"What?" "Not sure." "Through there." "Who the hell is that?" "LT, you know who that is?" "That's Jim Doyle, my buddy from the CIA." "You met him last week on the base." "He was recruiting short-timers." "I know who he is." "What's he doing out here?" "I don't know." "They don't call 'em spooks for nothing." "All right, let's move too." "Let's journey out." "Let's go." "Journey out." "Let's get a perimeter." "Zeke!" "My lucky day." "Lieutenant." "This is a free-fire zone, Doyle." "What are you doing out here?" "Now, don't get your oysters in a stew, LT." "Just taking care of business." "Russian Dragunov." "Intelligence has been trying to get a look at one of these for a while." "My Cambodian contact scored these for me." "But I had to come out here to get 'em." "And you just happened to be standing around out here in the middle of nowhere, half a klick from IPZ, with no way to get your prize back to the base." "Like I said, LT, my lucky day." "Yeah, right." "All right, come on." "Phil, Duane, grab this box." "Come on, Johnson." "You're on point." "Go." "You know what to do." "You heard him." "We're moving out." "All right, let's go." "Take cover!" "Take cover!" "Two o'clock!" "Two o'clock!" "Cover him!" "Cover him!" "Lay down cover!" "Grenade!" "Smitty, roll out of there!" "Grenade!" "Hold your fire." "They're pulling back." "Hold it!" "Argh!" "What are you guys looking at?" "Get over here and give me a hand with these crates." "Seven-Victor, 4-88." "Stand by!" "Whew." "Afraid it's shot, LT." "Oh, it's just a radio, Smitty." "Grab me a survey sheet." "I'll have somebody write it up as a combat loss." "LT..." "Smitty was lucky to get outta that one." "He was asking me about his promotion." "Well, you can tell him he got it." "He's almost a sergeant." "Of course, you realize that wasn't Charlie that hit us out there." "Those are Montagnards." "Thing is the Montagnards in that area are supposed to be friendly." "I know." "That's not the only thing about today's mission I don't buy." "You know, we were supposed to be sent on a recon." "I don't believe it." "So, what are you saying?" "I don't think it's an accident that Doyle just happened to cross our path." "I think we were sent out there to pick him up." "Look here, LT, I know where he stays in town." "How about I stop by there and have a few words with him?" "Maybe I can pump some information out of him." "You think he'll tell you anything?" "I'll give it a shot." "All right, you let me know." "One of our guys used to do this until his palm turned black." "Never batted an eye." "Yeah, why go bowling when you can toast your palm, right?" "Talking about nerve, man, guts..." "Well, it took something, that's for sure." "Jimmy, tell me something." "Mmm." "You being out there today, all on your lonesome like that, what in the hell was that all about?" "I told you." "I was taking care of business." "I had to meet some of our people out there." "Highway 1, man." "It's the main drag for making deliveries." "For all the goods coming out of Cambodia to Saigon." "Narcotics to the world, weapons to Victor Charlie, everything." "Everything goes down that main road or real close to it." "Including those Russkie rifles." "Let me tell you something, Zeke." "That is a hot weapon." "Trajectory, flat as a pancake." "Shoots straight as a stick, and way out there." "These guys made a field-grade weapon with competition specs." "Yeah, and our intelligence guys just want to tear it apart and see what makes it tick, right?" "You got it." "Now, that's why I locked those babies up in your company arms room." "No, no." "I got this here." "I got it." "All right." "But what about the Montagnards today?" "I mean, I can't figure." "How are you supposed to figure those guys out?" "They're one generation away from swinging through the trees." "I don't know about that." "Just between you and me and the gatepost here, how'd you plan on getting back today if we hadn't just happened along when we did?" "Heh-heh." "It's all taken care of, Zeke." "Well, my LT, and the boy's no fool, Jimmy..." "Mm-hmm." "My LT figures that you kind of had us in your plans from the beginning." "You know, like you knew where we were gonna be, and you knew when we were gonna be there." "Well, he's no fool, but... what difference does it make?" "We're all on the same team, right?" "Well, he's not so sure." "And to be real honest with you, I'm not, either." "I'm only telling you this, Jimmy, because I don't want you to get jacked up by surprise." "Man, I could be selling anthrax cans to Uncle Ho, ain't nobody gonna jack me up." "And not only do these guys pay me a ton of money, but they look out for me too, no matter what." "It's like I was telling you before." "My people, they take care of their own." "I mean, even if I get a little dirt on my hands," "I can't be touched." "I'm telling you, Zeke, it's a great job." "Just think about it, all right?" "Oh, man, I'm too tired to think about anything else tonight." "All right." "You want to use my intelligence contacts to check out Doyle, all I'm asking is why." "Because I think our mission was a cover to provide protection for Doyle." "Two guys got killed." "I don't even think it was a legitimate CIA operation." "Because if it was, why didn't they give him cover?" "Why didn't they bring him out?" "I think he's gone into business for himself." "Okay, what do you want me to find out?" "Anything, where he's from, what he's doing here." "Anything about those rifles." "All right." "I'll leave whatever I get with the clerk at S-3, okay?" "No, wait a minute." "That's a little impersonal, don't you think?" "That's the way you wanted it, remember?" "No, that's the way you insisted it would be." "Miss Devlin." "Sergeant." "See you." "Alex..." "Thought I saw you on the flight line yesterday." "No, uh-uh." "You're not gonna be seeing me there." "Sorry about that." "That's all right." "I gotta walk to my hooch." "Come on." "I talked to Jim Doyle last night." "He still claims it was a coincidence, running into him in the bush like that." "You buy it?" "Well, I mean, when he says it, it sounds good, but..." "He