The Rat Patrol!

[Phog Allen]

Hey chaps. Those of you in your forties or better will remember this great old television show. Netflix has both seasons available for streaming.

Christopher George was great as Sgt Troy and Gary Raymond was equally great as Sgt. Moffit. I can remember watching the reruns of this show in the late 60's and there was nothing I wanted more than to be a Desert Rat, jump over sand dunes in a Jeep, and shoot up some Gerrys. Even if the war had been over for twenty five years! Hey, I might have been six or seven years old but was ready to fight. Even if it did become obvious to me later the Desert Rats were British and notched up quite a record for themselves.

Mostly the show was just plain fun. It is amazing to look back on the supporting cast and see now famous actors. In the second show of season one, Ed Asner plays a German doctor treating one of Troy's men who was wounded. I knew I recognised the German officer Hans Dietrich they tangled with all the time as well. He went by his German name in the show; Hans Gudegast. He went on to be come Victor Newman in the Young and the Restless(I think). I think he goes by Eric Braden(sp?) now. Anyway, I love watching the series even if it is a bit dated now. Chris George died way too young and if what I am reading is correct, some of it was due to heart damage suffered years earlier in accident while filming an episode of the Rat Patrol. If you get a chance, watch an episode or two. It is fun.

Regards, Todd

[DE Shaver]

Man, I used to really love that show. Too bad I'm in Canada.

[xpavar]

I own the DVD set. Great show, it brings back memories of friday nights from my youth when the show was shown on local TV at midnight. Although not the most historically acurate, it's still good entertainment.

[Black Adder]

Agreed. A fun show to watch. Loosely based on the exploits of the British SAS units in Africa which functioned as long-range reconnaissance/commando teams. They were equipped with heavily armed jeeps and trucks and became quite adept at living and fighting in a hostile desert environment.

The Rat Patrol's combat success was soley due to the German's ability to not being able to hit anything they shot at, even at point blank range!

Don