OK, in the other topic the question was asked if the bombs disposal team was part of the military or were they civilian contractors working for the military? This got me thinking. Countdown obviously establishes that Mac had a military background and has been in the Vietnam war. Interesting for a guy who renounces violence and was traumatized for what happened with a gun in his childhood still joins the military. I think back than everyone had to go to the military so it might not seem that odd or did Mac join in voluntarily? And how did he got into the bombs disposal team? He obviously knows his stuff about bombs so disarming them so they wouldn't cause damage or kill seems like logical thing for Mac. I don't know a lot on military branches, I guess the bombs disposal team is like their bomb squad. But it is interesting perhaps to find out how he got there. Or did he go in through the United Nations, maybe Mac was a Blue Helmet? I'm going to have to read into what United Nations are more all about. But this is interesting stuff to think about really.

What are your thoughts?

I'm not 100% sure on this, since I never paid attention in history class... but I believe there was a draft for the Vietnam War in 1969, which would have made MacGyver 18 and of drafting age. So most likely he was drafted in... now, I was never in the military, so I could be very wrong about this, but it's possible MacGyver was able to request something other than fighting on the front lines, or he may not have been able to be on the front lines for one reason or another. He would have most likely gone through some sort of weapons/combat training regardless. I have a friend who was in the Navy, but he has a heart condition. He still served, but was kept out of combat and I believe he was a dispatcher... I think.

I also have a friend whose father was in the Vietnam War as a marine sniper. Apparently it was pretty brutal from the stories he tells me. Often stuff that makes Game of Thrones look like a walk in the park. It would go in line with Mac's distaste for violence from seeing it during his time in the military.

That about all I know... lol

He never went to Nam. He was a draft dodger who slipped over the border into Canada to fulfill his dream of becoming a pro hockey player & in lieu of fighting a lost caused in Southeast Asia. JK. But it's not too unrealistic a take!? Btw, and along the same lines, was there ever an explanation as to why his love for Western films (re: mega violence)? You would think that that movie genre would be taboo for his mindset and modus operandi.

If you get to choose in which branch you want to end up, I can understand it. I can't see Mac going into full battle, I'd leave that to Earthquake and Jesse Colton. But I think soldiers are also placed in the specific branches in which they are either trained to or have the abilities for. Knowing MacGyver's scientific knowledge, seems logical, like I said before. To me a bomb is a bunch of wire with a timer or a couple of sticks of dynamite with burning fuse. To Mac a bomb is a glass casing with vacuums, lights, powder, bubbling liquid, lasers, maybe a beeping sound, motion detectors, magnets...

Joe, I think what he likes about westerns is not about the violence. I think Mac likes the old West life. The outdoors, horseback riding on the prairie, living the quiet life on a ranch away from civilization. Nobody to bother him, living a simple life, no complications.

I've often wondered about the westerns myself, to the point I had Sam tell him about it in one of the VS stories lol!

You don't have to be a fan of guns to appreciate a movie/tv show with guns in it.

I don't own a gun, and probably never will own a gun... but I watch shows/movies and play video games where guns are the main weapon. And it's FUN! However, I would never go out, buy a gun and see shooting people as being "okay" in real life. I'm totally against that.

My Dad HATES guns and is a pretty non-violent person. However, he idolizes Indiana Jones and THIS is his favorite scene. It's all about being able to differentiate between reality and fantasy.

That's why statements like "violent video games promotes violence" is incorrect because in order for that to happen, the person has to have violent tendencies already and can't distinguish the difference.

I always believed that MacGyver liked that stuff because it was nostalgia thing... as he's always seen watching it when he's relaxing or falling asleep. I do the same thing with MacGyver and old Disney cartoons... it's all about the nostalgia. lol

I grew up with movies like Lethal Weapon and also Indiana Jones. I like that and maybe it's for Mac the same thing. He probably grew up watching Bonanza or something.

They clearly couldn't have drafted everyone who fitted the criteria (male, American, able-bodied, the right age, etc) 'cos as far as I can tell they didn't draft RDA.

True, but it's one thing to appreciate and watch the occasional film, and quite another to have it as an overwhelming, favorite genre and then constantly lucid dream about them. Guns seemed to put him a bit on edge, yet westerns were his goto movie for relaxation after a long assignment.

You would think he would have been more into adventure or sports movies, activities that more channelled his own personal interests. If we didn't know Mac's film interests, I don't think anyone based on his revealed personality, would have put him down as an 'oater' fanatic.

People like things for various reasons. May not have anything to do with the gun aspect.

But my opinion on westerns is pretty casual. My mother loved westerns, especially if Audie Murphy was in it. So, I don't see the problem with MacGyver liking westerns.

People just like things because they do. I usually just leave it at that.

People are strange. Some people I know get quite excited about certain types of pain, but insist that they dislike blistered feet and stubbed toes as much as everyone else.

