
(1971), the main protagonist
Tom Laughlin
is a "half-breed" American Navajo,[3] a Green Beret Vietnam War veteran, and a hapkido master.
- In the film
First Blood
(1982),
Sylvester Stallone
portrays
John Rambo
, a former Green Beret searching for his old friend from his time in the Special Forces. The film is based on the 1972 novel
First Blood
by
David Morrell
. The film altered many aspects of the novel, including excising the self-loathing characteristics the protagonist possesses in the novel.
[9]
The film was a box office success,
[10]
and spawned a
media franchise
.
- In the film
Commando
(1985), the main protagonist John Matrix, portrayed by
Arnold Schwarzenegger
, and many of the antagonists are former Special Forces soldiers. One of the more memorable lines in the movie was, "I eat green berets for breakfast, and right now, I'm very hungry!"
- In the film
Collateral
, the main antagonist Vincent was a US Army Green Beret before becoming a hitman.
- The film
Executive Decision
(1996) features a Special Forces CT team.
- In the film
Dear John
(2010), the main character is a Special Forces soldier who reenlists after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
- Jason Bourne
of "The Bourne Identity" fame was a Special Forces Captain in the
film series
.
- The film
Predator
(1987) follows a team of former Special Forces soldiers who are now a US Army rescue team sent to Val Verde to rescue an American politician but are hunted by The Predator.
- In the film
Lethal Weapon
(1987), one of the two main protagonists was
Mel Gibson
's character
Martin Riggs
who before joining the LAPD was a US Army Special Forces sniper at the age of 19 in the Vietnam War.
- In the film
The Objective
, the soldiers are an ODA from
3rd SFG
.
- In the movie
Three Kings
,
George Clooney
plays a Green Beret Major and Delta Operator, Archie Gates.
- In the movie
Walking Tall
,
Dwayne Johnson
plays a Special Forces soldier from
5th SFG
.
- The film
12 Strong
tells the story of ODA 595, one of the first Special Forces teams deployed to
Afghanistan
after
9/11
.
- In the 2010 film
The A-Team
, A reboot of the TV series of
same name
, the team members are depicted as
Rangers
instead, though the
Special Forces Tab
can be seen on their
Army Service Uniforms
.
- In the 2015 zombie comedy film
Range 15
, U.S. military veterans portray fictionalized versions of themselves, with a couple of them being former Special Forces. Fictional characters SGM Gene Vandenham and Colonel Holloway are also depicted as Special Forces as they can be seen wearing the
Long Tab
.
- In the film and TV franchise
The Karate Kid / Cobra Kai
, the antagonist karate master
John Kreese
is played by
Martin Kove
, who is shown to be an ex-Green Beret during Vietnam and the US Army karate champion.
- In the 2016 film
Dirty Grandpa
, it is revealed that Richard Kelly, played by
Robert De Niro
, is ex-Green Beret.
- In the 2018 science fiction action-adventure monster film
Rampage
, Davis Okoye is a former US Army Special Forces soldier as well as primatologist and head of an anti-poaching unit. The character is portrayed by
Dwayne Johnson
Television
[
edit
]
- In the TV series
Person of Interest
(2011), one of the two main protagonists is John Reese, a former Green Beret and CIA field officer, who now lives the life of the "tall guy in a suit".
- In
The A-Team
(1983?87), the heroes are rogue Special Forces team (from the
5th Special Forces Group
) turned crime fighters for hire.
- In the TV series
Dynasty
, one of the main characters,
Dex Dexter
(
Michael Nader
), who appeared on the series from 1983 until its cancellation in 1989, is an ex-special forces operative who is something of an adventurer and often goes on daring missions. On several occasions, he mentions his service in the
Vietnam War
.
- In the TV series
24
,
Jack Bauer
, the series' main protagonist, was a member of US Army Special Forces before working at CTU Los Angeles. Bauer's participation in a previous Special Forces mission is a significant element of the
first season's
plot.
- The Unit
is a
CBS
TV action drama series depicting the life of Special Forces soldiers and the Delta Force, based loosely on a book by Eric Haney.
- In the TV series
The Simpsons
(1989?present), recurring character
Principal Skinner
has stated that he's an ex-Green Beret.
- Deadliest Warrior
season 1 episode "Green Beret vs Spetsnaz", pitted the U.S. Special Forces went against the Russian
Spetsnaz
. After running 1000 simulated battles, the Spetsnaz emerged victorious with 519 wins by a very narrow margin.
- Burn Notice
's
Michael Westen
is a former Green Beret and Delta Force Operator.
- In the crime drama
The Mentalist
, Special Agent
Kimball Cho
is a former member of the Army Special Forces.
- Knightrider
is a TV series about a crime fighter using a technologically advanced car whose main protagonist, Michael Knight, was a former Green Beret.
