10 More Insanely Accurate War Movie Details

2. How To Really Get A Long Range Radio Working - We Were Soldiers

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Paramount Pictures

"You've got to lick it before you stick it."

According to one of the many lovely commenters on one of the prior versions of this list, that's a rather popular saying within the military, with it referring to the act of lubricating the rubber ring found on the connector of a hand set before sticking it into a long range radio system to get it to work properly.

And as pointed out by another member of the WhatCulture community, one who claims to have been "Signal in the army", that very act is actually on show during the 2002 Vietnam War movie We Were Soldiers.

Keep an eye on one of the people working on the long range radio as Mel Gibson's Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore jogs up to the team with a bunch of troops he's training, and you'll just about catch one of the team sticking their pinky in their mouth for a moment. 

He then goes on to rub his saliva on the inside of the connector for a hand set before plugging it back into the radio, seemingly getting it to work via this well-known method.

The average person would likely never spot this lick and stick moment, but those who have served were quick to praise a rather accurate radio beat.

 
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Lifts rubber and metal. Watches people flip in spandex and pretends to be other individuals from time to time...