Stars Earn Stripes: premiere episode

Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu and eight other Nobel laureates have struck out against the new military styled reality show that premiered on NBC Monday night. The Peach Prize winners believe the show promotes violence, glorifies war, and treats the military maneuvers as if they were athletic events.

The show is designed to demonstrate exactly what it takes to be an elite member of the military and first responders by pairing seasoned special ops operators and first responders with celebrities to compete to earn stripes and donations to charities in actual military exercises.

In a letter sent to NBC, General Clark, NBC head Robert Greenblatt, and show producer Mark Burnett stated that, “the program pays homage to no one anywhere;” adding they are, “trying to somehow sanitize war by likening it to an athletic competition.” The letter called for NBC to pull the show from the air.

In response NBC issued a statement stating, “Stars Earn Stripes is about thanking the young Americans who are in harm’s way every day. This show is not a glorification of war, but a glorification of service.”

Show host retired General Wesley Clark opens the show by saying, “I am here to introduce you, the American people, to the individuals that sacrifice so much for all of us.” Clark is a 38 year Army veteran, four star General, West Point graduate – first in his class -, an Oxford University Rhodes Scholar, and former Democratic Presidential candidate.

Entertainment personality Samantha Harris serves as the show’s co-host.

The celebrities competing in “Stars Earn Stripes” are actor Dean Cain, WWE Diva Eve Torres, action star Terry Crews, singer Nick Lachey, boxer and mom Laila Ali, skier Picabo Street, trainer Dolvett Quince, and outdoorsman and the husband of Republican politician Sarah Palin, Todd Palin.

The stars have been helicoptered to a remote military training facility where they train and compete in actual military exercises to earn stripes and money for their chosen charities. Each stripe earns $10,000 for the charity.

Training the celebrities will be Delta Force Army Master Sergeant Dale Comstock; Marine Sergeant Andrew McLaren; Navy Seal Brent Gleeson; Navy Seal, marksman, and author Chris Kyle; third generation military man Army Special Forces Sergeant Grady Powell; Marine Gunnery Sergeant and New York Policeman J.W. Cortes; Navy Corpsman Talon Smith; and Orange County Florida Sheriff’s Deputy and SWAT Commander Tom Stroup.

The team parings are:
Terry Crews and Dale Comstock
Dean Cain and Chris Kyle
Eve Torres and Grady Powell
Laila Ali and Talon Smith
Nick Lachey and Tom Stroup
Picabo Street and Brent Gleeson
Dolvett Quince and Andrew McLaren
Todd Palin and J. W. Cortes

For their first mission the teams will be paired into four man squads for an amphibious assault where they must drop from a helicopter, swim to the zodiac, hit the beach, “take out” enemy targets, break into a shack, arm the ammo, evacuate, and blow up the shack. This exercise will be carried out using LIVE AMMO!

Team Alpha – Dean, Chris, Laila, and Talon
Team Bravo – Dolvett, Andrew, Todd, and J.W.
Team Charlie – Nick, Tom, Eve, and Grady
Team Delta – Terry, Dale, Picabo, and Brent

After performing the exercise Laila said she has a whole new respect for the military. Dean noted that acting is great but doing it for real was whole different affair.

Team Charlie had the best time with 10:12.

Teams Bravo and Delta encountered difficulties when Dolvett and Terry had to be rescued from the water and were unable to complete the mission leaving Todd and Picabo to “soldier on” solo with a little assistance from the operators..

In his after action report, General Clark told all the teams that they did great; adding that the operators did exactly what he wanted them to do and the celebrities exceeded his expectations.

Since they did not complete the mission, Dolvett and Terry had to compete in the shootout to determine who would earn a stripe and who would be eliminated from the competition. Going into the last round Dolvett was ahead but had trouble hitting his target. Terry took out the last target and earned his stripe.

Dolvett and Andrew were eliminated from the competition. After his elimination, Dolvett said that he didn’t realize what the military went through until now.