Officer A:“Hit it with everything we've got. Commit all the units from Atsugi and Iruma.”
Officer B:“Don't hold anything back! Destroy the target at any cost!!”
Woman (OFF):“Yokosuka's second platoon currently being deployed to the left flank.”
Man (OFF):“The primary land battery has made contact with the target. In the process of engaging. Damage unknown.”
Reichu: These three nameless chaps are officers from the UN Army, but what they're doing in Nerv HQ is beyond me (being as they have their own headquarters in Fuchu).
HeWhoPostsStuff: Knowing Gendo, he probably invited them there so they could have a front-row seat to how useless their efforts are, so they wouldn't question him later, or something like that.
Sephizim: The fact that the UN guys are there raises an interesting point. How far in advance did they know about Sachiel's approach? For all later Angels, they seem to detect their approach at a close enough distance that they really only have time to sortie the EVAs before the Angel reaches the GeoFront. Hardly enough time for the UN guys to go all the way to NERV HQ. Seems to me that getting those guys there would take more time than just the distance traveled to NERV HQ. Or, at least more time than they ever get with the subsequent Angels. Did they know Sachiel was going to be there? I mean, SEELE and NERV have the Dead Sea Scrolls, etc, but even so, it at least appears that they don’t know exactly WHEN the Angels are going to appear. Maybe I’m missing something, but it seems strange that they’d happen to be there the day that the first Angel in 15 years shows up...
Additional Commentary
Reichu: Atsugi is the site of the U.S. Naval Air Facility; Iruma is the headquarters of the Central Air Defense Force; and Yokosuka is the Self Defense Fleet Headquarters and the U.S.'s most important naval facility in the Western Pacific. (I've conveniently marked these locales on the aforementioned region map, BTW.) I wonder if, in the NGE continuity, the Americans are still there? This site on the Air Self Defense Force says “the nation relies on United States forces to provide interceptor capability.”
Dr. Nick: The cracking pencil is an amusing detail. I bet all those guys have ulcers.
Kendrix: Bad random military dude, pencils have feelings, too!
As for why they're there, well, they're technically Gendo's superiors... at least on the papers. They were probably called here so they could watch and at least get the illusion that they're in charge... they *were* comanding the efforts with the conventional weapons until Gendo took over when it all failed.
Sailor Star Dust: Breaking pencil man has always been an unintentionally(?) hilarious moment for me in both NGE and Eva: 1.0.
