""Oh, it's springtime in the mountains"" ""And I'm full of Mountain dew"" ""Can't even read my catalog"" ""Like I used to do"" ""I'm a-settin' In that little shed"" ""That's right back Of the house"" ""Here comes old Jake With all the hounds"" ""But he's gonna Hear me shout"" ""Oh, I won't go huntin' With you, Jake"" ""But I'll go chasin' women"" ""So put them hounds Back in the pens"" ""And quit Your silly grinnin'"" ""Well, the moon is bright And I half-tight"" ""My life is just beginnin'"" ""I won't go huntin' With you, Jake"" ""But I'll go chasin' women"" ""Let's go Down to the meetin' house"" ""And wait Till they start home..."" "How can you stand to eat that stuff?" "Well, I can't." "Believe me, I'll pay for it later." "Spirit's willing, but the gut can't take spicy food anymore." "Or combat duty." "Well, it's like they say:" "the older you get, the harder it is to stomach the choices you make." "Well, I've paid my dues in the mistakes department." "Good Lord got his two cents in, too." "Crippled my knees, can't read without my glasses, and the rest is personal." "Which is why I've been thinking... now that Ru and Taylor are back in the saddle, maybe I can get a rear echelon job." "Are you crazy, Pop?" "Hell, two days in the rear, you'd be begging me to go back out in the field." "Not this time." "Not this war." "First the Army sends a crapper full of conchies over here, and now they're emptying out senior citizens' homes." "Son... you will find that a little respect for your elders will go a long ways towards making you have a nice day." "Respect?" "Hell, the man's got gray hair, and he's still a PFC." "Hell, I'll bet you're the only guy over here that has to pay their women double." "Boy, don't make me get up off my comfortable chair, and I'll whip your butt." "You best just be moving along." "Hey, I'm cool." "I just got one more question for grandpa here." "How come he can't talk for himself?" "Get down and give me 20." "Yes, sir." "Fifteen seconds." "Not bad." "But your mother nailed it in 13, and your grandmother in 12." "Ho-ho-ho..." "Sergeant Anderson, I'd like you to meet my son," "Specialist Robby Scarlet." "You sure are a sight for sore eyes, boy." "This is a board of inquiry." "Its purpose is to examine evidence and testimony as to whether or not an alleged massacre of Vietnamese civilians did in fact occur at the village of Phu An on or about 20 September, 1968." "This is not a court martial." "However, if the board determines there is substantial proof that the alleged charges did in fact take place, it can and may recommend to the convening authority that courts martial are appropriate." "Please be advised that what you say during your testimony can and may be used against you in a court martial." "Do you understand what I've just said?" "If so, please sign the statement form before you." "I am Major General Edward Higgins," "MACV's Deputy Commander for Operations." "On the morning of 18 September, 1968, an SR-71 Black Bird spotted several large groups moving across the Cambodian-Vietnamese border, just east of Tay Ninh." "An attack on Tay Ninh seemed imminent." "Well, I ordered Colonel Carl Brewster, commander of Project Alpha, to deploy one of his SOG teams to the area... and recover several known weapons caches at, uh..." "Thoa Ha, Ku Chau, and Phu An." "Was it Colonel Brewster who selected Lieutenant Myron Goldman's team for this mission?" "That is correct." "By whose authority was Lieutenant Joseph Beller's infantry platoon made op-con to Lieutenant Goldman's team?" "By my order." "General, were you aware that Lieutenant Beller's platoon had just come off a 20-day operation in which they suffered heavy casualties from enemy mines and booby-traps without encountering identifiable enemy forces?" "Yes, sir." "Lieutenant Beller felt his men had been nickeled and dimed to death, and needed a break." "And still you ordered them out?" "The mission required more firepower than SOG teams have." "Lieutenant Beller and his men were the only infantry unit available." "It was a judgment call." "General Higgins has been in there for four hours." "Lieutenant, it's taken five months in my command to get the Army to investigate Phu An." "You should know speed isn't its strong suit." "Hey, Myron." "Have you spoken to Lieutenant Beller since he was transferred out?" "No, sir." "Not since this morning, anyway." "He wrote me a couple of letters." "He still wanted to be friends, water under the bridge, that sort of thing." "I didn't respond." "What do you suppose justice is for a man like that?" "Loss of command, loss