"Let's NDP here." "We're gonna NDP here." "Eriksson, hold up." "Set up claymores on the left flank." "Did that sound hollow to you, man?" "What?" "Wait." "We could be standing right over their tunnels right now, couldn't we?" "Right under us at this very second could be VC tunnels." " Shit!" " What was that?" "Fix that sound!" " I hate fucking mortars." " Fix that sound, sergeant." "They're after somebody else." "Who are they after?" " Is it 3rd Platoon?" " Captain Hill says Alpha's hit." " Do they know we're here?" " What do you say, Meserve?" " I'll get it to you ASAP." " Sergeant Hawthorne!" "Set out security to the flanks, front and rear." "But not too far so they get separated from us." "Eriksson, take the right flank." "Call Superman 0-2." "We need a fix on the tube." "We'll adjust by the sound." "Superman 0-2, Superman 0-2..." " What the fuck is going on?" " Cease fire!" "I saw a gook, sarge." "One of them gooks from the ville." " You recognizing people?" " I saw him!" "The tube's kicking ass on Alpha." "Fuck this!" "The tube's got a fix on us!" "Oh, Christ!" "They found us!" "They're walking them in on us!" "Superman 0-2, Superman 0-2." "Let's move!" "The tube's got a fix on us." "Left flank!" "Move on!" "Silent Twin 0-2, out." "Go!" "Go!" "Oh, Jesus!" "Oh, Jesus!" "Oh, God!" " Where's Hawthorne?" " Up this way." "Eriksson's on right flank." "He ain't in yet." "This war's getting old, Mr. Meserve." "Here comes arty!" "Fuck!" "Oh, shit!" "Oh, Jesus!" "Okay, Brownie, you get up there with them." "Keep your shit together." "My shit is forever together." "I'm an armor-plated motherfucker!" "Oh, fuck!" "Help me!" "Oh, fuck!" "Somebody help me!" "What's wrong with my arm?" "Where's my arm?" " I got something for you." " You gotta find my arm." " We gotta move!" " Calm down, soldier!" "Help me!" "Somebody help me!" "Help!" "Here's your arm." "Here's your arm." "Somebody help me!" "Help!" "Help!" "Help me!" "Somebody!" "Sarge, I need help!" "Sarge, help me!" "I'm stuck!" "Oh, I'm stuck." "Help me." " Thank God!" " Pull!" "Oh, shit!" "I'll put some tracers up there." " Back me up with the thumper, okay?" " Right." " Ready?" " Yeah." "Get some, motherfucker!" "Get some!" "Motherfucker!" "Yeah, you fuck!" "Yeah." "Some mad fucking minute, huh, cherry?" " We're getting too short for this." " We ain't short yet." "Thirty days and a wake-up." "We damn near invisible." "You're gonna DEROS out of this jungle and these clothes." "Put me on that Freedom Bird and I figure I'm short and maybe the fucker's gonna crash." "Can you imagine that?" "Escape from Nam to die an airline fatality." " Never happen, cherry." "You survive the Nam, you get to live forever." "How long you been here?" " Three weeks." " Three weeks?" "You're breaking my heart." "You know, Meserve, I've been thinking." "Maybe it's time we stopped balling these bitches." "We might end up home diseased." "Dinky dau, man." "The Nam's a trip." "First you don't know shit, then you don't give a shit." "I mean, you care, but it's just humpbacked and crooked, you know?" "The cherry'll get wasted because he don't know nothing." "We'll end up in peril because we don't care about nothing." " I care, Brown." " Sure you do." "It's just humpbacked and crooked, you know?" "Clark you and Hatcher and Eriksson spread out here." "Stay alert." "And don't get lost." "Brownie, let's didi." "Hershey bar number one!" "Good stuff." "Take a big bite." "Check out this sad ass, man." "Sui?" "It's mango." "Quit begging." "They don't want your candy bar." "Give it to me." "Cam on ong very much." "Don't eat anything they give you." "Go back where you're supposed to be." "You want to die horribly?" " No, sarge." " You were gonna eat it?" "These people are confused." "Are they Cong or not?" " They're schizophrenic." " Depends on who scared them last." "You eat some razor blades or glass in something they give you what are you dead of?" " Stupidity." "It's a rog, Brown." "Much affirmed." "Yes, indeed." "We're overjoyed to have traveled 11,000 miles to assist them in their struggle to upgrade themselves." "Every one of them is old or kids." "That ain't good." "This is a retirement ville." "Sort of like Florida." "I wasn't gonna eat that." "I didn't want to be rude." " Rude?" " Yeah." "I'll smack you upside the head for talking that foolishness!" "You do something rude, you say, "Sorry about that."" "For example, you strangle their chickens cop their rice, or barbecue their fucking hootch you say, "Sorry about that."" "Let me hear you say it." ""Sorry about that."" "Sorry about that." "I got something for us, sir." "We asked him which path was safe." "One day he says one, next day the other." "You VC?" "VC?" "Number fucking 10!" "VC?" " You number fucking 10?" " No!" " You VC?" " VC, no!" "All right!" "We got it!" "Number one, old man." "I hope that ain't your idea of fun, buddy." "This is some piece of equipment!" "Don't look like it to me." "Look like some tree got tangled