Jericho, effectiveness of hasty militias

[cheygriz]

CHILL OUT, DUDES!

It's a Tv show. If you think it's fun to watch, then watch it. If you think it sucks, tune to another channel! GEEZ!:banghead:

 

[cbsbyte]

Not having followed it closely, is it the sort of 'right-wing conspiracy' that would make Rosie O proud?

I have only intermittently been watching the show. The basic premise is that a well financed homegrown terrorist group/s plotted the attacks, and carried them out at the bidding of a leader/s. Who financed the group is up in the air at this time and probably won't be know until next season. The weapons where ex eastern bloc nuclear warheads that where purchased by the US government before they where sold on the black market.

 

[Leanwolf]

Because of JERICHO'S low ratings throughout the present teeeveee season, I'll hazard a guess that last night's episode was the end of the series and it won't be back next season.

Just a guess. Could be wrong. Network teeeveee scheduleing is a strange racket.

L.W.

 

[Caimlas]

I wonder if their low ratings may not be due to the fact that so many of the viewers watch the show (exclusively) online via cbs.com. Nielson ratings aren't everything, ya know; I think they'd be quite foolish to overlook the presence of viewership the show has online, and can't imagine they'd do so.

 

[Limeyfellow]

Because of JERICHO'S low ratings throughout the present teeeveee season, I'll hazard a guess that last night's episode was the end of the series and it won't be back next season.

Just a guess. Could be wrong. Network teeeveee scheduleing is a strange racket.

CBS renewed the show. Guess they will give it a second try at another season.

 

[Intrepid Dad]

Because of JERICHO'S low ratings throughout the present teeeveee season, I'll hazard a guess that last night's episode was the end of the series and it won't be back next season.

Just a guess. Could be wrong. Network teeeveee scheduleing is a strange racket.

Jericho's ratings weren't terrible, just not great. Before the break they averaged around 10 million viewers. After the break it was about 8 million. As was pointed out, many viewers watch at cbs.com but unfortunately for Jericho, advertisers are not yet willing to pay for viewings after the original air date. I believe that will change as advertisers catch up with the real world.

 

[Geronimo45]

Guess they will give it a second try at another season.

Seems that nearly every TV show ever made runs two seasons in the USA. In the UK, on the other hand, it seems that even the very popular shows have a short life.

 

[Logan5]

Pretty much all the gun related activity in the finale was sub-moronic. I wouldn't want to squat behind a Buick with a scoped Remigton and let a few hundred guys fan out over 250 yards, set up their M-60's, and concentrate their fire on my position, while I was supported by some guy behind a stack of bycicle tires. I guess the EMP took out all of Jericho's shovels?
And then there was the belated "Maybe Jake should move to high ground?" moment... What did he do with that Ranger manual, rub it on his forehead? Seems nothing penetrated.

 

[Kaylee]

Logan..

Yeah, if the tactics are so transparently bad even I can shake my head in disbelief, that's some pretty sorry planning.

Still though, it is an interesting story.

 

[Logan5]

Oh, I appreciate the show, but really... if there's ever a giant emergency where there's no need for effective leadership, or for everyone to pull together, or for someone who can fold a mean tinfoil hat, then I guess I can just stay home and read by the oil lamp, and wait for the candygram when it's all over, right? This sucker is no Lucifer's Hammer.

Maybe I could FedEx a copy of The Army Officer's Guide to the actor they had playing Colonel in this episode. IIRC he babbled something absurd like "I'm just a public servant, I can't make decisions." Is there a hypothetical OCS anywhere in our military that would graduate someone who would spout that kind of DMV line of BS? Seriously, a company grade officer, mid-nuclear war, effectively commands a unit while saying things like that to random strangers? Hollywood has some truly insane ideas.

 

[ebd10]

Jericho is mental junk food. To hide behind wooden pallets and old cars without setting some people up on the high ground, or setting up an X ambush from the hills on either side of the road, just goes to show how little Hollyweird knows about the military. Johnston Green was supposed to be an Army Ranger at one time, he should know about this stuff. Heck I was a Supply Clerk and I know about this stuff!

 

[Caimlas]

They really need to sack their director, choreographer, writer, or fact checker - whoever was responsible for the nonsense in episode 22 (and, furthermore, in the other episodes) needs to be sacked.

And then, after they're in the sack, the sack needs to be beaten.

I guess it's possible that the show is just horridly under-funded. But I doubt it. That last episode was painful it was so un-military. Most of the other episodes have been poorly orchestrated, missing any semblance of sense, bad props, poor directing, etc. - but at least they were mildly entertaining.

I'm guessing it's partially a symptom of the producer(s), director, and the writers/storyboard people. But that 'final battle' was... urg.

Jericho is mental junk food. To hide behind wooden pallets and old cars without setting some people up on the high ground, or setting up an X ambush from the hills on either side of the road, just goes to show how little Hollyweird knows about the military. Johnston Green was supposed to be an Army Ranger at one time, he should know about this stuff. Heck I was a Supply Clerk and I know about this stuff!

Dude, I'm a computer geek, and I know about this stuff! The only thing I can figure is that they were time/funds restrained, or some other such artificial limitation. Because this latest episode was Smokey and the Bandits quality, bad.

 

[Titan6]

Pretty awful stuff all around. I Still can not figure how the Gerald McRainey character got whacked. Were I walking next to a tank in a fire fight I would have it between me and the enemy. And the part where they put their weapons on the roof of the car with the open window going straight to the chest seemed pretty stupid. Cars are bad bullet stoppers anyway but to leave yourself open like that was giving me the willies. Everybody standing fully upright and walking around in the open like a church picnic.... Good thing it is TV.

