"Take it easy." "Nice steady flame." "There you go, you got it." "Come up on your pressure a little." "Slowly, slowly." "Level off." "Level off!" "Cut the flame, cut the flame!" "Hey, damn!" "What are you doing, man?" "¿Que te pasa?" "Esta loco." "Oh, mama." "What's the matter with you?" "Are you crazy?" "I guess that's what they mean by the scorched-earth policy." "I will talk to him." "Real warm guy." "Well, he's drawn a tough assignment here." "These guys have just been drafted by the militia, and most of them have never even held a gun before." "That's why we call them rough puffs." "I hear you." "You know, uh, LT," "I don't mind this training and stuff, but if we could move the graduation ceremonies back a couple of days..." "No can do." "The Army has spoken, in its infinite wisdom." "I'll talk to you tomorrow morning, sergeant." "I'm looking forward to that." "Looks like he's giving the kid a pretty rough time." "Yeah, the kid nearly French-fried us, Marvin." "You guys all right?" "For now, but I'm not putting any money on tomorrow." "We could really use Percell and Taylor." "Yeah, man." "How come two of our best guys are working the motor pool?" "Look, two of the rough puffs were working in our motor pool and they got drafted by their army." "Two of ours work the motor pool till they get replacements." "Stupid way of doing things, if you ask me." "The Army ain't asking." "Get that hose over here, quick!" "Come on, come on, come on!" "The dinks you are replacing were good dinks." "They understood the needs of my little women." "Like Marie-Louise here." "Marie-Louise, sergeant?" "The jeep, soldier, is the mother superior of the Army." "Without her, nothing happens." "Have you got that?" "Yes, sergeant." "Now, the jeep sees hard service." "When she comes home, she's just like the rest of us." "She wants a long drink, and a nice bath." "Now give it to her!" "I want to be able to eat my next meal off this engine." "Yes, sergeant." "Yes, sergeant." "And I thought all the loose wires were out in the bush." "Hey, man, what do you use to clean an engine?" "Taylor, don't you know anything about vehicles?" "Yeah, I know how to drive them." "Well, expand your horizons, brother." "You turkeys the new guys?" "Ain't he the bright one." "You must be some sorry soldiers if they picked you to replace those guys that got drafted by the popular forces." "Thought I'd come by to give you some friendly advice." "Sergeant Becktel likes his jeeps clean." "Yeah, well, we worked that out already." "Thanks." "Then you better get on it." "Punk!" "It'll be a fun evening." "Ahem." "Hey, you left a 5 a.m. wake-up call, sir." "I think I meant 5 a.m. tomorrow morning." "Come on." "Come on." "Up and at 'em, soldier." "Let's go!" "Hi." "Hi." "So will you be back by tonight?" "I should be." "I gotta go for a truck ride out a couple klicks." "Then I gotta hike with these new trainees, drop them off at the first checkpoint, shake their hands, say, "Congratulations, you're on your own."" "Now go stop a bullet."" "Oh, Myron, stop." "I'm serious." "These guys are undertrained, they're underequipped." "You should see these poor peasants." "They're right out of the ville." "Their sergeant thinks he's General Patton." "I'm doing a story on a ville near Phu Long." "I'll probably see some of them today." "You didn't say anything about that last night." "Well, we..." "We got kind of busy last night." "We did?" "Mm-hmm." "What'd we do?" "The ville was relocated, but some of these people refuse to go." "Their ancestors are buried there." "It's a perfect example of how these people keep their traditions alive in spite of the war." "There's fighting close to Phu Long." "No, it's not that close." "Besides, there's a civic action squad there." "It's fine." "How are you going to get there?" "Uh, chopper." "McKay." "Yeah." "You have a problem with that?" "You've just been running up a hell of a bill with this guy." "He likes me." "Well, I don't blame him, but I don't think I like the way you're using him." "I'm doing my job, which is to get out to that ville." "Besides, nobody gets used who doesn't want to be." "At least nobody with a smile like his." "That's it." "Come on!" "I can smile too." "Plasma kit, blood expander kit." "Didn't I already give you guys some of those?" "We lost them." "I have chloroquine." "I'm up to my ears in it." "The problem is the malaria is resistant to it." "What my patients need is dapsone." "No, I'm sorry, you're not hearing me." "Chloroquine just doesn't work." "Hey, try to keep an eye on this batch." "Try to keep an eye on this batch." "All right, go