up." "And this fool gonna tie it to his cow." "Do you know how one of these things works?" "Ain't you supposed to be hauling water to your pals instead of hanging out with this motherfucker?" " Yeah." " So let's go, then." "Right." "Okay." "No, no, no." "All right." "Shit." "Sarge wants us together, we best do it." "Don't you want to get home for your own plowing?" " You're married, right?" " Yeah." "Yeah, yeah, come on, motherfucker!" "What the fuck was I talking about, man?" "This some bad-ass Thai stick, man." "You got any babies?" "That's what I was talking about." " A little girl." " A little girl?" "Now ain't that my point?" "What were you doing back there?" "Sarge had to save you." "The ground opened up on me." "I'm hanging there." "Half in, half out of one of the tunnels." "Mortar rounds coming straight at me." "Boom, boom, boom!" " I couldn't believe it." " Did you pee your pants?" " Don't be shy." "Talk to me." " I'm talking." "You ain't telling me nothing." "Your ass was stuck in a rabbit hole?" "So, what happened?" " Man, come on." " Come on." "Think of me as your priest." " Lutherans don't have priests." " Did you pee your pants?" "If the sarge hadn't come back for me, I sure would have." "Without sarge, you ain't nothing but a sack of shit." "You ain't walking along jiving with me." "You so much grief bagged and tagged that your people moan all their lives." "Right, sarge?" "Hatch!" " Hatcher!" " What?" "You got 30 days to learn what you can from me and Meserve." "Hatcher!" " Listen up." " I'm listening." "We gonna DEROS and leave Freedom Frontier..." "One o'clock!" "Behind you!" "Oh, my God, I hit it!" "Sarge!" "All right, cease fire!" "Cease fire!" " I told you this place wasn't safe." " The bastards set us up!" "Sarge, I'm in trouble, man." "I'm in trouble, sarge." " It ain't nothing, Brownie." " You sure, man?" "It sure feels like something." "It feels bad, sarge." "It ain't nothing, man." "Eriksson, the sarge says I'm gonna be okay, man." "Oh, yeah." "No sweat, Brownie." "Fuck this shit, man!" "Fuck this!" "Let's go, let's go!" "Come on, move it!" "Sarge!" "Look in my fucking eyes!" "I'm gonna hypnotize you!" "You're fine." "I know it, man." "I know it." "I'm an armor-plated motherfucker." "I'm an armor-plated motherfucker." "I'm an armor-plated motherfucker." "Sergeant!" "Sergeant Meserve, you're to go two clicks back to the road." "APCs are there to take you to Ap Thanh." "Take a truck back to Wolf." "The company's regrouping there." " Is that understood?" " You better watch your back here." "This ville is bullshit." "They're harboring VC." "We'll bust some chops before we leave." " Don't you worry." " Torch the fucking place." "Hey, hey, there it is." "My rack, my rack!" "So, what are you gonna do?" "Get shitfaced and go hump the brains out of some hos." " I don't know." "I'm too tired." " Come on." "Are we on duty or off?" "Let me have a beer." " No." "You should have bought more." " Give the guy a beer." " They're mine." " I'll give you 1000 pi." " You should have thought ahead." " 10,000 pi." "For one?" "Oreos." "I'll give you some cookies." " I was hoping you were still around." " Forget about it." "We just spent some time in a combat zone." "The lieutenant had difficulty getting his head out of his ass and left us in the jungle like a bunch of crazed motherfuckers." " What happened to you guys?" " I don't think anybody knows." " I just about got killed, though." " What was that like?" "I went nuts." " You wanna shower?" " Later." "Come on, I want to shower." "Let's go shower." "Hey, sarge." "It's the sarge." "This asshole, Clark, bought one beer off me for 10,000 pi." "Ain't that some shit?" "Sarge, are we on duty or off?" " Off." " Fucking-A." "We've been detailed a long-range recon in the morning." "We're off till 2100." "Where we gonna go?" "The lieutenant will brief me." "I'll brief you guys, 2100." "We're out of here at 0600." " We're off till then?" " Yeah." "Sarge, we're gonna take a shower." "What are you gonna do?" "I'm gonna go into town and get laid." "What do you hear about Brownie?" "He's dead." "This place is bullshit." "I hate this fucking place." " They ought to blow it up and pave..." " Fucking-A." "Brownie could make me laugh, man." "And I like to fucking laugh." "You know I never knew a far-out spade dude like Brownie before Brownie." "They shouldn't make you hump the boonies when you're short." "They should send you home." "You'd be short when you were close to where you didn't have to go." " So what?" " So nobody'd want to go." "I don't want to go now." "They keep moving it back." "Pretty soon they wouldn't send anybody here." "What's wrong with that?" "What I'm saying is these fucking gooks are shit, man!" "They're lowlifes!" "Every motherfucker in that ville." "Every man, woman and child knew about the fucking mortars." "They knew about the snipers, and they just let them zap Brownie." "They're slugs." "They're roaches, and total destruction