The whole shooting the home made mortar round out of the MBT gun was also too much. Why not just drive the tank around and show them what ''crunchie'' means? The bad guys had no heavy weapons or explosives so no way of stopping it anyway. What happened to the other town? Did they suddenly run out of mortars? Otherwise it would have gone something like ''Mass troops in the open, fire for effect. Repeat''. End of war. I could go on but what would be the point? This is TV.

 

[Travis McGee]

I watched a few early episodes and quit. Obviously the scripts are written by quiche-eating Hollywood types who have never shot a gun in their lives, or been deeper in the woods than a half day hike. It's only use is in spurring this type of discussion, but as far as anything near reality, the show is a total joke. The men still shave, the ladies put on makeup and have lovely shampooed hair, weeks after Armageddon. There's even still beer down at the watering hole. The show is a total joke.

 

[budney]

Militias work against mobs. They do not work against professional armies...

I think you're speaking specifically of direct confrontation. The Iraqi and Afghan insurgencies are holding their own, and the Afghans held out against the Russians long enough to drive them out in the end.

--Len.

 

[budney]

So that is why I cringe when I hear guys bragging how they are going to use their tricked-out synthetic stock SKS with a red dot to hold off the invading Chinese or UN army. Firearms are good for personal self defense, but we need to be realistic about their use by random civilians vs a real army.

Well, true enough--but that isn't how civilian defense works. Civilian defense works by arming (nearly) everyone, as in Switzerland or Israel. The Chinese must then decide whether it's worth fighting to the last man. And it never is. Even the Nazis didn't opt to fight a war of extermination.

--Len.

 

[therealsteamer]

From Here.. http://www.neardeathexperiments.com/smf/index.php?topic=1626.0


With what they had to work with they did a piss poor job...

Sure they put sand bags in front of the "car barricades"... one bag thick... that might stop a 5.56 at distance, but a .308 or better... VERY doubtful .. at most you are getting 10 inches of protection... AND the cars were empty.. nothing in the inside... Dead air will not stop a bullet... At other emplacements they had guys crouched behind a single layer of standing wooden pallets... You have a good .22 and you are gonna destroy whomever is foolish enough to mistake concealment for cover... They had shovels and enough time to build even the most basic of fighting positions..

They obviously had several high caliber scoped hunting rifles.. We know they had a few working radios.. WHY did they not use some sort of scout/sniper/recon element... Also placing these elements in favorable/concealed positions on the hill sides, with their fire directed into the valley would have been obvious to even a hollywood screenwriter... Also there were several guys with M14/M1As.. these guys could have been used for mid range engagement...

As piss poor as it may sound..... When the Jericonians were able to scare the New Bernholes away after the first engagement WHY did they not keep firing at them. These guys had already given notice they were out to kill the people of Jericho... The Bull**** about letting your enemy retreat to fight another day is idiotic... This is not a nice thing to think about do, but with what is/was on the line you have to be willing to make and accept VERY difficult decisions...

Now that Johnston is dead only Jake and Hawkins know of the access to the keyhole sats... Now Jake will be the defacto .mil type commander for Jericho.. I don't think he will always make the best decisions or be the most even keeled leader they have but at least he will do SOMETHING.

With the US Military entering the picture, with the developments of the "bald feller", things should get very interesting or begin to suck very fast.

The shot of Hawkins perched on the tank watching the train had a bit of an ominous feel to it... When the helos flew over it had a very oninous feel to it....


With the right leadership and clearer thinking it seems to me that things could have been planned much better

On the topic of "Hasty Militias".... There should have been no hasty militia at all... This should have been planned for and enacted months ago... I find it hard to believe that this was not done...

 

[lionking]

yeah I always watch the show.Jericho and Lost are the only 2 I do.

there is alot of stupid things that happen but still it keeps my attention.US military entering the picture?,did you see the flag they were flying?Roque elements it seems.

Had to laugh when they used one of the mortar rounds in the tank....and just standing behind a barricade...Id be prone under cover,you cant hit what you cant see or at least a smaller target but anyway.The high ground,they could have shot up the trucks before they dismounted.

 

[miko]

Here are a few comments, some based on a practical experience.

Militia effectiveness
Militia armed with battle/deer rifles can be very effective against an army - as long as it doesn't try to pretend is an army.
Generally, militia should not try to hold fixed objectives against a prepared army assault. But then again, special forces and paratroopers are not effective against an army while holding fixed objectives.

In many situations where the army and militia are not screwing up by the numbers, army in general is at a great disadvantage to militia and military only has so much special forces to go around. Not that militia would not sport plenty of ex-SF guys, if push came to shove.


Movies
Real warfare is amazingly unspectacular. When I was a tank crew, the significant part of my attention was keeping track of the two tanks right and left to mine - supposedely separated by 150-300 feet.
Locating the enemy could be just as hard. We had cases when the opposing tank batallion lines (30+ units) mutually penetrated (simultaneous assault, assault/defence) and ended up in teh rear of each other and most commanders/gunners have not seen an "enemy" tank.

In infantry combat it's even worse. One can take part in a pitched battle at stone-throwing range with dozens of people on each side and not see an enemy once, unless you count occasional muzzle flashes that might just be friendlies. Of course an experienced fighter has ways of detecting what's going on but as far as silver screen experience goes, you might just as well have soundtrack only.

miko

 

[tomstrains]

Jericho helicopters

Anyone have a guess what helicopters were flying over in the end?

I was a reservist for 12 years & can't seem to identify them. They look like an English Wessex.

They are certainly not a Hind, Kamov, Bell (Huey or Cobra), Sikorsky (blackhawk, nighthawk, etc...). Not a CH-46 type either.

~~tom!

 

[HarryB]

We will never no the outcome now, CBS canceled this show

 

[BGlaze250]

Yeah, it's disappointing.