of freedom, maybe jail." "Well, it doesn't seem like enough, after all the women and children he killed... all the people's lives altered." "There may be some justice done here, but if there isn't... at least we know we did the right thing." " Come on!" " Come on!" "That's it!" "Ha-ha!" "Man, Ru." "Ru, throw it here!" "Ru!" "Ru!" " Back it up." " Take it out." "Hey, come on." " Pass the ball!" " Pass it." "Incoming!" "Incoming!" "Yeah!" "Say, is he always like this?" "Yeah, some things never change." "All right, y'all, listen up." "We got us a mission." "Young Scarlet's special SOG team's half-strength, so we're gonna take three men to fill it out the complement." "Today's gonna be different." "The ranch hands are spraying out there." "Oh, come on." "I hate that spray." "It smells like rotten petroleum." "Well, Pop, wear your poncho if you want to." "But it's only weed killer, now, so nobody should be in any danger." "What's everybody looking at?" "Go." "Saddle up." "General Elliot..." "isn't it true that during the past 12 months, the ratio of weapons captured to enemy killed has been seven weapons captured for every 10 of the enemy killed?" "That is correct." "But in Phu An," "Lieutenant Goldman found 42 bodies and no weapons." "Colonel Brewster's complaint alleged an unprovoked attack on innocent civilians." "The facts were suspect." "Why didn't you investigate the incident?" "I referred Colonel Brewster's complaint to the Deputy Commander of Operations," "General Higgins." "Did you also submit a report of suspected war crimes and/or a serious incident report to General Higgins?" "No, colonel, I did not." "Did you take steps to ensure that a proper investigation was conducted?" "No, I did not." "Why not?" "My sole duty was to inform General Higgins of Colonel Brewster's complaint." "What did you think of Colonel Brewster as a project commander?" "I think Colonel Brewster is one of the best commanders" "I've ever known in my 22 years in the Army." "How did Colonel Brewster get along with his men?" "Like Lieutenant Goldman." "They were all fiercely loyal." "How did Colonel Brewster get along with those above him?" "Colonel Brewster had a..." "unique style of command." "He was very aggressive, but rarely, if ever, misguided." "There was some friction." "Was there friction between him and General Higgins?" "I don't know." "You'll have to ask General Higgins." "Oh, man." "Lieutenant Goldman had just located a weapons cache on the outskirts of Da Hau when his team came under small-arms fire." "Goldman radioed Lieutenant Beller to move in." "When the enemy pulled back to the north," "Goldman again radioed Beller that the enemy was headed in his direction." "Goldman next reported hearing M-16 fire." "When he reached Beller, he found one KIA." "Several of Beller's men then drew their weapons on Lieutenant Goldman's interpreter." "Why?" "Well, according to Lieutenant Goldman, the men believed the interpreter... to be a double agent." "Did Lieutenant Beller take control of his men?" "No, sir." "Lieutenant Beller remained silent." "Lieutenant Goldman then ordered the men to back off, which eventually they did." "Did you inform MACV of your reservations regarding Lieutenant Beller's platoon?" "Yes, sir, I did." "When Lieutenants Goldman and Beller returned that night and made their reports," "I informed General Elliot that Beller and his men were on edge and stretched to the hilt." "I told him" "I wanted Beller away from my men." "What was his response?" "General Elliot ordered the mission to continue at first light." "He said, "Command wants it that way."" "When I asked him if Command was going to take responsibility for what might happen, he said, and I quote, "No, colonel." "You are."" "Go, go." "Eyes open." "Sarge, over here." "Over here." "These people don't look too healthy, do they, Sarge?" "Do you think it's some kind of epidemic?" "I don't know." "They might be suffering from malnutrition or cholera, something we don't know about..." "Percell, check the rest of the village." "See if there are any more like this." "Chieu, get up here." "What's she saying?" "The spray planes came over last month." "They destroyed the crops." "She say you're starving her people with the white rain." "They're not V.C." "What'd she say?" "She wants you to take her son someplace he would be safe." "Uh, I'm a..." "I'm a soldier, ma'am." "I..." "I can't take your baby." "What I can do, though, is I can get a medevac team and doctors." "Tell her." "Doctors will come in here." "And they've got medicine that'll make her baby better." "Tell