What is a Hollywood military advisor?

Answer 1

Normally a military man who is hired by a film company to incorporate accuracy into the military portions of the movie. Examples: 1.) If a naval war movie is being filmed; a Naval adviser will be hired to ensure that the warships used in the film, were of the type that actually existed in the real battle. 2.) If a Vietnam War movie was being made, the adviser would ensure that a Vietnam era cloth camoflage cover was used on the US Army M-1 steel helmet, and not a close appearing post Vietnam cloth cover, such as the "Woodland Pattern" which came out after the war and was used until the new Kevlar Helmet came into use. The advisor will also ensure that M-14 or M-16 rifles are used by US troops in the film, and NOT M-1 Garand rifles...the M1 is a Korean War/WW2 rifle. 3.) In the film "Full Metal Jacket", M41 Walker Bulldog Light Tanks are used by the US Marines when re-taking the city of Hue in 1968. In real life the US Marines and the US Army did NOT use the M41 tank in Vietnam; the ARVN used it (Army Republic of South Vietnam). The USMC/USA used the M48 Patton medium tank...the advisor(s) knew this, but budget and availability constraints did not allow access to Patton tanks for the movie; consequently the M41 Bulldog tanks had to be used...this couldn't be helped. So sometimes Hollywood must bend the truth alittle bit in order to make the film. But, at least, the military technical adviser can work on a project to possibly modify the material into an appropiate "fake" to look real enough to fool the audience into making it look realistic.