Why can't the media get the military branches right?

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

I guess it is a pet peeve, but it can also unnecessarily upset some people to confuse soldiers and marines etc. For instance MSNBC had it scrolling that the second Marine had died from the granade attack in the 101st. Well 101st is Army and he was a soldier. 3rd Infantry Division(which includes 3rd of the 7th Cav) is the Army. And the Apache that went down was NOT Air Force, but the Army. SO many errors that they should not be making at this time. Why can't they get it right? I am sure many people are taking what they say as the truth and it can be upsetting to those that may not catch the mistakes.

 

[AirForceRocks]

Well 101st is Army and he was a soldier.

Actually, the second person that died in the grenade attack was an Air Force major, not a soldier of the 101st.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

Yes, I did do a search after I posted this and found he was with the Air National Guard. STILL not a Marine. I guess he was attached to the 101st. ?? See, the media can confuse anyone ! I learned when DH was in the Gulf War not to beleive a lot of what I heard from the Media! They had his regiment entirely wrong ! Any other big errors that you see in the news about the branches? DH cringes...they even mislabel weapons...

 

[Grog]

That's a pet peeve of mine too. Marines are Marines, not Soldiers. Soldiers are Soldiers, not Marines. I hate it when they get the hardware wrong. I saw a pic on the CNN site the other day and the caption called it a British tank of the Royal Fusiliers. First, it wasn't a tank, it was a Warrior IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle), the Brit equivalent of our Bradley. Also the RF are an Infantry Regiment. They have no tanks unless they are attached from another unit temporarily. I saw another pic yesterday that showed a Brit Self Propelled Artillery piece referred to as a tank. Jeez....it's not that hard to get it right. You would think the major networks could afford a copy of Jane's (Not the cheapest books in the world, but CNN could afford them)

 

[Keli]

I've been wondering about this too because it seems so unprofessional. I don't understand a lot about the different branches of the military and I'm sure I'm missing lots of mistakes but there are quite a few that even a novice like myself has caught. The networks all seems to have military experts on staff right now and it seems like they'd run some of this stuff by them before putting it on the air.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

You would think they could hire someone who knows what they are talking about!
Well, MSNBC just changed the word "Marine" to "Soldier". I guess it should be "Airman"?(AirForceRocks, you would know) DH says he may have been attached to the Army's 101st as their air defense coordinator. Perhaps they will get it right eventually-would be nice for the family involved.

 

[AirForceRocks]

Yes, he would be an airman. I believe he was the air liasion to the 101st.

 

[Saffron]

Why can't the media get anything right?

First it's this, then it's that, then it's this and then it's that. If they would just wait until they have facts instead of trying to "out scoop" each other and trying to drive up the ratings, maybe we as a people can get a better grip on what's happening.

Right now there is a breaking story: 15 Iraqi civilians have been killed in a market, POSSIBLY by an Iraqi missle, MAYBE it was one of our missles and I swear, this is what the news quotes a military official as saying, "We're not sure, we have to figure it out, but if it was one of ours, we apologize."

Good grief! The media is now putting our military on the defensive for something that MAY or MAY NOT have happened (not the killing, but whether it was our missle), just so they can be the first to report breaking news.

 

[Keli]

Saffron, I believe they are now saying this wasn't one of our missiles. I don't mind the mistakes made on breaking stories, I understand that they are trying to get the info out right away, especially since they usually let us know that the information is sketchy at that point. It's when it's information that doesn't change that they are getting wrong that I begin to wonder. Marines will never be called soldiers, etc.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

Me too Keli, I actually heard one network refer to Ft. Hood as an Air Force base !

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

How about this one...last night MSNBC showed footage of an aircraft taking off from an aircraft carrier and called it an AWAC. BIL flies in those - they are Air Force, not Navy. Navy has their own version and before the commentator could finish his little bit my 15 year old son was correcting him with all of the data!

Now me, I only know that one is Navy and one is Air Force but I do know that the Air Force version doesn't take off from and land on carriers!

The budget these news agencies have and all of the retired experts they could hire and they can't get these details right.

Deb