"What?" "I don't know." "The crickets have stopped." "It's a bunker." "Do you think anybody's home?" "Oh yeah, there could be a whole NVA battalion honeycombed in there if they're tunneled." "I'm calling it in." "Red Leg, this is Bravo Two Six, fire mission." "Over?" "Who is that?" "What is he doing?" "Get me in a circle, back over that ridge!" "Our job is to get you to firebase Ladybird, sergeant." "I see movement, and I smell VC." "Huey, this is Bravo Six!" "Huey, Huey, this is Bravo Two Six." "Cease fire!" "Over." "Grenade!" "Down, down, get down!" "He's seen us, sarge!" "Get down, get down, get down!" "All right, we're finished if we stay here, LT." "I'm gonna try to flank them." "Keep them down with fire!" "Go!" "Watch your fire!" "Nice work out there, sergeant." "Yeah, like a lot of things, it shouldn't have been necessary." "Yeah, I know." "I'm gonna go talk to the captain about it right now." "Whoever that hotdog was, he cost us." "That's his chopper right over there." "Say what?" "All right, where's the cowboy that came in on this chopper?" "Nobody's supposed to be near the aircraft, sergeant..." "Classified cargo." "Where are your pilots at?" "Well, Mr. Marks is over talking to Battalion." "He says he won't touch this bird again until all of his gear is off-loaded." "Who was your other passenger?" "Sergeant Earl Ray Michaels," "Fifth Special Forces." "Trainee." "Michaels?" "That's who is on this chopper?" "So what?" "So I heard of him." "He's a myth." "They say he's a legend." "They also say he's a stone-cold killer." "They say right, brother." "I'm Leroy James," "Earl Ray's vice president in charge of demolitions." "So, what business you got here?" "On a mission, my man." "Classified." "Where's the rest of your team?" "James, Chan, and me, we're it." "Pulled off an A-team operation for this ballgame because of the time factor." "Hey, Anderson, Anderson, come on in here, you're a part of this." "Sergeant Michaels, Sergeant Zeke Anderson." "Anderson is Goldman's platoon sergeant." "Now..." "Where'd you say this bridge was?" "Built in the '30s by the French." "Part of the Ho Chi Minh complex, now a subsidiary route near the Laotian border." "Charlie's using it to transport munitions and supplies?" "MACV's expecting a big convoy in three days." "They want that bridge to be history by then." "What about an air strike?" "Negative, due to the proximity of a friendly village." "We need to go in there, mine the bridge, boom!" "Blow it." "James, Chan, and I will do the bridge." "What I need from you is a support team." "Lieutenant?" "Well, I think it stinks." "But of course, we're ready to give whatever support is necessary." "Good, because I'm assigning you and Anderson to work with Michaels." "Excuse me, sir." "You go tramping into this terrain with any more than just a few key men, you're giving Charlie an engraved invitation to the prom." "What did you have in mind, Michaels?" "I think Sergeant Anderson has a feel for what we should be attempting." "I'll need a squad, a very quiet squad." "With all respect to the sergeant, this man came hot-dogging in today without checking to see if there were any troops in the terrain." "He almost got my people blown away!" "Lieutenant Goldman has already covered that ground with us." "You have an apology on record from Sergeant Michaels." "Zeke, if I had known that were your people in there," "I would have acted different." "I should have checked." "You're right." "I'm sorry." "This bridge is critical." "All right?" "We have a personality conflict here." "I want it over now, before it begins." "No problem here, sir." "Anderson?" "I've already said my piece." "Good." "Goldman, I know you're not gonna like this very much, but..." "Fifth Group should have sent us an officer, but they're running a little low, so this is Michaels' mission." "Do you have a problem with that?" "No, no problem." "You have 48 hours to get the job done." "Pick your teams." "If the men wanna shake it loose a bit tonight, it's permissible." "Zeke." "Together again, huh?" "You don't mind if I don't get sentimental, do you?" "I don't pay it no nevermind." "I see you signed up for another tour." "Last time we conversed, you had Idaho, your wife, and baby in your plans." "Yeah, well, I went, and they were gone." "Make a damn good country tune." "Welcome to the club." "That horse farm I had in Tennessee," "I kissed it goodbye, along with my old lady." "But what could