Tom Cruise is insane. Period. And that was a stupid thing to say.
But honestly, a lot of guys come back from ‘combat’ with this story, “This is no sh*t, there I was... sitting in the air conditioned TOC, eating pog bait, reading a book... All of a sudden, the commander comes in pissed that somebody forgot to sign off on a leave form for PVT Sucky! Hell broke loose that day, I can tell you.”
Yes, a lot of guys do bust their butts, get shot at, and blown up, but most don’t.
And don’t even get me started on the Air Force... Oh, hell. Why not?
One of our neighbors was sent to an AF base in Kuwait and they *loved* it. Said it was like a hotel. They had a friggin’ POOL. He called his wife every week talking about the awesome food at the chow hall, how his tan was fantastic, spent three hours a day at the gym... Meanwhile my hubby was sitting in a trailer surrounded by wire, and sleeping in an airplane hanger with 50 other (farting) guys.
So yeah, compared to *some* deployed people, TC definitely works harder and has more physical demands.
Shouldn’t have said it, though. Nope. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
While that may be true, I don’t think Tommy Boy was comparing himself to some REMF. My son was a Cav Scout over there. At the FOB life was pretty good. On 3 day patrols, not so much.
I also have a buddy blown up in a HMMWV (Hummer). Now he has all kinds of health problems. He did not have a stunt double for that scene.