Hostiles Srarring Christian Bale

[logan]

I was delighted when I saw this film first advertised, but didn’t build my hopes up that it’d be good...but it was, so bought the dvd.

A trivial question though, I really liked the fact Bale’s character had the two revolver holsters, but was intrigued by the way he slung the carbine (I think it was for it) using a strap(s) that seemed to go along the top of his chest...not sure I’ve seen this before, usually in a boot on a saddle or I think attached to a clip on a diagonal broad chest strap.

Was this the norm...or newly styled...even for the film ?

[noggy]

Jan 2, 2020 6:59:01 GMT -6 logan said:

I was delighted when I saw this film first advertised, but didn’t build my hopes up that it’d be good...but it was, so bought the dvd.

A trivial question though, I really liked the fact Bale’s character had the two revolver holsters, but was intrigued by the way he slung the carbine (I think it was for it) using a strap(s) that seemed to go along the top of his chest...not sure I’ve seen this before, usually in a boot on a saddle or I think attached to a clip on a diagonal broad chest strap.

Was this the norm...or newly styled...even for the film ?

Or maybe just a soldier carrying his weapon how he wanted to in the field? The film is set to the early 1890s, when the US Army still was a Frontier army and not that professional (Montrose, arrest me if wrong). I wouldn't put too much in it, if not all the soldiers did this too. Them it would be after the book according to the movie makers, wrong or right.
 
I think most soldiers have carried arms slightly or very not after the book-ish. During my time in the Army, the AG 3 didn`t really allow to be carried in "wrong" ways, but Lord knows the HK416 (I believe some US forces use this too) was so easy to handle in comparison people tended to carry it how they pleased hopefully for the most part when unloaded.

All the best,
Noggy

[montrose]

www.historynet.com/emory-upton-and-the-shaping-of-the-u-s-army.htm

The professionalisation of the US Army started in the 1880s, by fits and starts. Basic Rifle Marksmanship training finally started. Basic training was installed, removed; back and forth. I am very interested in this transition as I am named after my grandfather, who joined the 3rd Cavalry in the 1890s.

Modifying gear was common, as you say, it was a frontier army.

Now let me address the UK Zulu wars and the US Indian wars. Both Armies had traditions based on the Napoleonic Wars, but were transitioning reluctantly to changes in technology and in fighting non peer enemies, asymmetrical warfare.

My hypothesis is that each army had made adjustments to the enemy they faced. The UK army that fought the Zulus would have been hopeless against US Indians. Too slow, and shoulder to shoulder formations against Indians had been obsolete sine the 1700s. The Indians would retain the initiative, fighting only when and where they chose. But the Zulu were an infantry force who did massed charges against firearms, obsolete since the 1600s. So British incompetence was still superior to Zulu incompetence. They lost the battle, won the war.

The US army would also be useless against the Zulu. First, it was too small to even fight that campaign. Look at the 7th Cavalry's disastrous supply trains: they would have starved without ever seeing a Zulu.

LBH was an aberration for the US army. We won most battles and all campaigns. Remember that the Sioux and allies were driven from the region and completely defeated by 1877. Sitting Bull fled to Canada for sanctuary, like our draft dodgers from the Vietnam war. The British suffered numerous defeats and setbacks due to obsolete tactics. It was the Spanish American War for the US and the Boer War for the UK that finally led to true, meaningful reforms towards a professional army.

[Mike Powell]

Bale's carbine is hung from a carbine sling. The sling, a broad leather strap, was worn over the shoulder and across the chest and back. Like a belt, its furniture was a buckle allowing length adjustment. Free to slide on the strap was a metal snap clip that could be attached to a "saddle ring" mounted to a bar fixed on the wrist of the carbine. So attached, the carbine then hung more or less vertically at the trooper's side with the receiver just below his waist. This was an equipment common in concept, if not detail, to most cavalry of the 19th century and before. In the U.S. service it persisted through the Krag Jorgenson carbine Model of 1896.