And I remember someone on the radio mocking the existence of some vampire convention where the caterers wanted to know who wanted the vegetarian option - because apparently a person's fantasy life has to match up with their real life. I'm sure there's some steak/stake joke there.

I suppose you could be totally anti-gun and still enjoy violent theatre for leisure entertainment. A bit of a conflicting mindset though.

As kids, we would watch westerns and then go out and play 'guns' or 'cowboys and Indians' after the film had ended. We'd also discuss the models of the guns used in the movie, and count shots, to make sure that continuity/reality of it was proper. Sometimes a cowboy with a six-shooter would fire 20 shots or so without visually reloading.

Hard not to notice all those guns, and Mac being Mac and his line of work would have had to take an interest in (at least) the technical aspect of all those side arms. Probably used their plots/scenarios as a - what would I do in that situation primer - for his upcoming assignments.

I think I remember telling RDA in a TV appearance (Vicky Gabreau?) that he wasn't drafted in in the end because he didn't have full range back in his arm yet (after breaking it in that Hockey accident back then) and that it helped that he's partially colorblind.

I think I remember telling RDA in a TV appearance (Vicky Gabreau?) that he wasn't drafted in in the end because he didn't have full range back in his arm yet (after breaking it in that Hockey accident back then) and that it helped that he's partially colorblind.

Partially colour-blind? Now some of 's more questionable fashion choices make so much more sense!

It was just weird when I realised he was old enough to have been drafted. Being British, I'm in the position where nobody in my family has been drafted into fighting since World War 2. My grandparents were in the armed services: they're dead now but they would be in their 90s or older.

He explains it a bit more in one of Kate Ritter's Stargate feature articles: http://www.rdanderson.com/stargate/features/2003-07-rda.htm

[Regarding favorite colors, Richard has mentioned in the past that he is colorblind, but he elaborates:]
Slightly. It's not debilitating. Mine's in blue. There's a blue-green sector, or there are some hues of blue and green that will blend. They'll kind of... do this [gesturing an overlap with his hands]. It's very subtle, and most of the time I can tell what's what, but sometimes they'll just both come out as grey, so I can't distinguish sometimes. But it's so insignificant, although I've made some fashion faux pas in my color combining, apparently, in the past. And I did lose $50 to Mike Greenburg one time in betting that a sweater on a woman who came into a restaurant in Vail, Colorado was blue, and it was actually green. I was adamant. And I lost $50. But other than that, orange is, I don't know, I'm drawn to it. And if I start thinking, and breaking it down, and intellectualizing it, I could start thinking about Tibetan orange is my favorite color, Wylie identifies orange with her dad for some reason... and it's not red! [laughing]

I think he told Vicky Gabreau that's why he always wears white socks; even when wearing black pants *shudder*

He explains it a bit more in one of Kate Ritter's Stargate feature articles: http://www.rdanderson.com/stargate/features/2003-07-rda.htm

[Regarding favorite colors, Richard has mentioned in the past that he is colorblind, but he elaborates:]
Slightly. It's not debilitating. Mine's in blue. There's a blue-green sector, or there are some hues of blue and green that will blend. They'll kind of... do this [gesturing an overlap with his hands]. It's very subtle, and most of the time I can tell what's what, but sometimes they'll just both come out as grey, so I can't distinguish sometimes. But it's so insignificant, although I've made some fashion faux pas in my color combining, apparently, in the past. And I did lose $50 to Mike Greenburg one time in betting that a sweater on a woman who came into a restaurant in Vail, Colorado was blue, and it was actually green. I was adamant. And I lost $50. But other than that, orange is, I don't know, I'm drawn to it. And if I start thinking, and breaking it down, and intellectualizing it, I could start thinking about Tibetan orange is my favorite color, Wylie identifies orange with her dad for some reason... and it's not red! [laughing]

I think he told Vicky Gabreau that's why he always wears white socks; even when wearing black pants *shudder*

Yes, the white socks or white trainers with dark trousers thing is very noticeable whenever we see Mac running.

Imagine being the woman in the restaurant and wondering why the two men were staring at her sweater, only to find out that they were betting on the colour! I wonder whether she was the one who got to tell them which colour it was or if they solved the question using SCIENCE.

He's colorblind???

I don't know what's so hard to understand about his love for westerns. There's nothing conflicting about that. Because you're anti-guns in real life means you can't like movies with guns in them? If that was so, MacGyver is out of my collection. Or I would've switched channels if I saw him firing that gun in the Pilot. I'm sure Mac likes Indiana Jones, he saw the Last Crusade, Indy kicks a guy in the water (twice) and they don't come back and he was shooting at the colonel on the tank. I think Mac knows all too well they're just movies and that makes it ok because if it isn't, you shouldn't watch movies.

What I don't get either is that people don't watch movies because it's not real. That's the whole point. It shouldn't be real.

