I enjoyed watching first runs of "Combat!" when I was a high school
student. "Combat!" seemed to constantly be putting Sergeant Saunders'
squad in neat little situations wherein they would flank a German
foxhole and finish off the bumbling Germans with tossed grenades.
Private Kirby was forever looking over the dead Germans and reporting,
"They've had it." So I suppose the series gave me the urge to
participate in the bite size, video game-like challenges of war. But
when I was a sergeant in Vietnam during that war, "Combat!" was
actually shown on the military television network along with re-runs of
"Star Trek" and other shows which would offer homey nostalgia value and
escapism from the harsh realities of the war zone. Sergeant Saunders and his squad never seemed to be lugging any
equipment around while on patrol. But whenever they were in a combat
situation, Sergeant Saunders always had exactly the ordinance that was
needed. Like Mandrake the Magician, he was forever pulling out of his
open field jacket extra clips for his Thompson submachine gun, hand
grenades, and other varieties of primed explosives for the job at hand. The only time I can remember Sergeant Saunders as not having
precisely the equipment needed for the given situation was the episode
in which he participates in a cat and mouse game in an abandoned
village with a German sniper. The German is fluent in English and
attempts to persuade Saunders to surrender by calling out to him to
watch "that sign over there hanging by one hook." Then he whips out
from his position and shoots the thin piece of metal so that the sign
drops. The episode explains why Saunders does not have his Thompson
but not why he is also without his sidearm for the only time ever
during the entire five year run of the series.
student. "Combat!" seemed to constantly be putting Sergeant Saunders'
squad in neat little situations wherein they would flank a German
foxhole and finish off the bumbling Germans with tossed grenades.
Private Kirby was forever looking over the dead Germans and reporting,
"They've had it." So I suppose the series gave me the urge to
participate in the bite size, video game-like challenges of war. But
when I was a sergeant in Vietnam during that war, "Combat!" was
actually shown on the military television network along with re-runs of
"Star Trek" and other shows which would offer homey nostalgia value and
escapism from the harsh realities of the war zone. Sergeant Saunders and his squad never seemed to be lugging any
equipment around while on patrol. But whenever they were in a combat
situation, Sergeant Saunders always had exactly the ordinance that was
needed. Like Mandrake the Magician, he was forever pulling out of his
open field jacket extra clips for his Thompson submachine gun, hand
grenades, and other varieties of primed explosives for the job at hand. The only time I can remember Sergeant Saunders as not having
precisely the equipment needed for the given situation was the episode
in which he participates in a cat and mouse game in an abandoned
village with a German sniper. The German is fluent in English and
attempts to persuade Saunders to surrender by calling out to him to
watch "that sign over there hanging by one hook." Then he whips out
from his position and shoots the thin piece of metal so that the sign
drops. The episode explains why Saunders does not have his Thompson
but not why he is also without his sidearm for the only time ever
during the entire five year run of the series.