is the only way to deal with them." "Sorry, sarge." "Passes are cancelled." "What?" " The ville's off-limits." " What did he say?" " For how long?" " Indefinitely." "He's serious, man." "Fuck them." " Watch it, sarge!" " Come on." " Motherfucking..." " Take it easy." "That was easy!" " Motherfucking easy!" " What we gonna do?" "Know what this shit's about?" "Fucking Cong is in town tonight." "Charlie's in the whorehouse." " No shit?" " Didn't you know?" "Charlie's gotta get laid too." "He works hard killing us." "Don't he?" "What are we gonna do, sarge?" "What are we gonna do?" "Goddamn it!" "The Cong's getting laid." "And we're just..." "It ain't fair, you know?" "Am I talking?" "I can't tell if I'm talking or not." "Diaz, how you doing?" "Do one of you guys got a Playboy on you I can borrow?" " Jeez, on me?" " Yeah." " I gotta find one." " Somebody sent you a present." "This is Diaz." "He's Brown's replacement." "We're out of here in the morning at 0500." "I want everyone carrying two frags." "Make sure you got smoke." "Sit down." "Leave your vest." "I don't want any heat casualties." "Beyond that, wear what you want, as long as it's charmed as long as it's helped you survive." "Our destination is Hill 209 in the Tra Khuc Valley." "The hill's here." "There are caves, there might be VC." "We're looking for tunnels, bunkers, unmapped trails, whatever." "Now." "The orders are we don't shoot except in self-defense." "You get one of these fuckers out in the open, you waste him." "We're leaving an hour early because we detour 2000 meters to the south to the ville of Nghia Hanh." "What we're gonna do is requisition ourselves a girl." "A little portable R and R." "It'll break up the boredom, keep up morale." "I want charmed people around me." "So bring your good-luck stuff." "Like this, sarge?" "Does it feel lucky?" "It looks lucky." "He really say that?" "He wouldn't do it, would he?" "Bring a girl?" "Are you crazy?" "As short as he is?" "He is out of here in less than 30 days." "So why did he say it?" "I don't know." "What did the other guys think?" "Everybody was joking." "Clark says:" ""What's this, some new addition to Lurp rations?"" "Right." "I mean, some broad in your pack." "You see how nuts that sounds?" "That'll never happen, G.I." "That is the one, sarge." "She's the pretty one." "Take the pretty one." " Get over here, you fucking cunt!" " Jesus God!" "What's going on?" "You wanna suck this, you fucking whore?" "You wanna suck this, you fucking whore?" "You guys done this before?" "No." "This is unbelievable." "I didn't think he meant it, Hatch." "Did you?" "I don't know, man." "I want to be out of here by first light." "What do you want?" "What do you want?" "You want her to have this?" "All right, no sweat." "No big thing." "She can have it!" "Shut up, bitch!" "Let's get out of here, sarge." "Get some rest." "You're upset." "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry." "We're gonna win her heart and mind." "If she's got one." "Hey, sarge." "A few more clicks, we'll rest." " I thought you were kidding." " I was serious as a heart attack." "That's what I mean." "This is kidnapping, ain't it, sarge?" "Take the point." " Go relieve Hatch on point." " Why?" "You got the point." " Go!" " Yeah." "Right." "Hatch, slow up." "I'm supposed to relieve you." "It's just like Genghis Khan, man." "That's what I was thinking." " Ever heard of Genghis Khan?" " What?" " What are you talking about?" " Meserve is unbelievable." "I mean, what we're doing it's fantastic." "Why didn't we think of it before?" " This is nuts." " It ain't nuts." "It's what armies do." " We ain't Genghis Khan." " You're the one who's nuts." "It's the 20th century, man." "We're supposed to be here to help." "I'm definitely gonna fuck this bitch." "What's the matter with you?" "Come here." "Come here for a second." "Come here." "You all right?" "You all right?" "That was some hump, huh?" "You want some gum?" "I'm not gonna hurt you." "Do I have to mess with her?" "Diaz..." "No, man." "Hey, come here." "Come here, somebody." "Somebody, come here, quick." " Come here." " Check it out, Clark." " Is that a farmer or VC?" " Where?" " In the pool." " What is it, Clark?" " It's a rock, I think." " It's moving." "The bushes are moving, the rock ain't." " What are you doing?" " He said to shoot them in the open." "It's a water buffalo, sarge." "Dumb, very fucking dumb." "Aspirin." "Number one." "Okay." " Hey, sarge." " Yeah." "We on track?" "Just follow the red Crayola line." "Two and a half hours and we'll be there." "Give me a minute on this thing we're doing." "I mean, what we're doing." "What are we doing, sarge?" "We have a VC suspect." "Is that what you mean?" "She's a VC whore and we're gonna have fun with her." "She's just a farm girl." "You're the cherry here, right?" "So lighten up." " Let me carry the weight." " What's the problem, sarge?" "He don't think our VC whore is a VC whore." "You've been in town." "They'll