be more fun than renewing your license to zap gooks for your country, huh?" "How are you, GI Joe?" "It seems to me that most of you are poorly informed about the progress of the war, to say nothing about having a correct explanation of your presence over here." "Nothing is more confusing than to be ordered into battle to die or to be maimed for life without the faintest idea of what is going on." "Yesterday, the second of the 25th was wiped out, and there is no tomorrow for you." "Come on, soul brother, what are you doing fighting over here when at home, down south, you can't even eat at a white restaurant?" "Go home, soul brother." "This is not your war." "Marcus, turn that crap off, man." "Man, I'm just listening to the music, brother." "She plays the best R  B." "Dig it, Marvin and Tammy." "Yeow..." "I met Marvin once." "Blues club." "Downtown Detroit." "Marvin Gaye?" "You lie." "Really?" "Mm." "Hell of a man." "So how many KIA have you got, Sergeant?" "I make it a point never to keep score, but you don't have to see them to kill them." "What you've got to understand is right now, we're chasing a ghost." "We have the day, he has the night." "He fights when he wants, waits when he chooses, but we're going to change all of that." "We're going to take that night away from him, move into his territory, beat him at his own game." "Damn right." "Tell you something else." "There's no way we're gonna lose any war." "Isn't that right, sarge?" "You've got that straight." "The thing about Charlie is he can survive a week in the jungle with just a little handful of rice." "There's nothing in his history but struggle... 2000 years of it, so he never panics, never." "What are you saying, sarge?" "That those zipperheads are better than us?" "Ain't nobody better than us." "I'm just saying we've got us an enemy we've got to learn to respect." "Yeah, well, we seem to die a lot to occupy those hills and terrain, that a week later mean absolutely nothing." "Our duty is to inflict casualties." "Leave the big decisions to politicians and generals." "No matter how stupid some of them are, right?" "This boy got something against the war, Zeke?" "He's a new breed of soldier." "He's a thinker." "I have some questions about what it's all about, yeah." "It's about survivors, son." "Surviving is the only glory in war, right, Zeke?" "Yeah... it's a jungle out there." "All right, listen up, people." "Now, we'll each be carrying det cord and C-4 wrapped in plastic." "Now, you can burn it and you can shoot it, no problem." "Except with one of these capsules attached, cough real loud, you buy the ranch." "Now, insertion will be by Slick LZ." "Near NVA base area." "Chit-chat to a minimum." "Keep your eyes open for NVA patrols, mines, and booby-traps." "All right." "You got it?" "Let's saddle up." "I think I'm gonna hate this movie." "I'm going to let it be, Zeke, but you got me a bunch of stirrers on this squad instead of top sticks." "There are no top sticks in this platoon, Earl Ray." "The top sticks all went home in body bags." "Ah, hell, Zeke, when are they going to turn us loose, let us win this thing?" "Let you and me call the shots, and we'll be back inside of 90 days." "Look." "We need each other on this thing." "I want you to know I respect how you feel." "Now, let me tell you how I feel." "I feel fear when I go out there, and I feel pain when my people get hurt." "That's what I feel, that's all I feel, and I left the past in the past." "Fair enough, but lighten up, will you?" "You've got me feeling like the enemy." "Don't expect a birthday card from me, Earl Ray." "You know why you don't like me?" "You know why I scare you?" "Because when you look at me, you see yourself." "No wives, no family, no home, nothing but war to put in your memory book, and that ain't a country tune you're gonna want to two-step to." "Hey!" "What the hell's going on over here?" "Come on, we've got gun ships waiting." "Come on." "Hey, so what is this you heard about Michaels?" "We ought to be getting hazardous duty pay." "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" "Ask Anderson." "From what I hear, he found out up close and personal." "Zeke, I've got 18 days and a wake-up." "I shouldn't be out here putting up with this trash." "Nigga, man, you're so short, you've got to reach up to tie your shoes." "I'd be in the rear with the gear, if I was you." "Shoot, I would have been, but Earl Ray needed me for this