Jedi, what do you mean pretty casual? Westerns was already something of the past when Serenity or MacGyver's Women aired. It already had it's prime by than. Though I think some were pretty good: For A Few Dollars More, Once Upon A Time In The West... But once after the 70's Westerns became a dead genre. Eastwood and Costner had a few exceptions afterwards.

Exactly. Things which make for good drama are often things that would be horrible in real life. And a pleasant and peaceful real life would probably make for quite dull drama.

I was thinking about how 's work in bomb disposal meshes nicely with the existence of SAM. If a person thinks they might die the next day, they're less likely to be think, "Yeah, it would be nice to eventually get married to this person and then we can have sex". The whole "live for the now" thing kicks in. Same for the person who thinks they might lose their partner the next day.

Although ... now my mind is wandering off in a strange direction and thinking that surely Mac would ensure that his and Kate's contraceptive arrangements were the most science-y and effective contraceptive arrangements ever ...

I think I remember telling RDA in a TV appearance (Vicky Gabreau?) that he wasn't drafted in in the end because he didn't have full range back in his arm yet (after breaking it in that Hockey accident back then) and that it helped that he's partially colorblind.

I remember that too, it was his arm/elbow injury that got him exempted on medical grounds, but he did bring up the colour blind thing as well.

It means that I'm not concerned about it... lol

Being color blind would sure make it difficult in bomb disposal lol!! My Dad was a WWII vet and was no fan of guns, in spite of growing up hunting on his uncle's farm. I always thought it might have had to do with his experiences in the military. I was lucky in that my Army time was during a relatively "peaceful" era. The closest I got to combat was being stationed in the truce village of Panmunjom in the Korean DMZ. It was more idle threats and oneupmanship while I was there, being one of the last remnants of the Cold War. I like to think that Mac did his time and moved on with his life.

I know the 80s here in the States were big on the Vietnam War and trips back to there. I only recall it being brought up only once with Mac so maybe he (and the writers/producers) felt that the other action shows (Magnum, A Team, etc.) had visited it enough and didn't want to duplicate it. It would have thrown a whole new perspective on who Mac is and how he became the guy we all admire and love!!

When we calculate when Mac left the army, presumably we have to take into account that months have passed between his leaving the army and the 1973 picture (from "Hell Week"), as his hair is quite long in that photograph.

That was probably how he could afford to go to college. A lot of my guy friends that were in the military did so to afford getting into college. From the conversations between Mac and Harry, it didn't sound like Mac and his Mom had a lot of money. Which could explain why Mac lives so simply.

Some people would react to an impoverished background by becoming obsessed with material possessions, though. I don't know whether to attribute his lack of interest in money and status symbols to the way he was brought up, or whether it was part of his character all along. Whichever, it's one more reason for me to like him.

Presumably Mac was Army EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) in Vietnam. They had quite a workload in that war so Mac would have gotten lots of experience in real-world situations. He almost certainly would have had to carry a weapon of some sort, though.

I am amazed that no-one has touched on how Viet Nam might have shaped Mac's skill of making the best outcome in a situation where the problem can not be fixed by conventional means. Viet Nam was a under-developed agrarian country in a state of war against a highly technological foe with immense resources. What the North Vietnamese Soldiers and Viet Minh guerrillas did in times of great hardship was amazing. Here are some examples: They made sandals out of old tires. They would make frameworks and cordage out of bamboo. They built elaborate tunnels and bunker systems with little or no heavy equipment. They created bombs and mines out dud US bombs. The low tech "booby traps" they created were the stuff of nightmares.

I don't want to glorify war, but the truth is that during wartime perseverance and ingenuity often separate the living from the the dead.

Any thoughts?

I'm not sure how link the two together?

MacGyver was part of the US Army bomb squad and on assignment so he would have been transported to and from his assignment locations as required, do what he needs to do and then returned to base.

How do you see it shaping his skills?

I think by the time Mac was send to Vietnam, he must've been in his late teens/early twenties. I think we can mostly assume he learned most of his skills from Harry and heritage. And in Blood Brothers it was confirmed MacGyver was able to fix and improvise pretty much any thing at a young age. A lawnmower and a bike cart comes to mind. I don't see how Vietnam has anything to do with shaping his skills. I can see how he might have come up with various ways to disarm bombs that his command would find remarkable or never thought of, but not on how the war shaped his skills.

He definitely would have filed away what he had observed. The jungle booby-traps used during that particular war where extremely resourceful (have a look at the link below). There are several episodes with macgyverisms that might (arguably) be attributed to his time spent and/or knowledge of Vietnam.


Boobie-traps

Booby traps encountered by infantry on patrol probably (in most instances) would not have warranted EOD attention. The troops would have simply disarmed/destroyed them on the spot. I think that EOD's main attention would have been in the cities/bases/built-up areas.