"You aren't going to believe how lucky we are." "What a detail." "Listen, we've got a half-hour briefing at brigade, then we've got the rest of the afternoon off." "You know what that means?" "That means an afternoon at Mama-san Linda's." "Who's Mama-san Linda?" "For starter's, she's not your mama." "But she's definitely what your mama ordered." "Look at that... a bony growth." "Horns?" "We'd better get them trimmed." "I get it, I get it." "To the rear echelon, my man." "You got it." "Bluebird 12, roger." "223 by 444566, south bank." "Copy that." "What's going on?" "Got a medevac..." "ARVN unit on the Phu Chu." "U.S. Advisor got hit." "Great." "Damn." "We're taking fire!" "Aah!" "He's dead!" "We're hit!" "Hang on!" "We're losing it!" "We're losing it!" "Oh, God!" "Look out!" "Look out for the trees!" "We're going down!" "Hang on!" "Hang on!" "Let's get out of here!" "Oh, man." "There's nothing we can do now." "He's not going to make it." "Look at that chest wound." "Baker, your back." "I'll live." "He's not so lucky, though." "Sounds like a couple over by those trees there." "Watch your ammo." "I'm gonna try to flank them." "Johnson, you see the smoke straight ahead?" "Gotcha." "Right there." "How did you do?" "I got one of 'em, but we've got to didi out of here." "One got away, and he'll be back with all of his cousins." "How are you doing on ammo?" "I've got about 8 to 10 clips." "I've got three clips." "Oh, boy." "We ought to bury him or something." "No time." "Hey, you know what they do with the dead bodies." "Baker, the man is already hurt all he's going to hurt." "He ain't going to get any deader." "Now let's get out of here." "They went down somewhere in here." "That's a huge area." "Yeah, they were out about 15 to 30 minutes, they were headed southeast, they got this call to change course due west." "Some time after that, could have been 20 minutes, they lost radio contact." "So you're telling me they could be damn near anywhere." "You've got it." "Look, can't you get a hold of the air force, get them to loan us a few ships?" "These are my people out here." "They're good men." "My pilot's good." "We're doing all we can." "Okay, get going." "Wait for Baker, okay?" "You okay, Baker?" "Sure." "It burns." "It burns." "They hurt like hell." "All right, we'll slow up here for a little bit." "They won't be expecting us to go north." "We'll keep going in this direction for a little bit, then we'll cut east." "How far do you think we are from base?" "Forty, 50 miles." "No problem, we can hump that in a day and a half." "Not cutting brush, we can't." "Stay off the trails?" "You betcha." "We're only about five miles from the Cambodian border." "We don't want to take any chances." "Hey, listen." "Hey!" "Wait!" "Quiet, Baker." "You know, all we have to do is light a signal fire." "Just get a big, clear area and light a fire." "They'd be sure to see it." "Yeah, they sure would." "That would be the worst thing we could do." "Then the whole countryside would know exactly where we are." "Let's get moving." "What you got there?" "Playboy?" "No." "What the hell is this?" "It's all surfboards." "Yeah, it's a surfer magazine." "There's a big story on Corky Carroll in there." ""Corky goes to the North Shore,"" ""Corky toes to the nose at Trestles and Rincon."" "What?" "Is Corky a girl?" "Man, he is only the best small wave rider in California." "And you really read this crap?" "Mostly, I just look at the pictures." "Give me a Playboy." "Now, there's pictures for you, right, Zeke?" "Personally, I prefer Popular Mechanics." "But they're all white chicks in Playboy." "Yeah, but they're chicks." "Yeah, I see your point." "See, I'm writing a letter to the editor so we can try and put more sisters in there." "I've never seen a naked black chick before." "Well, they got extra-thick skulls and they can't swim." "Really?" "Your mama, Baker." "Get down." "Get out of there." "Get out of there!" "Get out of