US veteran ships Hollywood military gear for real-life use in Ukraine

Jon Barton spent his days reading scripts, advising costuming departments and thinking through fight choreography for top military movies.

The retired US marine took his expertise after four tours in the Middle East to Hollywood, consulting and providing military equipment to film sets – a mission to help the entertainment industry better depict military life.

Until late February, when Russia’s President Vladamir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine.

Duty called again, Barton said.

Barton, owner of Night-Fire Media, a military consulting and rental company, is sending most of his company’s tactical gear to Ukrainians fighting Russian troops – backing a David-versus-Goliath fight for democracy that has the whole world watching.

“There is this inherent belief that something is wrong,” he said. “And if you’re someone who’s been trained to fight wrong and to stand up in the face of evil, you inherently get drawn into it.”

Earlier this week, Barton hurried around the Ukrainian Orthodox church in Echo Park, balancing two cellphones and juggling boxes of rifle slings, boots and camouflage uniforms. The supplies were to be boxed and flown to the border between Ukraine and Poland and distributed by volunteers. He said he hadn’t slept for two days.

“It’s super cold, so imagine fighting in those conditions,” Alex Dubov, a professor at Loma Linda University, who has family in Ukraine, said outside the church. “The boots that Jon was just bringing in is like, sent by heaven.”

Barton is not sending weapons or ammo – by law, he can’t – but this is crucial gear civilians often forget, he said. Many are everyday Ukrainians suddenly facing relentless shelling.

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He’s donating about 80% of his inventory, including about 620 uniforms of various camouflage colors, 118 boots of different vintage and 300 pairs of gloves.

“Sometimes we forget the details – the slings, the canteens, the belts, the shoelaces. All that’s important,” Barton said.

The idea emerged after a friend asked if he had extra camouflage uniforms. Barton had already been stirred by an image of young Ukrainian men, clad in knee pads to fight Russian troops, and videos of Russians firing at the press.

“I said hold on, not just that, could you guys use knee pads? Could you guys use belts?” he said. “I have tactical gear, and I have it by the bucket-full.”

Barton was soon heading to Ventura county, where his company houses its inventory of gear from military base stores and third-party contractors, including phased-out colors and equipment for each branch of the military.

“My neighbors kept coming by like, ‘Are you planning for war?’ I’m like, ‘I’m giving it to Ukraine.’ They flipped out,” Barton said.

Bridging fantasy and reality

Barton has made a living advising Hollywood since he first worked as a set extra and realized the uniforms weren’t authentic. He’s worked with actors including Aaron Eckhart and Chris Hemsworth, and his credits include NCIS and Criminal Minds.

“When you’ve got a character using weapons … you want them to have adequate training, and the really important thing that Jon brings to table is that he understands it’s not the military – these actors are playing a role and you can’t treat each one the same way,” said producer Gale Ann Hurd, who first met Barton on the set of Punisher: War Zone.

It’s not about putting a gun in someone’s hand, he said – it’s about authentically bridging fantasy and reality.

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“You could tune in Friday night at 9pm and watch JAG, but it didn’t look like CBS News at 7. What fantasy world are you living in?” he said.

Now, fantasy and reality are colliding again, and the threat of world war, or nuclear fallout, usually reserved for the big screen, feels close to home, he said.

“A lot of people don’t get too scared about this, but the marine in me used to sit through classified briefings and seeing satellite imagery,” he said.

There’s a part of him, too, that wishes he were there.

“My kneejerk reaction is always, let’s go in there, kick some ass,” Barton said. “And then I think about it and [realize], we can’t do that because this and this, and then the politics come into play and I totally get that.”

He also knows his involvement isn’t without professional risk. Barton has noticed some clients aren’t returning his phone calls.

“I’m less desirable to be hired on to a show where they try to take an apolitical stance, even though I’m not doing anything political,” he said. “I’m just trying to help humans.”

Still, Barton hopes larger film studios will follow his lead and donate their fleet of gear.

“Some of these prop companies have acres and acres of equipment, especially just uniforms and boots, something that we wouldn’t even bat an eye at in the film industry,” he said. “Oh, it’s just costumes.”

They say costumes, he said. “I say uniforms.”

The Guardian