her that." "All right, Percell, you got point." "Let's move out, y'all." "Come on." "Saddle up." "All right." "Come on, Taylor." "Move 'em out." "What the hell was that all about?" "Mass vacation." "Move the people out and bomb and shell the hell out of their land, and defoliate it." "And the ones that refuse to go get sprayed." "Our way of winning their hearts and minds." "My way makes more sense." "Grease them dinks till there ain't no more left." "You got a feeling the war's changed, Ru, since we've been gone?" "Either that, or we've changed." "You got 27 days and wake-up, baby." "All right, all right." "Where was your unit, lieutenant, when this happened?" "Well, sir, we were on the march to Phu An when we first heard the gunfire." "My sergeant, uh..." "Well, he commented that it was some of ours." "How many units were in the area?" "Lieutenant Beller's was the only other unit in our area of operations." "I tried to raise him on the radio." "There was no response." "It was about this time that the gunfire stopped." "A short time later, my point man pulled up, there was some movement up ahead, and, uh... that's when Lieutenant Beller appeared." "Was Lieutenant Beller out of position?" "Yes, sir, he was." "He was supposed to be acting as a blocking force to our north." "Did you ask him what he was doing there?" "Yes, sir." "Uh..." "He said that there were some unfriendlies in the area and that his radio was out." "Lieutenant, did you buy that?" "No, sir." "It wasn't just..." "It wasn't just a few shots that we had heard fired indiscriminately at a sniper." "There was a lot of gunfire." "When I pressed Lieutenant Beller, he said that his guys had just lit up the area." "But then he said something very strange." "He said, uh..." ""What happens in the bush stays in the bush, right?"" "It wasn't so much of a statement as it was a request." "Watch your intervals." "I'm on it." "All right, y'all, stay alert, now." "We're nearing the rendezvous point." "We're expecting company, so nobody get trigger-happy." "Okay, Sarge." "I'm Sergeant Harold Apter." "That's Tyler and Himmel." "No matter." "Melting in and out of line like that must come in real handy at the movies." "Well, we wouldn't want Charlie to know we're out here." "Now if he spots us... must think we're part of your patrol." "Robbie told us a lot of stories about you, Pop." "One I like best is the 29 kills you had in as many months." "In Korea?" "Different war, different circumstances." "Hey, Pop, that's a story you forgot to tell us." "Still not a bad record." "You get to my age, sergeant, it's just a memory." "Like the time" "I drank Elvis under the table." "No!" "November 15, 1959." "Freiburg, West Germany." "You got to be kidding." "You get his autograph?" "Damn straight." "We moved towards the outskirts of Phu An." "There were, uh... no people." "And all the livestock was running loose." "Uh..." "I signaled my men to move around the perimeter." "And that's when an old Vietnamese man appeared." "He was yelling at us in Vietnamese." "He was screaming that we were murderers." "He was carrying a single-action rifle, and he drew down on us, and he killed my interpreter." "And we killed him." "Uh, I then ordered a sweep of the ville," "And on the north side of the ville, uh... we found a ditch." "And there were dead bodies." "There were, uh... women, and there were old men, and there were children, and there were babies, and..." "The area around the ditch was scattered with M-16 and M-60 shell casings." "I think Sergeant Anderson... probably put it better than I could." "He said that he hadn't signed up for this." "Neither did I." "Neither did my men." "Tyler!" "Aah!" "Taylor!" "Get 'em up on line!" "Lay down fire!" "Percell, right flank!" "Go!" "Go!" "Fire!" "Pull it back!" "Move in!" "Hold the line!" "He's gone, Sarge." "Any more?" "Negative." "Looks pretty bad, Sarge." "He's lost a lot of blood." "All right, sergeant." "Your mission, your call." "Papa Bear, this is Biscuit Man 6." "We're at two KIA." "One seriously wounded." "Request dustoff and extraction." "Over." "Hey, come on." "Let us stay out!" "We can do it." "It's a scrub, soldier." "We'll get our payback another day." "Yeah." "Roger." "Kid's a little too gung ho at times." "Volunteers for missions we haven't even thought of." "But he's got more kills than any other guy in the unit." "Yo, Taylor!" "Yo!" "Adjust the men on the perimeter." "Stay alert out there, now." "We were walking through the ville, and every..." "Everything was fine." "Then, all of a sudden, one of them starts running." "A girl..." "I