These 5 TV shows and movies are some of the best that are offered, and have so much information that watching just one will give you a comprehensive understanding of the wars that were fought by our country.

1.  Saving Private Ryan (1998) was directed by Steven Spielberg. The movie opens with a squad of soldiers who after landing, must fight their way up the Normandy beach head. They are ordered to find Private Ryan to call him home after learning that both of Ryan’s siblings were killed in action. Moving across Normandy and deeper into France, they have to deal with Nazis, some squad members giving their lives for the sake of one man. The movie shows how far the military was willing to go to make sure the people at home still had someone to look forward to seeing.
2. Battle 360 is a World War 2 documentary that follows the war on the “grey ghost” or better known as the USS Enterprise. The documentary features the Pacific front and demonstrates how it affected the Marines, sailors, and airmen on the Big E, a ship which had the largest target on its back thanks to being one of the 8 aircraft carriers that were not at Pearl Harbor on the day it was bombed. The show follows the Big E through each of its battles, including the Midway and Okinawa. The story helps explain how the navy operates and how the men on the ships handled the Japanese in defensive action or when attacking.
3. Patton 360 is another World War 2 documentary following General Patton and the men under his command. It shows the beginning and end of the way through the eyes of Patton, depicting the hardships he and his men had to face from Africa to Germany. Parts in the show have entries from letters sent to his wife and from his diary. It helps show what generals have to deal with when in war those like Patton especially.

4. Shootout is a historical documentary that depicts gunfights from not only different wars but also SWAT and police shootouts including the shootout in North Hollywood. The show explains the facts, background, and tactics used in different battlefields and eye witness reports from the soldiers and police officers who were involved in the shootouts. This show helps describe the different ways shootouts have been fought through history including WW2, Vietnam, and the recent battles in Iraq.
5. Band of Brothers is a 2001 miniseries from HBO that follows the hard fighting of a company of paratroopers known as easy company. It starts off with the company and paratrooper training. The differences between Major Winters, a well-liked and competent leader, and Captain Sobel, a disliked and an incompetent leader, were stressed. It then goes through the night before the landing on the beaches on D-Day. After that, many other battles are showcased, in which more than one “brother” is killed off. The saddest episode was the one where they found the concentration camps and saw how far the Nazis were willing to go to get rid of the Jewish people. This show helps show what the men who were fighting the Nazis had to go through to succeed in their missions.