slip this to that Tran kid, and let's hope he speaks enough English to follow directions." "Catch y'all later." "I don't have time for this." "Do me a favor, and save your confessions for the chaplain." "I have three patients with malaria who need dapsone." "Now, how do I get some?" "Call Mr. Pilchowski right now, in Saigon, and tell him to expect me." "I'll handle you later." "Whew!" "Remind me never to get in your way." "We got short-changed on malaria drugs, so Supply sends my share to the surgical unit." "Because psychiatric patients can't possibly have any physical problems." "Motor Pool, this is Dr. Seymour." "I want a jeep, a driver, and a body." "I'm going into Saigon, and don't argue with me." "Thank you." "Congratulations." "You just discovered how to deal with the Army." "Which is?" "Yell at them." "Sorry, it gets a little frustrating around here sometimes." "I can appreciate that." "What are you doing here, anyway?" "I thought today was Operation Babysit." "Well, the popular forces' first aid kits were half-empty." "And even though they're not part of our Army," "I thought they deserved more than a roll of gauze and a handful of APCs." "So, me and my buddies have been scarfing up a few medical supplies." "I figured the doctors wouldn't mind helping out our allies." "Don't tell me these things, Zeke." "Be careful." "I don't know any other way." "Well, I'm really excited about taking those guys out for the first time." "Come on, LT, Sergeant Vinh looks like a good soldier to me." "Being a good soldier and whipping those draftees into shape are two different things." "Anything you want to add to that, LT?" "Ah, I think he about covered it." "LT." "Here." "So I can flirt with you on the way." "Oh, Johnny, knock it off." "Not a chance." "So how long will we be on the ground in Phu Long?" "About a half an hour." "Not exactly in-depth journalism, huh?" "Well, at least you'll be well-dressed." "That's for you." "I got it in Tokyo." "It's silk." "A lot of little worms gave their all for that." "Thank you." "It's lovely." "What's the occasion?" "No occasion." "That's how I always think in red silk things." "Well, a guy can dream, can't he?" "Five'll get you 10, Johnson." "Half these guys are reporting straight to Uncle Ho." "The other half just won't be there if we need them." "Give them a break, Ru." "How big a break, huh?" "Long day, LT." "It's a long day." "Take the safety off!" "Green Wizard, this is Bravo-2-6, over." "Receiving small arms fire." "Will assess the situation and advise." "Get back here!" "Man, I knew they'd punk out on us." "Anderson!" "In the tree!" "In the tree!" "Hold your fire!" "Hold your fire!" "All clear!" "No thanks to those rough puffs." "In the bush, two o'clock!" "That was the last one." "Hold your fire!" "Sergeant, you look surprised." "Haven't you seen a simple flanking maneuver before?" "Yeah." "Your guys are as crazy as ours." "Yeah!" "Mr. Pilchowski?" "Uh, you must be Dr. Seymour." "That's right." "Lenny Pilchowski." "Where is my dapsone?" "Very much my fault." "Um, see, we're a French company, and, um, well, it takes a while sometimes for a product like dapsone to be approved by the Army." "I've been getting it every month." "Well, that's because" "I know it works better than chloroquine, so I've been sending it to the base for our guys." "You know, kind of on the sly." "Let no man say that Mrs. Pilchowski's son is not a patriot." "I guess I came in here with the wrong attitude." "May I?" "Thanks." "Uh, just take this down to Shipping and they'll fix you right up." "Thank you, Mr. Pilchowski." "I'm sorry, I had no idea that you were going out on a limb for us." "Uh, it's Lenny, and, uh..." "And it's really no problem." "I'm usually much more organized than this." "Mm-hmm." "I've had a lot on my mind recently." "Marion and I haven't been getting along." "I'm sorry." "I hate saying this about her, but, uh, I'm afraid she's taking me for granted." "God, I hope this doesn't make me sound too petty, but I saw her with someone else." "I mean, you're a shrink, you understand these things, right?" "I try." "You could do me a favor." "Would you have lunch with me?" "Lunch?" "Yeah, while the guys load the truck." "See, uh, Marion has lunch at the same place every day, and if she saw me chowing down with a broad of your stature..." "Get it?" "I'm beginning to." "Great." "I don't know what she sees in this yutz." "I mean, the guy's got no style." "Do you really need that for lunch?" "Oh, I always carry this." "It goes with the jacket." "Do you like this?" "CIA guy gave it to me." "It's what they wear." "It's