think..." "And then we just..." "We just did it." "We shot her..." "And, uh..." "And then I shot her again." "Put her out of her misery." "I didn't take any pleasure in killing any of those people." "How could I?" "It's un-American." "But the Army sent us to Phu An for a reason, the same reason they sent us to Nam:" "to stop Communism." "They were just pawns." "Blobs." "Pieces of flesh." "I don't want no son of mine swiping ears off dead men." "Hey, look, some guys collect AK-47s," "V.C. flags..." "I know a guy out in the Tran that collected fingers." "Big deal." "Hey!" "Hands off." "It's private property." "It's perverted." "What about your 29 kills in Korea?" "Was that perverted?" "It was necessary." "It wasn't something I went looking for." "I didn't love doing it, Robby." "Truth is, I couldn't stand to see their faces." "Well, that's what makes us different." "'Cause for me, the thrill of the kill comes from being up close and personal." "Catch you later, Pops." "Colonel Brewster." "My son's heroes are Stokely Carmichael and Abby Hoffman." "Find myself shelling out four grand a year for college tuition, so that he can tell me that, uh... my career sucks, and he can march on Washington." "He cut an ear off a dead NVA." "It's not his first trophy." "Are we the problem, colonel, or is the Army to blame for making us the way we are?" "State your name, rank, grade and organization for the record." "Michael Kelman." "Specialist Fourth Class Michael Kelman," "Infantry, Fourth Brigade?" "No." "Michael Kelman." "I gave the rank back." "All that a man hath shall he give for his life." "Let the record show the witness is Specialist Fourth Class Michael Kelman." "Specialist Kelman, did you personally kill any civilians in Phu An?" "Did you witness" "Lieutenant Beller personally kill any civilians?" "Specialist Kelman... are you exercising your right to remain silent?" "No, sir." "Michael..." "Michael." "Michael." "As God is your witness, did you see Lieutenant Beller personally kill any civilians?" "Did you see the men in your platoon kill any Vietnamese civilians?" "Jeez, I can't get rid of this." "Jungle rot, Griner." "You don't get rid of it." "Everyone in Nam itches." "Come on." "Hey, dad, you still run the 100 in under 10 seconds?" "Hell, no." "How about you try?" "For old times' sake." "Son, the only running I do these days is after Charlie." "And believe me, my heart ain't in it." "Twenty bucks says I can beat you." "I'll save my money and my knees." "Ain't nothing like a little wager to get the blood flowing." "I got 20 on junior here." "Sorry about that, Pops." "You guys aren't listening." "I'm not interested." "I'm gonna have to go with Pop." "What?" "You heard me." "I got faith in the man." "Forget it." "Wait a minute." "Last time we raced, you gave me your word that I'd get a rematch." "Guess I'd better learn to keep my mouth shut." "Guess so." "All right, here we go." "We're gonna run from here to the barracks' door." "Griner, you call the start." "Dad, I'll tell you what." "To be fair and square," "I'm gonna give you a little head start, all right?" "All right." "You just keep your eye on this, so you'll know what to follow." " Y'all ready?" " On the count of three." "Okay, let's go, kid." "One, two... three!" "Pop." "Are you all right, Pop?" "Dad!" "Dad, are you okay?" "I thought I taught you never to be suckered, son." "That was a sucker punch if I ever saw one." "You never change." "You know, you've never let me beat you at anything." "Not cards, not basketball, not racing." "Nothing." "Lighten up." "It was only a race." "Yeah, but you cheated." "Life ain't always fair, son." "Sometimes you gotta cheat to win." "Believe me, Charlie will." " Way to go, Pop!" " Whoo!" "Pretty good." "Look, about this afternoon..." "Forget it." "Come on." "I know I treated you crappy." "Look, I'm not very good at this father business, but maybe I could improve with age, you know?" "At least I'd like to try." "Let's go!" "Come on, man." "Let's go." "Dad, this is gonna have to wait till I get back." "Well, maybe we can do a little R  R together, you know?" "We could get looped, raise hell with the ladies." "What do you say?" "It's time you get yourself a calendar, Percell." "I'm saving my money." "You go ahead." "You're doing a good enough job for both of us." "I must have walked through a field of poison ivy." "There ain't no poison ivy over here, Griner." "Well, something's making my skin itch." "And it's driving me crazy." "Uh, do you mind if I take a look at that?" "No, it's all right." "It'll be gone in a day or