there!" "Get out of there!" "Get out of there!" "Oh, God." "Don't look at it, man." "Don't pay it no mind." "Oh, my God." "I don't believe this." "They're all dead." "They're Montagnards." "Who?" "Montagnards." "They're mountain people, like, uh, Indians or gypsies." "Who could've done this?" "They're just civilians, right?" "I don't know." "There's no love lost between the VC and the Montagnards, but it's my guess these people just got caught in the middle." "Looks like they got mortared or artillery." "Poke around in this stuff." "See if there's anything we can use." "Over here, quick." "This one's alive." "It's all right." "It's going to be all right, okay?" "I'm going to help you." "We're here to help you." "You speak any English, lady?" "What's she saying?" "Something's wrong, but she doesn't seem to be hurt too bad." "That's it." "What's it?" "She's going to have a baby." "Oh, man." "All right, now, we've got to do something." "Either of you guys know anything..." "Having a baby?" "Uh-uh." "My mother had one." "I hope so, Baker." "She had one of my brothers when I was 5." "Well, did you learn anything you'd like to share with us here?" "Hey, in the movies, they always get hot water, though, right?" "What do they do with the hot water?" "Give her a bath?" "No, no, no, no." "I mean, for the baby." "It does come out all gooey and stuff, you know." "I can't stand listening to this." "I think we should be telling her to breathe deeply." "She doesn't know how to breathe already?" "Well, we've got to do something." "That's for sure." "But what?" "Cowabunga." "Shouldn't we give him a spanking or something?" "No, that's to get it breathing, but it's crying, so it's already breathing." "So, uh, Johnson, pick it up." "No, you do it." "Excuse me." "Okay." "Here you go." "All right." "Here you go." "Yeah." "Here you go." "All right." "There you go." "She don't look so good." "Yeah." "Listen." "I say we didi out of here." "We've done everything we could." "We didn't do nothing." "That's everything we could." "Man, she's looking scraggly." "Uh, listen, lady." "I'd like to help you, honest to God, but I don't know exactly what to do." "If we had a radio, we could medevac you." "We've got hospitals with all kinds of equipment and stuff." "Hey, those doctors... man, those doctors would jump at the chance to deal with something normal like having a baby, but, uh..." "Well, look... you want some water?" "It's not very cold, but open your mouth, otherwise it will..." "Lady?" "Oh, no." "Is she dead?" "Yeah." "All right, we're in enemy territory, we're out of ammo, we're being followed." "What are you driving at?" "Hard decisions, Johnson." "Like what?" "This baby is going to slow us down." "You don't want to leave it here, do you?" "Baker, we don't have any choice." "Charlie's about an hour behind us." "If we leave the baby here, then they have to take care of it." "You really expect them to take care of it?" "Yes, I do, as a matter of fact, and the baby's better off with his own people anyway." "It's a Montagnard baby, though." "So what?" "So VC hate Montagnards." "Baker, it's a baby." "A baby's a baby." "These people love babies." "Yeah, that's right, bad guys love babies more than we do?" "Baker, I don't like this any more than you do, but we don't got a chance if we have to slow down if we babysit some orphan that doesn't have a hope in hell anyway." "My job's keeping you guys alive." "I've got to do that job, whether you like it or not." "Okay, maybe he's right." "The baby should be okay for a couple of hours." "Come on, let's get out of here." "Let me keep it, please." "Come on, I'll keep care of it, all right?" "Now, tell me something, Baker, how do you intend to fire your weapon if you're carrying a baby in your arms?" "Look, I really don't care what you say." "I'm keeping it." "Johnson, you with me on this?" "Looks like you're outnumbered, Zeke." "Now, get this straight, soldiers." "This isn't a