gig." "As soon as we get back, he's going to invest in my recording studio." "We're going to be putting out some bodacious sounds." "Amen to that." "Rock'n'roll is here to stay." "Hey, it must have been pretty hard making the grade, huh?" "Special Forces and all?" "Uh-huh." "The man push you so hard, you can crack." "I never would have made it without Earl Ray." "The man's got soul, you dig?" "Hey, what's Chan's story?" "He never smiles, he never speaks." "Spooky dude, ain't he?" "Mnong tribe, ethnic Chinese." "Now, the Vietnamese hate him, but he's a damn good soldier." "And Sergeant Michaels?" "What about him?" "I don't know, he seems like a walking contradiction." "Hail Mary one minute, preaching war the next." "We've all got to have something to believe in." "Now, me, I'm counting on" "Jesus and Marvin Gaye to get me through the night." "And not necessarily in that order." "All right, there's a ville about four klicks from here, but, lieutenant, the men are dragging." "Dragging?" "What have you got here, Sergeant Anderson, a nursery school?" "All right, that's enough, Michaels." "Lieutenant, this was supposed to be a handpicked support team." "Now, you know what..." "You know what, Michaels?" "The word on you is you've got a real hard time working with officers, you know that?" "Not when they know what they're doing, sir." "You know, I've got a feeling you're not making a generality about all officers, are you?" "I've got a bunch of C-4 ready to blow a bridge." "Now, you let me know whether we're on a mission or just trying to get more miles to the gallon." "Are you writing a book, son?" "I'm keeping a journal." "Yeah, it could be a book someday." "Yeah?" "Well, just make sure you get my name right." "I already have." "Hold it!" "Hold it!" "Don't move." "Don't move, nobody move!" "Freeze!" "Nobody move." "Don't move, Lieutenant." "What?" "Come on, what the hell is it?" "Don't move, Lieutenant." "Tripwire, front and back." "All right, Horn, you're clear." "Back off real slow and easy now, slow and easy." "How do you want to handle this?" "You're the expert." "Is this guy a good officer?" "It's too early to tell." "Damn it, Anderson!" "Shh, don't move, lieutenant." "Chan..." "Check this out." "Bingo." "MA, 30 pounds of pressure, main charge TNT." "Where's that guy with the pen?" "Horn, Horn, let me see that ballpoint pen." "Don't move!" "Nobody move!" "Anderson, what the hell is he doing?" "Put a safety bar in the fusebox, and remove the pressure ring." "Come on, baby." "Oh, lord..." "All right, Lieutenant, back out real slowly." "Come on." "Horn." "Don't move!" "No!" "Medic!" "Doc, get up here!" "Well?" "Damn!" "Well, if Charlie's anywhere in the neighborhood, we just announced ourselves." "Damn it." "How bad?" "He's dead." "Take it down." "I want it down." "No, don't touch it." "It might be booby-trapped." "This country invites me over here to fight for its democracy, right?" "Go into Saigon, there's dudes our age riding around on Hondas." "Why am I fighting their war, man?" "Tell me, because I ain't got a clue." "That SOB Michaels thinks he's fighting this whole war by himself." "Yeah, he's probably gonna end up dying humming God Bless America too." "What the hell is it between you two, anyway?" "I'm writing an article for Stars and Stripes." "Keep up your subscription." "Oh, leeches!" "I've got leeches on me!" "Let me get it, let me get it!" "Get it off, get it off!" "Back off, Ru, you dipstick, this ain't the African Queen." "What African Queen, man?" "Look at that sucker smoke, and he still won't quit!" "Shut up and get this thing off me!" "Bug juice." "It ain't worth a squat on bugs, but it's hell on leeches." "Man, I've got to get me some of that for my brother-in-law." "We're talking bloodsucker, man," "Dracula in a '57 Chevy." "Hey, cut the chatter." "Ruiz, stash that cigarette." "Move out." "Keep quiet." "Ambush!" "Take cover!" "All right, crossfire." "Tree line and ridge." "On the top of that ridge, lieutenant..." "Sergeant, you will hold your position until we've evaluated the circumstances." "Johnson!" "Anderson, let's go, cover fire." "Horn, Percell." "Yes, sergeant?" "We're gonna take that ridge, all right?" "Sergeant, lieutenant just told us to hold our ground!" "Son, I was doing this when the lieutenant was popping zits, worried about a date for Saturday matinee." "Horn, leave that radio." "I need you for backup." "Hey, look, Sergeant, I don't think we