two, Doc." "Look, I've, uh..." "I've been seeing a lot of guys in dispensary, and they all have rashes just like yours." "And every one has come in contact with those defoliants." "Like I said, it's nothing, all right?" "All I'm saying is the spraying that they're doing is not as harmless as they're telling us." "I mean, this is chemical warfare." "Give it a rest." "Even the NVA are carrying pamphlets about what they're supposed to do if they're sprayed." "They're supposed to get rid of their water, their food." "They're supposed to wash." "This kind of stuff gets in your system, you don't know what'll happen." "It's like we're guinea pigs for the chemical companies." "Look, Sarge said it won't hurt us." "I believe him." "That's right." "I believe him, too." "Fine." "What are you doing, Doc?" "Packing it all up before you throw it out this time?" "No more tantrums, Doc." "We already fixed the window once." "I did that." "I was just, uh... looking for..." "something." "Anyway, the dispensary's been keeping me really busy, you know, so they got a spare room in the back." "Just, uh, stay over there, you know?" "Save on my commuting time." "So, uh, see you guys later." "What are you looking at me for?" "Nothing, Percell." "Lieutenant Beller, this investigation is being conducted under Article 32 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice." "It is therefore my duty to advise you that you are suspected of murdering Vietnamese civilians and disobeying orders and regulations." "Do you understand your rights as a witness?" "Yes, sir." "However, I'd like to state for the record that the only crime I'm guilty of committing, sir, is one of judgment:" "That of putting the lives of my men above those of the Communists." "Duly noted." "Lieutenant, on the morning of 20 September, 1968, did you lead your platoon into Phu An?" "Yes, sir." "For what purpose?" "It was an enemy ville." "You were operating as a blocking force for Lieutenant Goldman." "His unit was not in the area." "Yes, sir, but my point man, Specialist Michael Kelman, spotted suspicious activity on the trail." "I decided to follow the suspected V.C., and they led us directly into Phu An." "What happened next, lieutenant?" "We, uh, checked them out like we'd done a hundred times before." "I ordered Sergeant Worthen to herd the locals into a semicircle in the center of the ville." "When several of them refused," "I determined that they were likely V.C." "and had booby-trapped the area." "I had lost three good men to booby-traps that week." "My judgment proved correct when we heard an explosion, and they open fired on us." "We defended ourselves." "Lieutenant Goldman has already testified he found no enemy weapons in the ville." "How do you explain this, lieutenant?" "I can't explain that, sir." "I can only tell you the facts." "We were fired upon." "We returned fire." "Lieutenant... did you personally kill any civilians?" "Negative, sir." "I did not personally kill any Vietnamese." "I represented the United States of America and my president." "Lieutenant... did you witness any of your men kill innocent civilians?" "Negative, sir." "Lieutenant Beller," "Lieutenant Goldman testified he found 42 civilian bodies in a ditch." "Sir, you asked me if I saw any of my men kill innocent civilians." "No, sir, I did not." "Those civilians were not innocent." "The next day, any one of those so-called civilians could have ambushed my men, Lieutenant Goldman's men, or some other platoon." "I didn't want to take that chance." "There were children in that village, lieutenant." "Babies." "Sir, I've seen children throwing grenades, laying mines." "Young girls carrying AK-47s." "I've lost good men to children, sir." "How do you sleep at night, lieutenant?" "With due respect, sir, I sleep very well with the knowledge that I'm doing my duty by serving my country and my president." "How'd Ruiz and Taylor do?" "Not too bad." "But now Pops' son, that's another story." "The boy seems to think the only way to win this war is to kill all the Vietnamese." "Do you think that's his fault?" "Yes, sir, I do." "Well, I'm starting to wonder." "I spent the last two days sitting outside of a courtroom, and I watched Beller, and I watched his men." "I think the system's as much at fault as they are." "Excuse me, sir, but maybe you've been sitting there too long." "As for myself," "I'll never forget looking into that ditch that day, or into Lieutenant Beller's face at the river when he said nothing has happened." "But they keep on pushing for body count, and orders are orders, and maybe you and I just put a