For the article on the U.S. Army on the Island, see here
This article lists all the military-related aspects of Lost. This mainly concerns national militaries off the Island, but the survivors also considered forming an army on the Island.
Character involvement with the military[]
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The following are miscellaneous minor characters who are associated with the military,
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Items and locations[]
Weapons[]
- US Army Knife: First found on the Other woman Ana Lucia killed ("The Other 48 Days")
- Rifles: The Others guarding their Others' camp were using rifles that appeared to be M1As (modeled after M-14s, rifles that were standard issue well into the Vietnam War, before being largely replaced by the lighter M-16).("Three Minutes") The rifles in Swan Station were either Russian or Chinese SKS carbines. ("Man of Science, Man of Faith")
- Luger: Used by Tom to hold Kate hostage (Lugers date back to 1890, and were used by the Germans in WWII). ("The Hunting Party")
Vehicles[]
- Military Mercedes-Benz G-Class: Seen at Sam Toomey's house. ("Numbers")
- Drug smugglers' plane: The aircraft's call-sign prefix was shown as 5Z. This is a Kenyan military designation. ("The 23rd Psalm")
- Transportation truck: A "M939 series 5-ton 6x6 United States Army logistical transportation truck" was used by Kelvin and Sam Austen to transport Sayid. ("One of Them")
- Submarine: The submarine used by the Others may be a military vehicle. The interior has been identified by fans as that of a United States Navy Gato-Class Submarine of the kind used in World War II. ("One of Us")
Locations[]
- The Barracks are the primary residence of the Dharma Initiative on the island. ("The Man Behind the Curtain")
- Kelvin, Sam Austen, and Sayid all meet each other during the Gulf War in Kuwait/Iraq. ("One of Them")
Cultural references[]
Literary works[]
- Locke flicks through the pages of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, a book set in the American civil war. ("The Long Con")
- The Odyssey, an ancient literary work frequently compared to the story of Desmond and Penelope, recounts the voyages of Odysseus, a shipwrecked Greek military commander struggling to return from the battle of Troy to rescue his wife Penelope.
- The novel Bad Twin refers to the possibility that the Widmore Corporation were involved in work on behalf of the military, 'other rumors hinted at classified defense contracting or private security work of questionable ethics.'
Miscellaneous[]
- Locke, Sawyer and Pickett talk about distance in "klicks" (military slang for kilometers). This implies that the people they're talking to—Sayid, Jack, and Tom respectively—are also familiar with the term. ("Three Minutes")
- The title of the episode "Hearts and Minds" stems from the strategy used by the US Military to curry the popular approval (win the "hearts and minds") of the Vietnamese people during the Vietnam War. It has become a popular term today denoting the way a society can use its military and public relations skills to conquer a country, not necessarily through brute force but through winning the "hearts and minds" of the people. The term also holds connotations with propaganda and propaganda's fictitious nature. (Wikipedia) (Ideology)
The Lost Experience[]
Characters[]
- DJ Dan was a Gulf War veteran.
- Alvar Hanso has military connections. His biography on the Hanso Foundation website states:
- "He first made his mark during the Second World War, providing munitions to various resistance movements around Europe. After the War, Hanso became the leading purveyor of high-technology armaments to NATO.
- "After decades of keeping the world safe through the development of sophisticated weapons systems, Hanso turned his attention to critical areas of science and technology - always searching for new ways to improve the human experience, and create a brighter future for all humanity."
- M. David Benson, president of the Apollo Candy Company, served in the US army in Korea and is an associate of Alvar Hanso.
- Nils Christer Benson, father of M. David Benson the founder of Apollo Candy, was a US Marine in the Second World War. The Apollo Candy website states,
- Leaving Norway, with his pregnant wife, Elli, Nils established a new life in the U.S., joining the U.S. Marine Corps in December of 1941. Sadly, however, Nils Benson lost his life on Omaha Beach just a few short years later. Apollo Candy Company
DJ Dan theories[]
It is of note that DJ Dan, in the plot of The Lost Experience, is a 'nutty' conspiracy theorist, and thus his theories and those of his callers are not always meant to be taken as canon truth for the show. They are often used as parody for real-life fan theories.
In his podcasts, DJ Dan labels Alvar Hanso, "your favourite arms dealer turned mad scientist." (DJ Dan May 16 transcript). He later refers to him as "company founder Alvar Hanso, an arms dealer with ties to the original atom bomb." (DJ Dan June 8 transcript)
In a later podcast DJ Dan asks, "Why are college students building electromagnetic super-weapons? Electromagnetic super-weapons, people." He continues, by suggesting students are "running research simulations for classified electromagnetic super-weapons. And when he decides, 'Hey, I'm 18, I don't need to be contributing to the corporate war machine,' they pull his scholarship." DJ Dan implies that the Hanso Foundation have abandoned a "weapons program" because of his broadcasts. He plays a tape of a student who says that the Widmore Corporation are involved in funding research intended to "simulate an electromagnetic pulse strong enough to knock a space-borne body [like, "the moon"] out of its recurring orbit." (DJ Dan May 26 transcript).
Sri Lanka video[]
- In the first part of the Sri Lanka video, Alvar Hanso states that the purpose of the DHARMA Initiative was to conduct research related to the Valenzetti Equation which he explains was developed at the behest of the U.N. Security Council in response to the nuclear threat of the Cold War.
- "Your research is intended to do nothing less than save the world as we know it. In 1962, only thirteen years ago, the world came to the brink of nuclear war. The United States and the Soviet Union almost fulfilled the promise of mutual assured destruction. A promise they continue to foster through a destructive Cold War. After the Cuban Missile Crisis, both nations decided to find a solution. The result was the Valenzetti Equation. Commissioned under the highest secrecy, through the U.N. Security Council the equation is the brainchild of the Italian mathematician Enzo Valenzetti."
He also states that the Valenzetti Equation relates, in part, to the military threats of nuclear, biochemical, and conventional warfare,
- "It predicts the exact number of years and months until humanity extinguishes itself. Whether through nuclear fire, chemical and biological warfare, conventional warfare, pandemic, over-population... The results are chilling, and attention must be paid..."
In the second part of the video, Thomas Mittelwerk responds to a question by stating that his new Hanso Foundation project is also, among other things, concerned with ending warfare,
- "If you knew, with mathematical certainty, that you could end all famine, war, and poverty, what would you do? Exactly, you'd find the best way to get it done -precisely, surgically, without allowing for any more suffering than is absolutely necessary."
Psychology Orientation test video[]
The Psychology Orientation test video contains several images of explosions, including one which resembles an atomic mushroom cloud.
See also[]