democracy here." "I'm the sergeant." "You're the private." "Why don't you go ahead and court-martial us." "I don't care." "Yeah, what are you going to do?" "Send us to Vietnam?" "Look, sarge, once we make contact, we can medevac him to Da Nang." "I mean, they've got people there that can take care of him." "Yeah." "They've got orphanages and stuff." "Orphans don't got a hope in hell in this world." "I don't know about that." "Shut up." "I mean, this kid could grow up to be Albert Einstein or something." "He was an orphan, wasn't he?" "I think so." "Well, so was Corky Carroll." "That guy in the magazine..." ""Toes to the nose"?" "Man, I can't relate to that." "I can't even swim." "I said, shut up back there." "Damn." "He's got a hair up his nose." "Isn't he pretty?" "He's so pretty." "Hi." "There, there, baby." "Don't cry." ""Rock-a-bye, baby In the tree top"" ""When the wind blows The cradle will rock"" "Johnson, do you really think that's going to help anything?" "Hey, it's making me sleepy." "Let me give you some advice, all right?" "Shoot." "All right, a baby can't talk, right?" "Right." "Right." "So crying is the baby's way of saying it wants something, right?" "Yeah." "Its mom." "He wants his mama, the poor thing." "Yes, the poor thing wants his mom, because his mom has what he needs." "Food!" "The baby needs food." "I guess babies don't like c-rats, huh?" "We need milk." "Very good, Baker." "Very good." "Now, the bad news is, the baby needs mother's milk... the human kind." "Hey, maybe for now, he'd settle for water." "You got some?" "Hey, look what I got." "Here's some water for you, junior." "Aw, that's nice." "There you go." "That tastes good, doesn't it?" "We're in trouble." "We're in very serious trouble." "What do you got down there?" "Over." "The wreckage is burnt to hell." "We've got four Americans..." "KIA." "I don't know who the hell they are." "Go." "Could it be Anderson?" "Do you think there are any survivors?" "Over." "Negative." "I don't know." "I just can't tell." "Out." "VC?" "I don't know." "Let's get out of here." "Uh-uh." "See that goat?" "That's what the baby needs." "It's not the same kind of milk as its mother, but it'll do in the meantime." "Johnson, you come with me." "Baker, you stay with the kid." "Come here, goat." "Goat!" "Psst." "Goat!" "Come here!" "Come here, goat." "Goat, come here." "I don't think it speaks English." "Who?" "The goat." "Oh, man." "Lai dai." "Lai, dai, goat." "Lai dai." "Lai dai." "Lai dai, goat." "Lai dai." "That works real good too, don't it?" "Wait here." "Okay, goat." "Stay cool." "Stay very cool." "Come on, baby!" "Come on!" "Back here, back here." "Okay, goat." "All right." "You ever milk one of these?" "Who me?" "Sure." "All the time." "Get out your canteen." "Put it underneath there." "I'll give it a shot." "Oh, man, I'm used to cows." "This is a whole different set of arranging." "Johnson, don't ever tell anybody I did this." "Goat!" "Ow." "Goat!" "Stop it, would you?" "Squeeze at the top." "Work it down, like that." "Think you got it." "You missed your calling." "Okay, lady." "Don't get excited." "All we want's a little milk." "Now, you can spare a little bit of milk, lady." "You can spare a little milk." "It's for a baby." "Baby-san." "Number one." "Understand?" "Come on." "Lighten up, lady." "I can't stand to get hit like that." "Now stop it!" "Now, stop it!" "Get the stick!" "Get the stick!" "Don't do that!" "It's for a Vietnamese baby!" "Johnson, get the stick from her!" "Get it from her!" "You get it from her!" "You get it from her!" "You old witch!" "Johnson, get the goat from her." "Now look, lady!" "Okay, I don't believe this." "Ouch, lady!" "All we want is a little milk!" "Okay." "If you've got to be this way," "I'm gonna take the whole damn goat." "Johnson, take the whole damn goat." "Sorry, ma'am." "This is war." "Get out of here!" "Get out of here, Johnson!" "I'm sorry, lady." "All right." "There you are, Baker." "There