lovely." "Go around to the back and take care of this." "Mr. Pilchowski and I are gonna have a quick lunch." "Fool's wearing a CIA jacket." "I thought she was gonna nail that guy's hide to the wall." "Guess that's why she didn't." "Hey." "It's payback time, Taylor." "Let's get those guys." "Hold it, bro." "They're out of our weight class." "That never stopped me before." "Come on!" "Yeah, I got a better idea." "Just back me up." "Shine 'em, boy." "Those ain't no paddy-daddy shoes." "Don't mind him, son." "They're probably his first pair." "Your boy want to finish the job?" "You know how to do this, don't you?" "Yes, boss, I do." "But not as well as I know how to drive a jeep." "Brother Atwood, I do believe we've been challenged." "You prepared to lose enough to, uh, make this interesting?" "Not money." "Let's make it real interesting." "You know, ever since I met you," "I've had a vision of you polishing my ride." "Losers handle the entire motor pool detail for a week." "From out to the supply warehouse to the airlock highway and back." "You're on." "Just remember:" "It ain't the jeep, it's the driver." "That was real smart." "Have you seen how he handles his jeep?" "You can bet he knows how to drive." "Yeah, but does he know when to slow down?" "Remember that sharp curve about a mile out?" "Taylor, you are evil." "Yeah." "All right." "Stack them over here." "Just put them with the rest of them." "All the faces here have the same expressions." "It might be resignation, or perhaps they're beyond feeling even that." "Lady, lady!" "Whoa!" "Hi, there." "You American?" "I like American!" "Thank you." "What's your name?" "Give it back to her." "This is my friend, okay?" "Sorry, lady." "Now, there's some rice and sheet plastic in the chopper for you guys." "No cigarettes?" "Stop hustling me, Henry." "Henry?" "He wanted an American name, so I gave him one." "Where are his parents?" "Dead." "Five years, he thinks." "He's not sure." "The whole gang's orphans." "But they're babies." "How do they live?" "Oh, they get by." "The other villagers help them out, me and the guys bring them what we can." "Come on." "There's enough for everybody." "Here you go." "Lady, okay we take?" "Yeah." "Yeah, it's okay." "Go ahead, take it." "What do they want with boxes?" "They use the cardboard to line their sandals, when they have sandals, or they sell it to somebody else so they can line their sandals." "Do you have another run to make?" "Yeah." "Pick me up afterwards." "I want to stay here." "Alex, you've seen all there is to see." "No, I haven't." "I want to spend some time with these kids." "I want to write their story." "Come on, boys." "Let's do it." "Coming up!" "They don't see it." "That's right!" "Yahoo!" "Oh!" "Man, look at this!" "Sarge is gonna kill you." "It's not my fault." "I didn't know." "Don't step in the water." "You'll mess up your shine." "Yeah, boys, y'all be good." "We got to go." "Hey, Tran, let me give you a hand." "Ah, I've had bug bites worse than that." "He doesn't speak English." "Yeah?" "Well, tell him he ain't hurt that bad, and you guys did okay." "You guys take this souvenir hunting serious, huh?" "Those aren't souvenirs, and my men are not thieves." "Ruiz!" "Let me take this." "Yo, Ru." "Yo." "Couple of things you got to know, buddy." "Like what?" "They aren't hunting for souvenirs." "Then why did they take all that stuff, sarge?" "They stripped those guys naked, man." "Ruiz, they need it." "V.C. uniforms?" "Come on." "They can't run around in those." "The women cut the material up into clothes for the kids." "That's a shame." "Yeah, it is a shame." "And they don't like having their noses rubbed in it, and that's why you're gonna apologize." "Sarge, come on." "I don't..." "Ruiz, just do it." "I never had much problem handling women." "Not that I'm not selective, but I guess they like what I'm selling." "And who am I to argue?" "I'm not much for arguing, myself." "There was this one difficult law student, though." "But my mother fixed me up with her, so I don't really count that." "Unless you think that I should?" "No." "He's gonna kill me!" "He's gonna kill me!" "The gun!" "The gun." "All right, everybody, stay back!" "Stay back, now." "Ma'am..." "It's okay now." "It's all over." "Farmer Boy, this is Blue Velvet, over." "Farmer Boy, this is Blue Velvet." "Somebody answer me, or I start biting my nails, over." "You didn't see me do this." "Got it." "Alex!" "Alex!" "The civilian correspondent's missing." "I'm commencing search." "Over." "Oh, that's a negative," "Remain in the vicinity." "Do not land." "I have no support for you at this