sell their children." "These people were sleeping in their hootch." "He got the wrong outlook on this thing." "You got the wrong outlook." " What are you talking about?" " She's a VC." " She ain't." " I'm telling you, Eriksson." "This ain't a VC." "Clark ain't." "Hatcher, he ain't no VC." "Diaz ain't no VC." "I ain't." "I ain't no fucking VC." "Now this?" "This here's a VC." "And you?" "You I don't know about." "You ain't cutting yourself this slack, man." "You ain't humping your ruck, hump mine." " Why, man?" " Just put it on." "Hey, sarge!" "Hey!" "I'm a corporal, Hatcher." "This is a direct order." "You hump my ruck." "Oh, man." "What an asshole!" "It's all clear, sarge." "The stream's 30 meters down." "Plenty of water." "Get her inside." "Get your ruck off her, Hatcher." "Put mine over there." "We'll use this place as our C.P." "Eriksson, you and Diaz get the chow and ammo stored." "Clark, you and Hatcher come with me." "I ain't gonna rape nobody." "You gotta back me up." " I'll back you." " Swear it." "I do, man." "I promise." "You gotta back me too." "You got it, man." "I'm not gonna hurt you." "You're cut." "You're hurt." "Let me fix it, okay?" "No, no, give." "We'll get it clean." "I'm not going to hurt you." "Come here." "Stay still." "See?" "It's going to be okay." "Okay, I'm your friend." "I'm your friend." "Mind if I pull up a chair?" "Go ahead." "C-rats, huh?" "What you got there?" " Franks and beans." " Army don't want to surprise us." "Leave that to the dinks." "How you doing?" "I'm all right." "I'm sorry I jumped on you back there." "We're out here with the Cong hanging in every tree waiting to grease us." "Humping six hours of the worst bush." "Gooks should be fighting to get out of here, not to keep it." "Six hours of the ugliest snakes and spiders." "All we have is each other." "Right?" "Yeah." "Come here." "I don't want any problems with you." "I'm counting on you in particular." "I don't know what's going on here." "We're gonna interrogate the prisoner." "This isn't right." "We ain't supposed to do this." "Don't fuck with me." "You're taking your turn." "I ain't raping nobody." "You're saying no to me?" "You ain't hotshot enough to say no." "Motherfucker!" "Motherfucker!" "Think you're standing up to me?" "I ain't doing it." "No way." "Don't you like girls?" "You ain't got a pair?" "Is that your problem?" " Sarge?" " He don't want to ball the dink." " Chickenshit." " Is that it?" "Is that your problem?" " No." " So, what is it?" " Maybe he's queer." " You a faggot?" " Is that it?" " No!" "So, what is it?" "Everybody else is up for this." "What are you looking at Diaz for?" "He's with the program." "You got a problem?" " Hell, no." " Okay." "Would you stop looking at Diaz?" "Oh, wait a minute." "Maybe he is a queer." "Maybe Eriksson's a homosexual." "We got us two gals." "Is Eriksson a faggot?" " I don't know." " I think so." "He's chickenshit." "I'm gonna cut his heart out." "How we gonna count on you?" "You're a VC sympathizer." "You could get killed real easy." "Somebody stumbles..." "They don't mean to shoot you." "Friendly fucking casualty." "I mean, a body bag's a body bag." "Your mama and your daddy are crying." " He's dead." " What?" " My father's dead." " Nobody cares about your history." "You're taking your turn." "In there." "Maybe when I'm done with her, I'm gonna come after you." "When I'm done humping her, I'm gonna hump you!" "You're taking an attack posture with me?" "Yeah, you got a weapon." "Clark got a weapon." "He's got a knife." "We all got weapons." "Anybody can blow anybody away any second." "Which is the way it ought to be." "Always." "The Army calls this a weapon." "But it ain't." "This is a weapon." "This is a gun." "This is for fighting." "This is for fun." "Are you gonna watch?" "Take security, Eriksson." "You got security." " Who's next, man?" " Not you, man!" "I wish we had some beers." "I'd really like an ice-cold beer." "Better than nothing." "Wish we had a beer." "Don't you wish you had a beer?" "Are we gonna flip a coin?" " Diaz is next." " When am I up, sarge?" " After Clark." " That's last." "Move it, Diaz, move it!" "We ought to have some goddamn beers." " Shut the fuck up." " I just want a beer, man." "We should gag her." "We'll have VC all over our case." "Hatcher manages three strokes, then he goes:" "Like a fucking mouse." "Clark had his knife to her throat." "So what?" "What do you mean?" "When is the last time you had a real woman?" "She was real." "I think she was real." "My brother had this car, man." "It was a '57 Chevy Bel Air." "Raked, nosed." "Had 10 coats of hand-rubbed candy-apple-red lacquer." "The coolest." "It had a 283 in it, bored and stroked." "The fastest thing in the street!" "Diaz will relieve you at 2400, okay?" "You probably like the Army, don't you?" "I hate the Army." "This ain't the Army." "This ain't the Army, sarge." "Yea, though I walk through the valley of evil I shall fear no death." "Because I'm the