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
the squad's former commander Captain Cragen was an ex-Green Beret.
- Cover Up
a TV series about a former Green Beret who now serves as a spy posing as a fashion model.
- Taken
, a TV series that fills in the background for the Bryan Mills character from the
Taken
film franchise
, the character is revealed to be a former Green Beret.
- Special Forces: Untold Stories
, a
docudrama
television series produced by
New Dominion Pictures
features an episode about the Green Berets during the
Vietnam War
.
[11]
[12]
Literature
[
edit
]
- 1965:
Outpost of Freedom
, by
Medal of Honor
recipient Captain
Roger H. C. Donlon
(as told to Warren Rogers) 1965, McGraw-Hill
- 1975:
Parthian Shot
, by former Green Beret Loyd Little.
ISBN
978-0670540631
,
OCLC
1119712
; winner of the 1976
Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award
.
[13]
- 2008:
White Passage: Red Sun
, by former Green Beret Matt Rowe.
ISBN
978-1-4389-2771-8
, 2008, Authorhouse.
- 2009:
Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of U.S. Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan
, by
Doug Stanton
; adapted into the 2018 film,
12 Strong
.
- In
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
, the operators are elite Green Beret soldiers.
- Several books of
W. E. B. Griffin
's
Brotherhood of War
series deal, in a fictional setting, with the establishment and early operations of the Green Berets. Several events in the series track with actual history.
- Shaun Darragh
's novel
MIKE FORCE: A Novel of Vietnam's Central Highlands War
, set in the fifth Special Forces Group's II Corps MIKE Force of 1967?1968, portrays a small team of U.S.,
Australian
, and
Vietnamese Special Forces
leading a
Montagnard
paratroop company loyal to a rebel movement that is planning a revolt. Darragh served in Vietnam on both an A Team and in the MIKE Force.
- The main character of The Lyssa Kordenay Missions series, written by Alecia Snowfall, Lyssa Kordenay; is a post-operative transgender woman formerly of Fifth Group Special Forces later of First Group Special Forces: Special Operational Detachment- Delta (now known as C.A.G.- Combat Applications Group) before being selected for the fictional unit DemonWraiths then being medically discharged after being captured by narco-terrorists on a hostage rescue mission.
Steel Butterfly
begins the series. Later on in the series another closeted transgender serving on active duty is recruited, Tiffany Davareaux, leading to one of three spin-offs under the title
The Chrysalis Project
.
Video games
[
edit
]
Comics
[
edit
]
- The father of the
Modern Age
Batwoman
, Colonel Jacob Kane, is a Green Beret, specifically from the
3rd Special Forces Group
.
[14]
After Kate Kane is discharged from
West Point
under
Don't Ask Don't Tell
, a chance encounter with
Batman
inspires her to take up the role of a masked vigilante in
Gotham City
. Jacob Kane uses his connections within the special operations community to have his daughter trained around the globe, after which she takes up the Batwoman mantle. Notably, prior to becoming a vigilante, Kate gets a tattoo of the Green Beret sleeve insignia on her shoulder in memory of her mother Gabrielle, who had a similar tattoo.
[15]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Halberstadt, Hans,
The Green Berets: Unconventional Warriors
, Presidio Press, (1988),
ISBN
9780891412809
- ^
"INEXPLICABLE OBJECT OF THE WEEK : Week of 7/23/00 : WEEK 119 : Tod Holton, Super Green Beret"
. Webcitation.org. Archived from
the original
on October 22, 2009
. Retrieved
June 3,
2015
.
- ^
"George J(erome) W(aldo) Goodman Biography"
. Bookrags.com. 2010-11-02
. Retrieved
2015-06-03
.
- ^
[1]
Archived
September 26, 2010, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Stein, Jeff,
A Murder in Wartime: The Untold Spy Story That Changed the Course of the Vietnam War
, St Martins Mass Market Paper, (1993)
ISBN
978-0312929190
- ^
"The "Green Beret Affair"
"
. Militarhistoryonline.com
. Retrieved
2015-06-03
.
- ^
[2]
Archived
May 9, 2008, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"First Blood (1982)"
. Boxofficemojo.com
. Retrieved
2015-06-03
.
- ^
[3]
Archived
May 9, 2008, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"First Blood (1982)"
. Boxofficemojo.com
. Retrieved
2015-06-03
.
- ^
Green Beret Troop Operate Deep Within Enemy Territory | Special Forces S1 EP1 | Wonder
on
YouTube
- ^
"Special Forces: Untold Stories - Episode Details"
. New Dominion Pictures
. Retrieved
September 16,
2020
.
- ^
"PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction"
. PEN New England.
- ^
Detective Comics
#858 (December 2009)
- ^
Detective Comics
#859 (January 2010)