time." "You're breaking up bad." "I can't understand a word you're saying." "Out." "Looks like we hit the checkpoint." "I'm gonna take a break here with you and then we'll be on our way." "You're doing an excellent job." "Well, LT, they've done real good, real professional." "Yeah, well, they better keep it up, because after lunch they're on their own." "Are we expecting anybody?" "No." "Scotty?" "Throw that antenna up." " Red Dog, this is Blue Velvet." " Over." "Blue Velvet, this is Red Dog." "What the hell are you doing here?" "Over." "You seen any good friends wandering through the woods?" "Over." "Negative." "What do you mean by that?" "Over." "I see an LZ about half a klick your November." "See you there." "Out." "I left Alex at Phu Long." "Charlie moved in while I was gone." "It's completely destroyed." "Is she hurt?" "I don't know." "The C.A. team bought it." "There was no sign of her, though." "I pray to God she got away and made it into the bush." "Why'd you leave her alone in the first place?" "Hey, hey, hey!" "Because she asked me to." "Take it easy!" "Look, if she's out there, I'll find her." "But I've only got one door-gunner, so if you can spare somebody," "I could sure use an extra observer." "If not, I'm on my way." "We're all right here, LT." "Why don't you just go ahead and go?" "All right, you give me an hour, then you take the men back to the truck." "Let's go." "Good luck." "Your friend's gonna be all right, ma'am, but he ought to have better sense than to run around in a jacket that says "shoot me"" "to every V.C. sniper driving by." "Is anybody gonna do anything about him?" "Truck will be by for him." "Do you want this?" "What for?" "Well, you got a little bit of blood right here on your cheek." "Thanks." "Hey, hold up." "Hey, Dr. Seymour, that was unbelievable." "I mean, going to lunch would have worked great, but this gunshot wound is dynamite." "I mean, Marion is so maternal, this is gonna hit her right in the ovaries." "Well, ma'am, uh, can I give you a lift somewhere?" "Yeah, thanks." "Where's she going?" "Village." "See V.C. gone." "You sent her?" "She small, harder to see her." "But, lady, we close now, they see that." "Oh, yeah." "Safe now." "We go." "All right." "Come on." "My God." "You hungry, lady?" "No." "No, come on." "We should leave here." "No worry your friends not come back." "We take care of you." "Taylor, I tell you, you really stuck it to those guys." "Yeah." "You from Detroit?" "Wheels are like feet." "You're born knowing how to use them." "Is that all the medicine?" "Yeah, they want you to sign for it, doc." "What happened to your coat?" "You guys be careful." "She's got a mean eye." "What are you talking about?" "Lady just bagged her first V.C." "One shot." "Let's get out of here." "Ma'am, you really don't need to do that." "We've already gone over them." "I'm sure you did." "I just like to double-check when it comes to my patients." "No problem." "Ma'am, do you mind if I say something?" "What I learned that you've got to keep remembering is that if you hadn't gotten him, he might have gotten you." "I'll keep that in mind." "Well... it's all yours now." "I don't need it." "What, you know all this territory?" "I fought here beside the French." "Yeah, well, the French were pretty serious fighters, all right." "But they left." "Just as you will leave someday." "And we will remain." "You mean you didn't finish school?" "Got job in motor pool." "Good job." "If you say so." "Then the army comes, says, "You go."" "So I go." "I guess some things are the same all the world around, huh?" "What's up?" "North Vietnamese soldiers coming up fast." "Scotty!" "This far south?" "It's a string." "The man said 60." "Sarge, what's happening?" "NVA." "Green Wizard, this is Red Dog." "Go ahead, Red Dog." "Over." "I have bad guys coming straight at us." "November-Victor-Alpha." "I need support." "Over." "Negative, Red Dog." "Everything committed south of you." "Can you hold them for 20?" "Maybe I can free up some artillery." "Over." "That's a negative." "We'll evade and get back to you later." "Red Dog out." "Sarge." "Vinh, what's going on?" "Sergeant, you must give us your weapons." "Whoa." "What's going on here now?" "Put your hands on your head." "Now!" "Sarge, we got to make a break." "Uh-uh." "Just take it easy." "Didi." "Hey!" "Down here!" "Down here!" "Down here!" "Yo!" "You happy, huh?" "Yes." "Yeah, very happy." "Very happy." "Johnny..." "Johnny!" "Johnny!" "I..." "I thought you were out on patrol with those trainees." "I was." "Come on." "Wait." "I want to take the kids." "They'll put us way over the