meanest motherfucker in the valley." "It's a bunch of them little people." "There you go." "What do you think?" "You want to light them up?" "There's something happening here." "Maybe they're just fishing." "You two get back to the hootch." "Load up on extra ammo and smoke grenades." "Diaz, get Big Brother." "I want support." "Didi mau, gentlemen." "Big Brother 0-2, this is Silent Twin 0-2." "Fucking bullshit, man." "What did I do to deserve this?" "I'm sick of babysitting this whore." "What's happening?" " Meserve wants ammo." " We're gonna light them up." " Where's Meserve?" " He's at the ridge." "What do I do, man?" "Babysit the whore while you guys waste some gooks?" "What'd he say about me?" "He didn't say anything." "All right, man." "I'm saying it." "I'm going up there, man." "Eriksson, you stay here." " I'm supposed to go." " I'm going up there and get some." "I ain't gonna miss this." "You ready?" " Meserve won't like this." " I'm a corporal." "You're a PFC." "Now you stay here." "Give me the thump gun." " Let's didi, Hatch." " We're gonna K.I.A. Some VC." "Fucking-A." "No more." "No more." "I'm not gonna hurt you." "I'm not gonna hurt you, okay?" "I just want to untie you." "All right?" "Just a minute." "Okay." "Oh, God!" "I'm sorry." "My friends number 10." "You're sick, huh?" "You're sick?" "It's okay." "Oh, man, you're burning up." "You're hot." "You hungry?" "Hungry, food?" "Eat, okay?" "Number one." "Get you something to eat." "Okay?" "Okay." "Number one." "It's good, it's good." "It's okay." "Good." "Okay, okay, take it easy." "I don't understand." "I don't know what you're saying." "I don't know what you're saying." " What's happening?" " Why are you here?" " Shit's happening." " Where's Eriksson?" " In the hootch." " You left him alone with the whore?" "Are you nuts?" "Go get him up here." "Get everybody and everything up here ASAP." "I gotta do everything?" "I'm gonna take you out of here." "Okay?" "You." "You." "You, me, we go." "We're gonna didi." "Okay?" "We're gonna go home." "Home." "We go home in the ville." "Ville." "Thank God." "Okay, that's right." "We're going home." "Wait a minute." "I can't go." "You go." "Go, go!" "I can't go!" "I'll be a goddamn deserter." "Go!" "Go!" "No, I'm sorry!" "I can't do this!" "You don't understand!" "Oh, Jesus." "Okay." "What are you doing?" "Nothing, man." "Nothing." "Meserve wants everybody up top." "Shut the fuck up!" "She'll give us away with all that coughing." "We gotta waste her." "She'll get us lit up." " Eriksson, waste the bitch." " What?" "You heard me." "Grease her." "Another boat, sarge." "Get Reilly." "I want that support." "Slicks, snakes, everything." "Right, sarge." "Big Brother 0-2, this is Silent Twin 0-2, over." "I want you to waste her." "I don't know what you're talking about." " Kill the bitch." " You're nuts!" "Brownie would kick your ass on this." "He would not tolerate this bullshit!" "Brownie ain't on my frequency no more." "Brownie's dead." "You on my frequency, motherfucker?" "If you ain't, you're K.I.A., just like the gooks." "Let her go, sarge!" "What she gonna do, man?" "Let her go!" " Hatcher, waste her." " What?" " I'll do it." " No, Hatcher's gonna do it." " Why me?" " You piece of shit." "You do what I say." "I don't want to." "Choppers, sarge." "Goddamn it!" "They're gonna see her." "We gotta get rid of her." "We'll have every bird circling this area." "Diaz!" " Do it!" " I'll do it, sarge." " Diaz is gonna do it." "Do it!" " Diaz, no, man." " You yellow piece of shit!" "Be a man!" " Don't do it." " Be a man!" "Do it!" "Do it!" " Don't do it!" " Do it!" " Don't let him make you." " Don't do it, man!" " Do it!" "Do it!" "You fucking piece of shit, do it!" " Diaz!" "Diaz!" " Do it!" "Do it!" " Do it!" " Diaz!" "No!" "You don't have to worry about her coughing anymore!" "Eriksson, you stay here!" "Everybody else move!" "You cover!" "Now we're in the shit." "Take no names and count the bodies!" "What the hell is that?" "Look, sarge!" "It's a gunboat." "I fixed her, sarge." "Everybody, move!" "Right flank!" "Right flank!" "Switch with me, Hatch." "Go!" "Get some, motherfuckers!" "Get some!" "Oh, God!" " She's getting away!" " No!" "No!" "She's getting away!" "She's getting away!" "That bitch!" "I stuck her more than twice!" "Waste her!" " No!" "Stop it!" " Waste her!" "Shoot her!" "Shoot her!" "Shoot her!" "Let's make our hat!" "Rowan!" "Rowan!" "They did it." "We didn't think they would but they did." "They killed her." " The girl?" " This ain't supposed to happen." "We go into this ville." "We just march in and they take this girl." "They fucked her and killed her." "Jesus Christ." "I mean, this ain't supposed to happen." "Hatcher's talking..." "Hatcher's talking about Genghis Khan." " Meserve said I'm K.I.A." " And Clark?" " He's nuts." " He's here." "Eriksson, what are you talking to him about?" "I'm allowed to be talking to him." "What happens in the field stays in the field, man." "You know