User:Jekerlinsmith/James D. Dever

James D. Dever is a senior military consultant and technical advisor to film directors in Hollywood, working on number of films like American Sniper, Hacksaw Ridge, American Sniper, Flags of Our Fathers and numerous other blockbuster films. While stationed with 1st Recon Battalion at Camp Pendleton, Dever was tasked out to work with Clint Eastwood in filming Heartbreak Ridge. At the time Dever was a Gunnery Sergeant, the same rank Eastwood was playing, which made it easier for him to do his job. As a military consultant, Dever works with actors/actresses, works on sets whether it’s with the art department or wardrobe section to make the director’s vision comes true.

Military Career
Dever joined the United States Marine Corps in 1973 and retired as a Sergeant Major (SgtMaj) in 1998; the highest rank held by an enlisted personal in the military. He spent most of his 25-year career with Marine Force Reconnaissance and during that time he was involved in numerous operations and missions across the globe. In the 1990s, he fought in the Persian Gulf War participating in Operation Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and Desert Saber campaigns. Took part in Eagle Pull the evacuation of Phnom Penh, Cambodia and another evacuation in Saigon, Vietnam; Frequent Wind. As a Staff Non-Commissioned Officer he was charged to head High Risk Personal course and Close Quarter-Battle course in Quantico, VA. He trained military and members of the law enforcement community in proper manipulations of handguns in close quarters, taught Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics. Trained with FBI Special Agents and Hostage Rescue Team, FBI’s elite force. SgtMaj Dever was certified SCUBA diving Instructor, Special Weapons and Tactics Instructor and the highly competitive and classified Survive, Evade, Resist, and Escape (SERE) Instructor that is only open to Special Operation Commands, Government Agents and other personal that conduct missions in highly sensitive areas of the world.

Dever deployed to the Persian Gulf once more with 1st Battalion 1st Marines before he retired. Although this time he was the senior enlisted Marine for 1200 hard charging Marines and as a SgtMaj, he was senior advisor to the Commanding Officer.

Advising career
James D. Dever got his first taste as a military advisor as a Gunnery Sergeant (GySgt) when he was ordered by his Commanding Officer to advise the legendary Clint Eastwood in the filming Heartbreak Ridge. The character Eastwood played was a GySgt. in 1st Recon Battalion located at Camp Pendleton, CA, which was exactly was Dever was so it was fitting that those two spent everyday together. In an interview with One room with a view, Dever said, “This is something I’d like to do.’ Working with Clint was awesome; it was fun.” That is in fact what he did when he retired from the Marine Corps in 1998. Since then he has worked on blockbuster films like Captain America: Civil War, American Sniper, Unbroken, Salt, Flags of Our Fathers, and Iron Man, just to name a few.

Devers work begins with the script, after going through the dialogue and giving his feedback to the directors, he moves on to the wardrobe and art department to make sure the uniform and the equipment is accurate. His main task is working with the actors to make sure they are comfortable in their role so they are believable on the screen. He has designed his own boot camp that he takes all of the actors through to train them how to walk and talk like Marines or soldiers. It helps that during his time in the Corps, he was able to work with the Air Force, Navy, Army and numerous other countries military.

While in boot camp, Dever wakes them up at 0530 for physical training, they go on a three-mile run every morning, they learn how to march which teaches them discipline, then they take classes on 782 gear, which is all of the essential gear every Marine is issued with. They learn how to properly wear them so they feel comfortable and they also spend some time at the rifle range learning how to handle and use the weapons they’ll be using on screen. They work on whatever is on the script until they go to bed at 2200 hrs and they do it all over again the next day. The actors get to work on their specifics roles especially if their character is the leader, like Aaron Eckhart was in Battle Los Angeles. Eckhart was the Platoon Sergeant, after PT and chow, he marched the cast from Point A to Point B, when he did it on cast screen he was spot on.

Training actors to be a Marine, a sailor or a soldier in just few weeks is not an easy task. Back in 2003, he started his own Military Technical Advising Company, 1 Force Inc., which has played part in over 40 feature films as of January 2015. The company has 24 core members but Dever gets contracted constantly from service members that get out and are looking for employment. He if he doesn’t have room on his staff, he’ll use them as extras which is a perfect fit, especially in films like American Sniper, Battle Los Angeles, or the Last Samurai where hundreds of extras are needed.