different spin on things with our guys." "No one ordered Lieutenant Beller to grease that ville, sir." "Come in." "Wrapped my testimony up this afternoon." "Thought maybe we could grab a drink." "Catch up." "Catch you later, L.T." "What do you say, Goldman." "You ready to give a buddy a... second chance?" "Got a lot of paperwork to do, Skip." "Look, Myron, I know it, uh... seems like we're on opposite sides in this inquiry thing, but, you know, we both want the same thing." "We do?" "Yeah." "We do." "The truth." "And my men were just doing their duty." "The brass was so hot to blame somebody, they didn't blame themselves." "We just followed the orders." "I could really use that drink." "That's the story." "Now I want the true story." "That is the true story." "I just embellished it a little bit." "A little bit?" "It was better last night." "Mind if I sit down?" "I don't mind if you don't mind." "Thank you." "You're welcome." "So I hear you moved out of the barracks." "Uh-huh." "You know, Doc," "I'm the last guy in the world to give you advice, but if you want things to be the way they used to be with the guys, moving out of the barracks isn't the answer." "It's not going to help." "Things are never gonna be the way they used to be." "Look, we all make mistakes." "God knows, I've made mistakes." "But you learn from them," "So do your buddies." "Lieutenant, you and I are different." "You know?" "I wear glasses..." "I... have the same chest I was born with." "Never had to fight the ladies off with a stick." "I'm a loner, not a joiner." "And I've never had so many friends..." "I just..." "I just couldn't count 'em on one hand." "And I had a few good months there, you know." "I was just one of the boys." "And I never thought it was gonna last." "It didn't." "I'm back to where I started." "And I'm inclined to stay there." "You know, that's where you're wrong, Doc." "We're more alike than you think." "See, my strong suit is, uh... ticking people off." "Hell, Goldman's my best friend." "He doesn't even like me." "This is a little different." "I let a man die." "Yeah." "I know." "Look, Doc, all I'm trying to say is that it's tough enough going through life on the outside looking in." "In the Nam, you need your buddies just to survive, man." "You can't do it on your own." "I gotta try." "What you got to do is, you got to let your buddies like you again." "If they knock you down, you got to get back up." "It hurts." "Yeah." "Well, I'll loan you my chest." "Then one night, I was on guard duty." "And I saw this GI with the motor pool fill up his canteen with gas and start to drink it." "And I walked over and asked him what he was doing." "He said he was gonna blow himself up." "Asked me if I had a match." "Before I could say no, up walked Elvis in his uniform." "I never saw a GI so excited as that boy." "He got Elvis's autograph, and that's what saved his life." "Elvis thought that called for a heck of a celebration." "And that's how you drank the King under the table?" "Hey, Sarge!" "Hey." "Hey, buy you a beer?" "Uh, no, thanks." "Listen, Pop, I got some bad news." "You would have been proud of him, man." "Bobby had hair." "He cut off that gook's ear but good before they got him." "It's my son." "I'll take him." "The findings of this inquiry" "On 20 September, 1968," "U.S. Army troops of the First Brigade massacred 42 noncombatants in the hamlet of Phu An village," "Phúc Long province, Republic of Vietnam." "The massacre resulted primarily from the false and misleading picture of Phu An that Lieutenant Beller presented to his men when characterizing it as a V.C. stronghold." "Prior to the massacre, there had developed within Lieutenant Beller's unit a permissive attitude toward the treatment and safeguarding of noncombatants, which attitude contributed to the treatment of such persons at Phu An." "This board finds sufficient evidence to charge Lieutenant Joseph Beller with the murder of 42 Vietnamese persons and recommends that general court-martial proceedings be instituted." "Evidence also indicates that numerous serious offenses in violation of the uniform code of military justice and the law of war have been committed... by military personnel who were present in Phu An." "This evidence will be furnished to representatives of the provost marshall general of the Army for further investigation." "He's changed a lot since OCS... but he's not a monster." "Horrors of war are seldom committed by monsters, Lieutenant." "They're committed by normal men" "Under abnormal situations." "That's the tragedy." "I got to talk to him." "Oh, God."