weight limit." "No!" "We can't leave them here." "Henry." "Come here." "You go home now?" "Yeah." "And you go with me." "Chopper ride?" "Chopper ride to Saigon." "No, no, Saigon bad." "Live on streets." "No." "No, we'll..." "We'll find someone to take care of you." "Me take care." "Henry, I can't leave you here." "We stay here." "You go." "Come on." "For God's sake, you be careful, all right?" "No problem." "You do good story." "My name is spelled H-E-N-R-Y." "You saved us." "Yes." "I told them that you are our prisoners, and that we would take credit for your capture." "Hey, look, you can have credit for anything you want credit for." "No." "What's going on, Tran?" "He's my commander." "I'm sorry." "What's happening here?" "You taking those uniforms seriously?" "Are you frightened, sergeant?" "Give us back our weapons now." "Yesterday, you thought we were... children." "We're all on the same side here." "The side that burns our villages?" "Makes whores of our women?" "Our guys die right alongside yours." "Do their widows and orphans starve to death?" "What is it you hope to gain by all this?" "Respect." "I want to go back to the truck exactly as we are now." "So everyone sees that you had to depend on us." "You're gonna get court-martialed." "And you're too good a soldier to let that happen." "Maybe, but I have to point a gun before you see it." "They're behind us." "Put your hands up." "They found the bodies where we got the uniforms." "Go, go!" "Let's get out of here." "There's too many of them." "Go, go!" "Keep moving!" "Go!" "Let's go!" "Try to make it down to the river." "All right, White Horse, got the visual." "Sorry we took so long, Red Dog." "We got bandits coming in your September." "Keep your head down." "Over." "I copy, White Horse." "Listen up." "Black pajamas are ours, do you copy?" "Black pajamas are friendly." "Repeat, black pajamas are friendly." "Leave them alone, son." "Yeah." "Oh, yeah!" "All right." "Crazy bastard." "He was a good man, sergeant." "Yes, he was." "Take care." "You know, a real gentleman would've seen you home." "He wanted to get back to his men." "I understand that." "How are we?" "Three wounded, one pretty bad, but he ought to make it." "Rough puffs did a good job for us, LT." "But we lost Vinh." "Aw, man, that stinks." "I saw your lady in there." "Is she okay?" "She's fine." "Glad to hear it." "Feels good to know she's all right." "I really like this one, sergeant." "Yes, sir, I heard that." "Hey, guys, you got a little bit of mud on your jeep." "Yeah, we owe you." "That's not what your mama said." "What have you done with this precious lady?" "!" "Time to boogie." "Yo." "How's the motor pool, boys?" "Hey, sarge." "How's it going out there?" "Those guys manage not to trip over their own feet?" "Oh, you could say that." "Hey, sarge, uh, when's the last time you saw Dr. Seymour?" "I saw her this morning before we left." "Why?" "Well, I tell you, sarge," "I might be way out of line," "I know she's a shrink and she knows more than I do, but, sarge, I think she's gonna be going through some changes." "What are you talking about?" "What happened?" "This is really good, Al." "Yeah?" "It's only the first part." "I'm hoping it'll make people back home reach for their checkbooks." "It's the only thing I can do for those kids." "Well, it makes me want to chip in." "Thanks." "And thanks for what you did today." "I was just hitching a ride on a chopper." "Yeah, to come look for me, and you had to leave your men." "I know that wasn't easy for you." "It does mean a lot to me." "Well, you just promise me that you won't do anything stupid like that again, okay?" "Promise?" "No." "Yeah?" "It's me, Zeke." "Can I come in?" "Sure." "How did it go today?" "Everybody get back okay?" "Yeah, fine." "How are you?" "Fine." "I talked to Percell and Taylor." "Oh, yeah." "That was something else." "But at least we got the dapsone." "Come on, come on, talk to me." "There's really nothing to say." "I..." "I killed him." "When we were little, my father used to make us all learn how to shoot." "And I remember the thing that always scared me, it wasn't the bullets." "It was the sound." "And the funny thing is..." "I fired the gun, and I don't remember hearing it." "I didn't hear anything today." "All I can see are his eyes." "I'm all right." "No, you're not." "You're a long ways from it now." "I'm all right, I..." "I just..." "I run around urging people to learn how to face their feelings, and I'm just having a little trouble facing mine." "Jennifer, when a soldier comes to you and says he feels like crying, what do you tell him to do?"