you go." "Come on." "It's not working." "Oh, man, you guys don't know nothing, do you?" "Hey, maybe I'll just pop down to the nearest AP and buy a baby bottle, huh?" "All right." "Here." "I'm going to show you a little trick." "Y'all watch and learn here." "Hey, he likes it." "You like it." "Just use your noggin once in a while, Baker, that's all I ask." "There he goes again." "What do you think is wrong with him?" "You guys are complete idiots." "Hey, look, I just asked a question." "You tell me what's wrong with it, and I'll fix it." "The baby needs burping." "You feed a baby, you got to burp the baby." "Would you show me how?" "Baker, you know, you been in the sun too long." "They didn't teach me that kind of junk in basic training." "All they taught me was how to crawl through barbed wire." "How come you know so much about this stuff?" "Because I do, all right?" "Give me the kid." "Oh, man..." "Oh, man." "Look at this." "Poor little thing." "Doesn't have a hope in hell." "Do you have any idea what it's like being an orphan in this world, Baker?" "No." "I'll tell you what." "It's one kick in the butt after another." "I hate to be the one to tell you this, kid... but you'd have been better off if you'd never been born." "Get him, will you?" "Baby, give me a break, will you, please?" "Just a little sleep is all I'm asking." "Come on." "It's all right." "It's all right." "It's just artillery." "Yeah." "Yeah." "It ain't about nothing." "Shh." ""Baby love, my baby love"" ""Ooh-ooh, I love you, love"" ""Why aren't we Making up, mm-mm?"" ""Instead of breaking up"" ""Baby love, my baby love"" ""Ooh-ooh, I love you, love"" ""Mm-mm..." "Mm..."" ""Breaking up"" ""Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh"" ""Ooh-ooh, baby love"" ""Ooh-ooh, I love you, love"" ""Why are you doing this?"" ""You know you got us In this mess"" ""And what you're doing is"" ""Gonna screw The whole thing up"" ""So please shut up"" "All right, listen up, you guys." "I've been thinking." "This kid here doesn't have a name, right?" "So I was thinking, maybe, uh... maybe Judd, huh?" "How's that sound to you guys?" "That's all right by me." "I don't care." "Yeah?" "All right, then." "Judd." "There's a guy in Boise, Idaho named Judd." "Judd Sibaugh." "He's a good man." "Old Judd Sibaugh is the closest thing to a blood relative I've got." "He worked for the Boise Department of Welfare." "That old dude would go out of his way to visit us in the homes." "Homes?" "What kind of homes?" "You're an orphan just like him." "What, you guys writing a book or what?" "It's cool." "Hold it." "The crickets have stopped." "Spread out." "Let's get out of here!" "That way." "Where you taking us?" "Just take care of that baby." "Follow me." "Just stop." "We can't go any further." "We'll hide here." "Get down." "Shh, Judd." "Shh." "I'm begging you." "Quiet him." "Come on, Judd, I'm begging you, buddy." "I'm begging you." "Shut him up!" "Please, baby." "Judd, please." "Shh." "Oh, God, please, Judd, be quiet." "Please, God." "All right." "Come on, let's get the hell out of here." "Ok, Judd boy." "Don't you ever, ever do that to me again." "Honest to God, son, when I tell you to be quiet, you've got to be quiet, son." "Look at him." "He's shivering." "I'll tell you why, he got wet." "That's why he's shivering." "I mean, he's cold." "He almost froze his privates off." "We almost lost him out there." "Hey, you almost lost me, buddy." "How you doing on ammo?" "Terrible." "All right, the trick's going to be to avoid all contact." "We've got to get them off our tail." "How about if I split off and make a bunch of tracks headed west, and circle around, maybe meet you guys top of that ridge." "Hey, that'll be dangerous." "Ain't nothing." "I'm gone." "You know, that crying is driving me nuts." "There's a lot of things driving me nuts." "You hungry?" "That noise is going to give us away." "Hell, Baker, why don't I just gag him?" "I'm just