that." "Everybody knows that." "Clarkie, where's Meserve?" "Is he back?" "What happened?" "You disappeared." "I got choppered out, Clark." " We have to regroup..." " Don't pull at me!" "Don't pull at me." "Reilly said in an hour." " I'll be there." " You better be, cherry." "Victor Charles Cong is hardcore." "They said that we were on alert." "I said, "I am always on alert."" " Did you see him, man?" " That was freaky, man." "They get me back in the bush, I'm coming back in a bag." "You gotta tell somebody." "Who do you think?" " Tell Reilly." " Hill's the captain." "You should tell Reilly first." "All right." "On the day I was born, my mama grunted." "I popped out." "Took one look around." ""Shit," I says, "it's Two Creeks, Texas."" "So about eight years ago I'm still in Two Creeks." "My wife's about to have our first child." "I took her to the hospital, a natural thing to do." "She was refused admittance to this hospital on the basis of her race." "Which is, as you might guess, Negro." "Next thing I know, the baby ain't about to wait." "So my son is born on the goddamn floor of this hospital's reception room." "Eriksson, I flipped the fuck out." "I started turning over chairs kicking lamps." "It wasn't long before I was in jail." "Now wasn't I on the side of righteousness?" "So, what was I doing in jail?" "What I was doing, let me advise you was fixing to shoot some motherfuckers in that hospital." "That's what I was doing." "But you know what?" "It was like they read my mind and they kept me in that jail until my mind was turned around." "When I got out, I only wanted to see my baby and my wife." "And I started thinking to myself what happened is the way things are." "So why try and buck the system?" "This is what I'm gonna do." "I'm gonna break up the squad, send you in different directions." " I think this is..." " No, you don't think." "You listen." "You'd best just relax and try to forget about this thing." "You can't expect anything else in the combat zone." "Is that clear?" "Sir." "Yes, sir." "I got some boneless chicken I'll trade for some pound cake." " We'd kill to keep our pound cake." " Everybody says that." "In fact, we have killed to keep our pound cake." "If you was me, what would you have done?" "What do you mean, man?" "I mean, if you were me, what would you have done?" "I don't know." "There was this one minute, you know?" "I had this chance." "I could have got her out of there." "We both could have taken off." "And then Clark..." "What was I supposed to do?" "Waste a corporal?" " No, man." " Just blow away four Americans?" " No." " What then?" "Guys, I can't find my squad." "Why are you here?" " I can't find Wilkins." " Find any pound cake?" " No, just chicken." " Where is yours?" "Somebody stole it." "Can I stay with you?" "Yeah, back there." "I should have gone to Captain Hill." "He'd straighten this out." "When we reconnoiter to those caves, do you think...?" "Private, move out." " You told Reilly?" " Reilly's bullshit." "No, I gotta see Captain Hill." "He'll square this shit away." "Don't go around your immediate superior." "If I do nothing, she'd just vanish." "There's a chain of command." "I wouldn't violate something so sacred for a murder." "What are you talking about?" "Don't worry about it." "I better go." "I feel like I'm doing something wrong." "I'll see you later." "You won't see us later if you don't stop bopping around here." "Just take it easy, okay?" "Slow down." "Tough." "There he goes." " Pathetic." " He ain't rendezvoused with his brain..." "Cease fire!" "Cease fire!" "What's the haps, sarge?" "Booby trap." "Somebody stepped on a toe-popper." "All right, let's move it out." " Who got hit, sarge?" " Cherry." "That boy was bagged the minute they sent him here." "They should have just shot him at home." "Okay, let's move out." "Get your people out of here." "Let's go." "Oh, Jesus!" "Pathetic, dumb-ass Cherry." "Wait a minute." "This goddamn thing is turning us on our heads." "We're getting it backwards." "Because every day is a dose of bullshit." "Just because we could all be blown away everybody's acting like we can do anything." "And it don't matter what we do." "But I think it's the other way around." "The main thing is the opposite." "Because we might die in the next second maybe we gotta be extra careful what we do." "Because maybe it matters more." "Maybe it matters more than we even know." " PFC Eriksson reporting, sir." " At ease, Eriksson." "Captain Hill, something happened..." "I'm aware of why you're here." "Lt. Reilly detailed it to me just after you brought it to him." "I didn't know that, sir." "That just about cover it, trooper?" "I am max-attentive to this situation." "Yes, sir." "Is there someone I should speak to?" "Has the investigation started?" "I hope you understand how serious this situation is." "Yes, sir." "That's why I reported it, sir." "This could cause a major international incident." "Do you know that?" "Yes, sir." "These men fucked