The movie was criticized by some Iraq veterans and embedded reporters for inaccurately portraying wartime conditions.[31] Writing for The Huffington Post, Iraq veteran Kate Hoit said that The Hurt Locker is "Hollywood's version of the Iraq war and of the soldiers who fight it, and their version is inaccurate". She described the film as being more accurate than other recently released war movies, but expressed concerns that numerous errors in the portrayal of military conditions would prevent service members from enjoying the film.[32]
Author Brandon Friedman, also a combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, shared a similar view at VetVoice: "The Hurt Locker is a high-tension, well-made, action movie that will certainly keep most viewers on the edges of their seats. But if you know anything about the Army, or about operations or life in Iraq, you'll be so distracted by the nonsensical sequences and plot twists that it will ruin the movie for you. It certainly did for me." Friedman criticized the accuracy of the film's representation of combat, saying "in real life, EOD techs don't conduct dangerous missions as autonomous three-man teams without communications gear... Another thing you'll rarely hear in combat is an EOD E-7 suggesting to two or three of his guys that they leave the scene of an explosion in an Iraqi city by saying: 'C'mon, let's split up. We can cover more ground that way.'"[33]
At the blog Army of Dude, infantryman and Iraq veteran Alex Horton noted that "the way the team goes about their missions is completely absurd", though he went on to call the film "the best Iraq movie to date".[34]
Troy Steward, another combat veteran, wrote on the blog Bouhammer that while the film accurately depicted the scale of bomb violence and the relations between Iraqis and troops, "just about everything else wasn’t realistic". Steward went on to say: "I was amazed that a movie so bad could get any kind of accolades from anyone."[35]
A review published March 8, 2010 in the Air Force Times[36] cited overall negative reviews from bomb experts in Iraq attached to the 4th Brigade, 1st Armored Division, quoting a bomb disposal team leader who called the movie’s portrayal of a bomb expert "grossly exaggerated and not appropriate", and describing the lead character as "more of a run and gun cowboy type…exactly the kind of person that we're not looking for". Another bomb disposal team member said that the lead character's "swagger would put a whole team at risk. Our team leaders don't have that kind of invincibility complex, and if they do, they aren't allowed to operate. A team leader's first priority is getting his team home in one piece."
On the embedded side, former correspondent for The Politico and Military Times Christian Lowe (who embedded with U.S. military units each year from 2002 to 2005) explained at DefenseTech: "Some of the scenes are so disconnected with reality to be almost parody."[37]
On the other hand, Henry Engelhardt, an adjutant with the National Explosive Ordnance Disposal Association having 20 years' experience in bomb defusal, praised the film's atmosphere and depiction of the difficulties of the job, saying, "Of course, no film is realistic in all its details, but the important things were done very well."[38] Screenwriter Mark Boal noted that The Hurt Locker was produced independently, without US Army extras.[39]
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