You guys are kidding, right? The majority of what you listed were about rogue elements, retired killing machines, psycho vets or otherwise maverick, anti-rule protagonists. The mainstream military in those works are portrayed as heavies, foils, uncaring bureaucrats or incompetent soldiers. They convicted you for crimes you didn't commit, they left you behind in need of rescue (and refused to make the attempt), they had done (or were doing) nefarious actions that sets up the plot, and.or otherwise they were incompetent enough to get their asses kicked.
Not kidding. The Reagan administration liked to emphasize US military might and much of the public went along with it. Reagan put the military much more in the public eye than it had been in generations. The president started speaking more at armed forces bases and there were a lot more public events where military units took part. Service personnel in DC who had worn civilian clothes to work in the Pentagon and other government offices for years were ordered into uniform.
Along with that, there was a noticeable change in media attitude. Through the '70s, Vietnam was seen in mainstream media as something to be ashamed of and the veterans were treated as traumatized, damaged figures to be pitied at best or feared at worst.
The A-Team came back again and again to a Vietnam message: If the bosses had left the fighting men free to do all they could do, they would have won the war.
Magnum P.I. spent a great deal of time highlighting the sacrifice of military members, the honorability of military service, and presenting Vietnam vets as no different from those of WW2 and Korea. You never saw anything like that in the '70s. There was even a prime time soap about a navy admiral and pilots called
Emerald Point N.A.S. It only lasted one season, but the fact it was made in the first place is notable.
Very few military/war movies have straightforward plots where the boss gives the right orders, the troops carry them out the right way and everything works out fine. It's not dramatic enough. Despite a protagonist who bent the rules,
Top Gun was effectively a recruiting piece and the Navy saw it as such, giving unprecedented (and expensive) cooperation with active units. Again, not something you'd see in the '70s.
I didn't even mention the rise of the Tom Clancy novel, basically action-thriller plots to support extended praises of US military hardware and prowess, though one didn't make it to the big screen till 1990.
Was Vasco de Gama a Portuguese naval officer? Was his crew navy?
Was Columbus a Spanish naval officer? Was his crew navy?
Was Magellan a Spansih naval officer? was his crew navy?
Were there even fuul time professional Portuguese and Spanish navies in thsoe days?
No, navies in those days were assembled by taking over merchant ships as needed, officering them with army officers (usually from the aristocracy) and crewing them partly with merchant mariners and partly with soldiers. At any rate, the post said exploration was handled by the military, but did not say exclusively by the military.
