What are some good books that make soldiers look bad?
Not all of these are anti-war and a couple deal with war less directly than some of the others (i.e., not all are 'war novels'), but all have moments of bad and desperate, war-is-hell behavior: Civil War: The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen CraneThe Killer Angels, Michael ShaaraWW1: johnny got his gun, Dalton TrumboAll Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria RemarquePaths of Glory, Humphrey CobbWW2: The Bridge over the River Kwai, Pierre BoulleThe Caine Mutiny, Herman WoukCatch-22, Joseph HellerKing Rat, James ClavellThe Naked and the Dead, Norman MailerSlaughterhouse-Five, Kurt VonnegutTo the White Sea, James DickeyThe Young Lions, Irwin ShawVietnam: The Short-Timers, and The Phantom Blooper, Gustav HasfordDirty Work, and Close Quarters, Larry HeinemannOne Very Hot Day, David HalberstamThe 13th Valley, John DelVecchioIndian Country, Philip Caputo.
You could try gluing small lengths of pipe into an aluminium drinks bottle for one, and for the steel one - drill a hole into the middle of a cheap can of soupThen empty the soup down the drain glue the pipe in the hole.