up good but you bringing formal charges against them is that gonna help that girl one little bit?" "Maybe if you had been there, sir." "If you heard her scream..." "Don't tell me shit about screaming!" "I've heard a lot of fucking screaming!" "Most of it's come from wounded American boys." "I'm gonna transfer you out of my company." "That okay?" "I'll get you out of the bush, any fucking place you want to go." "I saw your 201 file in the rear." "You volunteered to be a tunnel rat." "Is that what you want?" "I want out of this company." "Well, that's a rog." "You're a tunnel rat." "It won't keep me from bringing this out." "Nobody's trying to keep you from doing a goddamn thing." "My function here is just to tell you how this will come down." "And you ought to be advised that military court-martials are lenient." "And stateside review boards are even more lenient." "If these guys get convicted they won't do any real time." "Yes, sir." "They'll be out of the stockade before you know it." "And if I was them, I'd be pissed off." "I'd be looking for payback!" "Now, a man like you, wife, baby daughter I'd be considering those factors very carefully." "Pardon me, sir." "What's your point, sir?" "There ain't no point, Eriksson." "I'm just illuminating the terrain in which we find ourselves deployed." " You don't mind." "And if you do, fuck you!" " Yes, sir." " You on my frequency?" " Yes, sir." "You maggot!" "Who do you think you are?" "You recommended Meserve for a Bronze Star!" "He pulled you out of a VC tunnel, boy!" "What he did was wrong." "But he's a kid." "He's 20 goddamn years old!" "And you're gonna ruin his life?" "He saved yours!" "No, man, no!" "Now listen to me, man." "Just don't get too happy with those dice." " I'll be there in two seconds." " Okay." "All right." "Hey, Clarkie!" "What?" " Charlie's in the wire!" " What the hell's going on?" "Christ!" "What was it?" "Who was on watch?" "Anybody still in there?" "Get that fire out over there." "You sick son of a bitch!" "I told you, cherry." "What happens..." "Nobody cares, Meserve." "Oh, I told everybody." "You don't have to worry." "You don't have to kill me." "I told them, and they don't care!" "You dinky dau, man." "You beaucoup dinky dau!" "How you doing, son?" "Sir." "I'm sorry, sir." "Drunk, sir." "Mind if I join you?" "Drunk." "Very drunk, sir." "You going on leave?" "Getting transferred, sir." "Fini boonies." "This little darling must be your daughter." "You're not gonna do anything crazy with that gun, are you?" "Just protecting myself, sir." "I gotta protect myself." "Trouble at home, son?" "Pardon, sir?" "I thought maybe you had problems at home, sickness in the family." "The answer's not in that can, son." "Are you sure, sir?" "I'm a chaplain." "Try me." "That's what I do." "You a chaplain, sir?" "Are you religious, son?" "I'm a Methodist." "I'm a Lutheran." "We can still talk, can't we?" "I went on a long-range patrol, sir." "And we kidnapped a girl from a village." "And the other four men raped her." "And they murdered her." "And I failed, sir to stop them." "Where was the girl supposed to have been abducted from?" " Nghia Hanh ville, sir." " How old was she?" "She was eighteen. 18 to 20, sir." " How do you know that?" "Because her mother was there." "She was just..." "She was young." "She just appeared young..." "How do you know she wasn't 14 or 12?" "How do you know she wasn't 28?" "Because she..." "I don't know." "I guess that's how old she seemed to be." " Was she VC?" " No, no." "I really didn't..." "How do you know she wasn't?" " Did she struggle?" " Yeah, her mom was..." "How do you know she wasn't struggling because she was a VC being taken prisoner?" "Look, sir the sarge said we were gonna get us a girl." "And we did." "That's what he said, sir." "How far out did the patrol go?" "We went to Hill 209, sir that's about a five hour hike." "And you did it all on foot?" "No helicopters?" "No." "No helicopters." "We hiked in." "So after you got there what happened to the girl?" "They killed her." "They..." " She was stabbed." " The chaplain says you said they shot her." "Yeah, well, first this guy Clark, he said he stabbed her two or three times." "And then he saw her crawling away." "So he started screaming and then everybody came running over." " Who shot her?" " Everybody shot..." " You saw these people shoot?" " Yes, sir." " I saw them shoot her." " If she was dead when did they rape her?" "Jesus." "That was before." "At the hooch." "Guess what?" "This is a grade A bullshit story." "Do you know why?" " It isn't." " But it is." "Because if what you're telling us is true and you hiked in and hiked out and these things happened the way you're telling it you would've never made it walking back." "You would've been K.I.A." "I was choppered out." "I said we walked in." " I was medevaced out." " You were choppered out?" " Yes, sir." " So then what happened?" "After they shot her what happened?" "What'd they do with the