pointing it out." "That's all." "Maybe I'll have that vasectomy after all." "What's the matter, Judd boy?" "How come you're crying, huh?" "What's the matter with you?" "Why are you doing this to me?" "Huh, you hungry?" "Well, I've got some bad news, old buddy." "We lost your goat." "Yeah." "Maybe we can give you a little water here, though." "Yeah, maybe you can." "Hold still now." "I've got you." "Give me my canteen." "Yeah, yeah." "Pour some of that on my..." "Yeah." "Here you go." "Oh, God, he's hot, man." "Feel him." "He's hot." "Oh, gosh." "Let's keep going, buddy." "Come on, Judd boy." "Come on, buddy." "Got them." "Tricked them real good." "Guess I fooled them for about a hot second, huh?" "Well, I could shed a few tears too." "Here, you hold him." "All right." "You guys keep the same direction." "I'll catch up with you later." "Where you going?" "I'll slow them down a little bit." "Give them a little of their own modus operandi." "Hey, Anderson." "Hey." "Over here." "What are you guys doing here?" "You're supposed to be over on that ridge." "Look, the baby's really sick." "Man, he's burning up." "He won't take water either." "Nothing seems to cool him down." "Zeke, I'm really worried." "I mean, he's messed up." "I think he's dying." "Oh, God, his heart's beating like crazy." "We've got to get him some help, get him to a hospital." "Look, even if we get these dudes off our trail, we still have at least a day's walk ahead of us." "All right, we know the quick way out of here." "Signal fire." "Yeah, but the dinks?" "They're gonna be on us like water on rice." "We've got some time." "I mean, I've slowed them down some." "I mean, I'm not telling you this is something we ought to do." "It's just that..." "Let's go for it." "Johnson, you with me?" "Yeah." "I kind of like the little dude." "This ought to do it." "Yeah." "I got some bigger pieces here." "Johnson!" "Now?" "Yeah, yeah, yeah." "Come on." "Get it going." "Help!" "Over here!" "Help!" "Help!" "Help!" "Over here!" "Help!" "Maybe we can put it out real fast?" "There's no place to hide now, so just pile it on." "Come on, come on." "That's all of it." "It's okay now, Judd." "Just hang in there, buddy." "Hang in there." "You're going to be all right." "We'll get you medevaced out of here." "Get you back to the rear and the hospital nurses." "They're going to be waiting for you, son." "Ain't he something?" "Yeah, ain't you something?" "Hey!" "Hey!" "Help!" "Over here!" "Over here!" "Help!" "Help!" "Help!" "Help!" "Over here!" "Here we are!" "Over here!" "Help!" "He had to be calling for help." "He'll be back." "Had to have seen us." "Had to." "Yeah." "How's the baby?" "I don't know, Johnson." "I'm really worried." "My sister lost a baby once." "A tiny little thing." "Just a couple months old." "You know, it's funny, you wouldn't think a kid that young would be alive long enough to make a difference, but it did." "It really did." "Johnson!" "Johnson!" "Damn you!" "See where they are?" "Yeah, yeah." "They're right down there." "Hold your fire." "Make them reveal themselves." "Johnson!" "Johnson, you talk to me." "You talk to me, Johnson." "You talk to me." "He's breathing." "He's breathing." "You know, if I could just get over behind that rock there," "I think I might have an angle." "All right." "I'll cover you." "Ready, go!" "Aah!" "My eyes!" "My eyes!" "No." "No." "He's dead." "Go on." "Look at him." "He's just a baby." "God, man, he's just a baby." "He's just an orphan, man." "And we killed him, you and me, buddy." "He's not even a person yet, you know?" "He's just..." "he's just like somebody's hope that something decent might happen in this world, and we killed him." "I mean, look at him!" "Look at him!" "Damn it!" "You look at him!" "He never even had a chance!" "He didn't have nothing!" "He got nothing!" "You and me, buddy, look what we did!" "Look what we did." "Look what we did." "He never had a chance." "Look what we did."