In the New Zealand Army we have been used for tasks that are not what I would call a good use of the Militarys time on a few occasions, the worst was being film extras for the lord of the rings for about 2 mth's. I was talking to two soldiers from Ireland and they did the same for Brave Heart.

I have started this thread to see if other defence forces have had the same thing happen and would like to hear back from any one mucked around with non-military tasks.

I think there's actually an Army unit here that provides soldiers for parts in TV shows etc. that feature the military in them. How exactly it's organized, I haven't got a clue.

Dont really see this as being a bad thing, it surely put some coin back into underfunded defence budgets.

Dave

In NZ the money went to the government, not the NZDF.

I would think that being an extra in a movie wouldn't be a bad assignment... not necessarily what the soldier signed up for, but... I have heard of a lot worse assignments...

When they fild stuff military or national related its fine. Not sure about being an extra on lord of the rings. Kind of not what you signed up for In Israel that would lead to some major issues with the press. Although as AB said, there are worse things the Army can have you do(how about 2 weeks of fortification work?).