should..." "Don't give me any lip, son, just do it!" "Come on!" "Are you boys ready?" "Yes, sir, sergeant!" "Who the hell is that?" "John Wayne." "I've got you, I've got you, man." "I've got you, I've got you, man." "Horn?" "You're gonna be okay." "I've got you, I've got you, man." "Horn." "Horn!" "Horn!" "Horn!" "Horn!" "Horn!" "Horn, shoot him." "Horn, shoot him!" "Shoot him!" "Horn, shoot him!" "Shoot, Horn!" "Where's Horn and Percell?" "Took some fire down below, last I saw them." "Being around you is like being a hitchhiker in a hailstorm." "I learned a long time ago, none of us are walking in the sun." "All right, it's a rough terrain along these coordinates, and we will be headed right smack-dab into the TAC air and artillery free-fire zone." "Unless we detour, we're inviting Charlie to join the party." "Sarge?" "It looks like we've got everybody." "Checked the rucksacks and found commo wire." "All right, police up all the bodies." "Get all the weapons, gear, and everything, then bury them, bury them good." "If this work detail doesn't come back, they're going to come looking for them." "VC?" "Anything that's dead and yellow is a VC." "Come on, Zeke." "What the hell?" "This place could still be crawling with VC." "This is her mother, Michaels." "Yeah, well, things are rough all over." "Look, Zeke." "You want to be noble?" "You want to save the world?" "Join the damn Peace Corps." "Shut that hole in your face, Michaels!" "Hey, what the hell is going on here?" "We're about to open up a burial service." "Maybe I'll take an ad out in the local newspaper." "Michaels, you say one more word, I'm going to kick your butt..." "We're supposed to be blowing a bridge, partner, not babysitting gook kids." "Hey, get him off!" "Get him off!" "What the hell is wrong with you?" "Hey, come on!" "Hey, come on!" "Come on!" "Come on!" "Come on, man!" "Damn it!" "Damn it!" "You want to do something, huh?" "You want to do something, you do it real quick!" "God, I am sick of this!" "All right, the damn show's over, now let's get back in line right now!" "Somebody ought to say a prayer or something." "Something." "To, uh..." ""To everything there is a season," ""and a time for every purpose under heaven." ""A time to be born," ""a time to die," ""a time to plant" ""and a time to pluck up that which is planted." ""A time to kill, a time to heal."" "Sorry, man, I don't remember the rest." "Okay, let's move out." "Let's go." "Lieutenant, the girl said that there are NVA up ahead." "There are NVA from here to Cambodia, Zeke." "Listen, I wasn't looking for anything from this girl." "She's thankful that we care, and she's trying to return the favor." "I wouldn't buy a postcard from that kid." "All right, all right." "Did the kid give you any idea of, like, the strength between here and the bridge?" "She said she used to live in the ville beyond the bridge, and from what I got out of her, there are roving units there." "Sir, the people here are all VC sympathizers." "Now, if Charlie didn't know we were here before, he's probably getting it by Western Union by now." "What would you have us do, Michaels?" "Hunt down all the rest the villagers and grease them?" "What I would like to do and what I can do has diddly to do with our objective." "Which is to blow the bridge, and I'd like to see the sun come up in the morning, if you don't mind!" "All right, Lieutenant, we've got ourselves a major problem here now, because if this girl is VC, then we cannot leave her here, otherwise she'll be telling Charlie about it before we clear the horizon." "And if she's not?" "We are not leaving her out here in the middle of nowhere." "Are you kidding me, man?" "All right, all right, all right!" "We take the girl with us as insurance." "Wonderful." "We've got ourselves a little Mickey Mouse Club, huh?" "Oh, why don't you just shut up, Michaels, and stick with the program here, all right?" "Are you forgetting whose mission this is?" "No, I'm not forgetting anything, sergeant." "Lieutenant, it's gonna rain." "All right, let's go, come on." "Come on, baby, come on." "Come on, come on." "Come on, baby, let's go." "She sure picked a great time to get born, didn't she?" "Percell." "How's the head?" "It just hurts some." "Another inch, and you would have been fertilizing that bush." "Ho Chi Minh trail, baby." "Give me a button to squeeze, and I'll be blowing that sucker clean off the face of the planet." "The trouble is, Taylor, it's