body?" "She's there." "The body is there, sir." "So if someone went out there, they could find the body." "Yes, sir." "Couldn't let it rest, could you?" "You had to push it." "Go to hell." "Sir!" "So you don't feel responsible for crimes of the rape and murder?" "No, sir." "I don't." "Is it your feeling, Corporal Clark that you are wrongly brought to trial by the U.S. Government?" "I don't have anything against the government." "But I just think soldiers like Tony Meserve and me belong out in combat not here." "Throw us in the stockade and you're helping nobody but the Viet Cong." "When Sergeant Meserve called you, did you go willingly into the hootch and rape the girl Tran Thi Oahn?" "Please answer the question." "Yes, sir." "Yes, sir." "Have you any idea why Eriksson stayed out of the hootch?" "Well, he was brand-new, sir." "I was there a lot longer than him." "At least three weeks longer than him." "You're saying, then you involved yourself in rape to avoid being ridiculed?" "When you go out on a patrol, sir you're not gonna be as good as you wanna be." "These guys aren't helping you do anything." "There's gonna be four people on that patrol, and an individual." "And so I did what I did, and I got remorse about it." "But I also got remorse about talking at this trial." "I have a loyalty to the men I was out there with." "Is it standard for U.S. Personnel to have sex with prisoners and kill them?" " Objection!" " Overruled." "The prisoner tried to give away the squad's position." "She was ill and coughing from the abuse of you and your men." "She shouldn't have been there to jeopardize your position!" "You dragged her out and raped her!" "And then you blame her for coughing, so you kill her!" " Does that about sum it up?" " Objection." "Well, sir I've seen a lot of killing which it's our duty to do, because it's kill or be killed." "Sometimes you hate the enemy so badly..." "About two ops back Operation Turner we saw a hootch that had been burned down." "Some Vietnamese were carrying kids out of a bunker." "They suffered from smoke inhalation." "I gave one small child mouth-to-mouth resuscitation." "That just shows you we ain't all combat over here." "Isn't it true that shortly before the incident on Hill 209 you were involved in an action during which you were put out on flank security?" "Where you failed utterly to either protect your fellow soldiers or regroup according to your instruction?" "It was a mortar situation, sir." "The concussion opened up the earth underneath me." "I was in a tunnel." "I fell in the dirt, there was dirt collapsed all around me." "I couldn't move, sir." "And who helped you?" "Sergeant Meserve." " Do you respect Sergeant Meserve?" " No, sir." "Are you afraid of him?" "Not if he doesn't have a weapon, sir, no." "And during this alleged rape you went off to sit in the jungle." "Is that correct?" " I was placed on..." " Were you off in the jungle?" " Yes or no?" "Answer the question." " Yes, sir." "Does sexual activity always repulse you in this way?" "Isn't it true you went off to figure out how to use this incident..." " ...to get out of the infantry?" " Objection." "Didn't you fabricate your charges against them to avoid combat duty?" " Objection." " I applied for tunnel rat, sir." " That's hazardous duty, sir." " I know what you applied for." "And I know what you're doing." "You're working as an orderly and a witness." "And neither one is hazardous." "Why the hell didn't you just let that girl go when you had the chance?" "In fact, if you wanted to save her so badly, why didn't you just shoot the other members of your patrol and be done with it?" " I thought about it." " But you didn't do it, did you?" "Because you were watching out for your own sweet ass..." " ...is why you didn't do it." " Objection, sir." "I probably should have shot him." "Yeah, I probably should have shot Clark." "And Meserve." "Yeah, I probably should have shot them." "Yes, sir instead of what I did which was nothing." "They killed her, sir." "I mean, they fucking killed her!" "Of the charges of rape and unpremeditated murder PFC Diaz is found guilty sentenced to eight years' hard labor." "Of the charge of rape, PFC Hatcher is found guilty and sentenced to 15 years' hard labor." "Of the charges of rape and premeditated murder Corporal Clark is found guilty sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor." "Of the charge of unpremeditated murder Sergeant E5 Meserve is found guilty sentenced to 10 years' hard labor." "Sentences will begin immediately at Disciplinary Barracks, Ft." "Leavenworth, Kansas." "Prisoners dismissed." "If these guys get convicted, they won't do any real time." "They'll be out of the stockade before you know it." "And if I was them, I'd be pissed off." "I'd be looking for payback!" "Excuse me." "Excuse me, miss!" " You forgot this." " Oh, thank you." "Bye." "Do I remind you of someone?" "Yeah." "You had a bad dream, didn't you?" "Yes." "It's over now, I think."