- the Army (as with America) did have a HUGE drug problem BUT for the most part, the Army beat it (unlike America)
- like every institution, the Army has it's problems BUT unlike most organizations the Army will take steps to CORRECT it's problems
- the movie will be a poor attempt, with terrible timing, to be a modern Catch 22 ... and will do very poorly
I hope so, Soldier, I hope so. As for the drug problems, IIRC, the problem was well on its way to being solved by then, as the "zero tolerance" policy and the drug testing was in place since 1981 or so, at least in the Navy.
Note also that the plot summary from IMBD that I posted above refers to the Phoenix character as a "conscript", i.e. a draftee which in 1989 was impossible for a Private.
Gives you ANOTHER idea of how they view us...their stereotype is drugged-up draftees running scams, like Hawkeye Pierce. They don't even know or care that it's been an all-volunteer service since 1972, and that drug use has been met with dishonorable discharge since Reagan.