not one trail, it's thousands of trails." "If we'd have hit that field 10 minutes earlier, we'd have all had our reservations canceled by our own plane." "Sarge knows how that feels, right, sarge?" "At least, that's what I hear." "What are you talking about, friendly fire?" "No, man, we're not talking about friendly fire." "We're talking about zigging when you should have zagged." "Dig?" "You a career soldier, Ruiz?" "Are you kidding?" "Do you think I'd ship into this hellhole to get my butt shot off?" "You've got guts." "Not afraid." "I like your style." "Yeah?" "Well, I ain't so sure I like yours, sergeant." "Courage comes wrapped in different packages, Ruiz." "Sometimes you stumble and fall." "It takes courage to go on from there." "You got a minute?" "Yeah." "Did you ever tell Ruiz or the others about what went down between us?" "I told you, Earl Ray," "I left the past in the past." "But, hey, you're creating a whole new present with stunts like you pulled with Percell and Horn." "Well, then, where in the hell is he getting his information?" "You know, Earl Ray, when I joined up, I was pretty naive," "I didn't know much about what made the world go around, but, hey, I got old real fast serving with you." "You got old the minute your plane touched down in Saigon." "We all did." "No, no, no, because I'm not like you." "You don't understand that, do you?" "You're high on war." "I'm just trying to survive with a little bit of dignity." "I'm just part of the assembly line, sergeant." "It never should have happened, what happened, Earl Ray." "It never should have happened." "I still get nightmares." "You don't think I do?" "You don't think I have nightmares?" "It's war, man." "No, what it was is you were careless." "You were out of control." "You got good people killed." "I also saved your life." "You never would have had to do that if you hadn't been making up your own rules as you went along." "Our mission was to inflict casualties." "Now, sometimes you've got to take hits to score hits." "Don't give me body counts and kill ratios, because I was there!" "I stood in elephant grass splattered with my people's blood!" "I heard 17- and 18-year-old kids crying out for their mamas all night long, and I saw them die in the mud and the rain!" "I made a mistake, Zeke!" "I said it." "There." "I made a mistake!" "That whole firefight had no meaning." "No meaning whatso-damn-ever." "Except maybe to the kids that died." "That's the bridge?" "Yes, sir, that is the bridge." "Let's go." "Look, Zeke, I know who I am, and I'm never gonna apologize for that." "Let's go, man." "The faster we're in and out, the faster I'm on a magic carpet ride back to Motown." "Let's go." "Right." "Let's go." "Let's get you home, brother." "All right." "Johnson, you go get the rest of the guys and move down there and provide cover." "I need you to help me out with some cover." "No strain, Kemosabe." "Hey, where's the girl?" "It was Baker's turn to watch her, man." "Where is the girl, Baker?" "She's with Ruiz." "She ain't with Ruiz." "He says she was with you." "Well, yeah, she was." "She was sleeping a while, but then she woke up." "I guess she went toward Ruiz again, man." "Damn!" "Get over with the others and lead cover!" "What?" "The kid, she's gone." "Going home, baby." "Marvin... here I come." "Right on, brother." "It's the kid." "They're gonna see us!" "Ah!" "Give me the cord." "We did it, Leroy, man..." "You're going home, Leroy, son." "You're going home, man, you're going home." "No, man." "No." "No, Leroy." "Come on." "Don't die on me, man." "Don't die on me." "Don't die on me." "Don't die on me." "Leroy!" "Leroy, don't, man!" "Come on!" "Come on!" "Damn this war..." "Damn this war!" "Damn this war." "All right, you guys, chopper number two!" "Number two!" "You guys, bird number one." "Baker." "You and Johnson, take James." "We'll take it from here, Sarge." "You know, Zeke, sometimes you realize you may be nearer the end of something than the beginning." "You wonder if anything you've done makes a damn difference." "Hey!" "Hey, you're not responsible for James getting killed." "He was my friend." "Ah, that don't mean nothing." "Look, Michaels, maybe it's time you go on back to Fort Bragg, teach what you know to somebody else." "Come on, you're in the right!" "War is what I know!" "Trained to kill." "I can't teach it!" "Hell, I don't want to teach anybody to do this." "Let's get out of here." "Come on."