Tommy Lee Jones - The War Hero That Never Was but He Sure Loves to Wear the Uniform!

Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor that has made 64 movies between 1970 and 2020. In 17 of those films he played active, retired or former US Military personnel and in 11 he played Vietnam Veterans, many of whom he portrayed as unbalanced.

            What makes Tommy’s choice of roles curious is despite being of prime Draft age for the Vietnam War and an exceptional athlete being the starting guard on Harvard's undefeated 1968 football team where he was named first-team All-Ivy League, he successfully avoided any Military service or brush with danger. He has never explained how he managed such a remarkable feat but obviously he must have done everything short of maiming himself to avoid being called. Of all the actors too cowardly to have ever served, only Sylvester “Rambo” Stallone has been more blatant in exploiting Veterans then Tommy Lee. The height of chutzpah was Tommy Lee had the balls to play Medal of Honor recipient Five-Star General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. One thing you have to admit about Tommy Lee, for someone that could never bring himself to don the uniform when his Country needed him, he sure has loved to wear one ever since he passed through that “draft eligible” age.

            For the years after the Vietnam War when Vet unemployment rates were high and the public perception of Vietnam Veterans was we were all a “little crazy,” Tommy Lee and “Rambo” Stallone reinforced that perception with the roles they took and how they played us was probably responsible for driving up those rates another 5-10%.  If those guys couldn’t at least portray us accurately, I wish they hadn’t gone out of their way to damage our reputation by making the public think we were all a little unbalanced.

Here are the 17 movies Tommy Lee made where he played something he was too much a coward to ever really be, a Military Veteran:

• Rolling Thunder – Jones plays a Sergeant Johnny Vohden, a returned Vietnam POW and that borders on crazed killer.
• The Park is Mine – Jones plays Mitch Garnett, a crazy Vietnam Vet that takes over New York City Central Park.
• The Package – Jones plays Thomas Boyette, an unbalanced Soldier that had served in Vietnam that escapes while being transported for court martial and is now an assassin.
• Fire Birds – Jones plays Army Chief Warrant Officer Brad Little, a combat Vet Apache Pilot
• JFK – Jones plays Army WWII ex-Major Clay Shaw, wrongfully and accused and acquitted of involvement in the JFK assassination.
• Under Siege – Jones plays Bill Strannix, former Navy Officer Vietnam Vet terminated by the CIA who takes over the USS Missouri with its nuclear weapons.
• Heaven & Earth – Jones plays Marine GySGT Steve Butler, a crazy Vietnam Vet that commits suicide.
• Blue Sky – Jones plays Army Major Hank Marshall, a preposterous story set at a Nevada military nuclear test site.
• Rules of Engagement – Jones plays Marine Colonel Lawrence Hodges, a Vietnam Vet military lawyer.
• Space Cowboys – Jones plays Retired Air Force Colonel William Hawkins, a Vietnam Vet former astronaut.
• The Hunted – Jones plays L.T. Bonham, an ex-Soldier now a civilian military combat and survival instructor.
• In the Valley of Elan – Jones plays Hank Deerfield, an ex-Army MP and Vietnam Vet
• Stranger on My Land – Jones plays Bud Whitman, an ex-Army wounded Vietnam Vet fight the Government over an eminent domain action.
• Captain America – Jones plays Army Colonel Chester Phillips
• Emperor – Jones plays General of the Army Douglas MacArthur
• Shock and Awe – Jones plays author Joe Galloway, famous Vietnam War reporter who co-wrote “We Were Soldiers”
• Ad Astra – Jones plays Clifford McBride, a retired former Military astronaut.
• The Burial — Jones plays Jeremiah Joseph O'Keefe III (July 12, 1923 – August 23, 2016), an American fighter ace, Democratic Party politician, insurance executive, and funeral director. As a Marine pilot in World War he received the Navy Cross for five of the seven kills he recorded over Okinawa. After the war he entered politics, serving as a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1960 to 1964 and as the mayor of Biloxi, Mississippi, from 1973 to 1981.