says the rifles are locked up in the arms room, and that's about it." "Other than that, he just bragged about what a good job he's got." "Okay, forget it." "I'm gonna talk to the major about it." "Oh, I told Smitty that he's almost a sergeant." "He asked me not to call him a dirty name." "I can understand that, sergeant." "They're having a party for him at the EM club." "Good." "You know, some of the guys figured that, uh, that Johnson earned that stripe." "Well, Johnson's a real good soldier, but Smith's got more time in service, he's got more time in grade." "He's a short-timer, and he's got a wife and baby at home." "I figure that extra stripe might help him get a rear-area job for the rest of his tour." "Well, then, I guess that makes Johnson next in line for the next opening, then, huh?" "And he'll get it." "Tell him he can count on it." "How you doing, Myron?" "Listen, I wanted to talk to you." "Yeah?" "Yeah." "I saw you on the flight line yesterday." "You looked P.O.'d at the universe." "Figured it was because" "Alex wasn't there to welcome you back." "That's what you figured, huh?" "You know, life would be a lot easier if you just applied for the staff job like she asked." "At least give it a try." "That's a hell of a piece of advice coming from a combat junkie like you, McKay." "Come on, Myron." "We're different." "You got some education, family history." "You got a future to look forward to." "Me, I'm at the top of my game right now," "Right here in Vietnam." "I love it, but it will be over." "What are you getting at, McKay?" "Alex put you up to this?" "You're not dumb, Myron, so don't say dumb things." "Look, she goes through the wringer every time you go out there." "You ignore that, you're gonna wind up out in the cold." "And you're gonna be sitting by the fire holding her hand?" "Damn it, can't you understand a thing I'm telling you?" "You trying to tell me you're not interested?" "No." "To me, Alex is a class act." "But I'm not trying to shoot you down, either." "You crash and burn on your own, well, that's another story." "I betcha one day y'all learn to listen to me." "Now, take LT." "Now, long as we out in the field, he's one of us." "But when we're back here in the real, around other officers, he's one of them." "See, us grunts, we got needs, and we got feelings." "They don't see that." "They treat us like they own us, like we're cattle." "Uh, Marcus," "I think that's "chattel."" "Whatever." "I still gotta go straighten up some new transfer's office because "Patterson" happens to be preceded by "Lieutenant,"" "and they think "Taylor's" preceded by "dirt."" "I've never seen you get so bent up over scut work before." "It ain't work, brother." "It's the mentality." "Take you." "Anybody been with you when it count knows that you deserve them stripes." "Unless, of course, they think you're a little too dark for the job." "Now, wait." "Wait." "Ain't nobody pulling that one on me, brother." "You should know better than that." "Now, LT did the right thing by Smitty." "And when it's my stripe, he better do right by me." "You know, something in what the man says, Marvin." "Smitty ain't half the soldier you are." "You know, maybe you ought to give up this humble stuff and stick up for yourself." "Ain't got nothing to do with humble." "Then why ain't you in LT's face?" "'Cause I humped those damn boonies too many times to jump bad and blow it now." "So from now on, I'm gonna do things the smart way and let the system work for me." "See, first you do the job." "Then if you don't get what you deserve, you got a gripe." "Show you how I feel, I'm gonna be the first one to buy ol' Smitty a beer when he gets that stripe on his sleeve." "I'll tell you what, Marvin." "When you do get your hard stripe, you're gonna be the best sergeant this Army ever had." "If he lives to see it." "LT knows what he's doing, believe that." "Yeah, sure he does." "But do you?" "Damn officers." "Excuse me." "I've been sent here to wet-nurse some officer by the name of Patterson." "You have any idea where he might be?" "I'm Lieutenant Patterson." "Specialist Taylor reports, ma'am." "Sorry." "It's not the first time it's happened." "Temporary office." "I need to move some things around." "Yes, ma'am." "This..." "This needs to go about 4 feet that way." "They sent you to watch?" "Oh, sorry, ma'am." "Okay, now, um, this desk..." "Billie." "You're gonna cut yourself on that glass, ma'am." "I'm sure the lady in the picture wouldn't want that to happen." "It's my granmama." "She passed away three weeks ago." "She raised me." "You know, my grandmother raised me too, from a baby." "You called her by her first name?" "Yeah." "All us kids did." "We heard the people she used to clean for." "You know, you're not gonna be able to get this glass from the PX, but I know a place in Saigon I can get it for you." "No, no." "It's not necessary." "No, no problem." "I want to." "Sir, Agent Doyle was a good klick to a klick and a half from any ground transportation." "He would have had to have been extracted out of there by chopper." "But there weren't any other choppers in that AO." "Except for our pickup." "Fifteen hundred meters isn't much of a walk, lieutenant." "Carrying two crates of rifles, at about 50 pounds apiece?" "He could have concealed the rifles and come back for them later with transportation." "Sir, it's a free-fire zone." "Lieutenant, make your point." "Yes, sir." "Agent Doyle knew where to be and when to be there." "He knew my orders." "Well, we have an open relationship with the CIA." "They are a government agency." "But, sir, I don't think he was working on a legitimate CIA operation." "Otherwise, why didn't they pick him up?" "I mean, they have men, they have choppers..." "Lieutenant," "I want you to forget about those rifles," "Agent Doyle, yesterday's mission, and keep out of the CIA's business." "Understand?" "I hear you." "You run this club, sergeant." "You keep the books." "When the inspector general's office says present your records for audit, that's what you do." "Understand?" "There's a river of government goods running from Tan Son Nhut to the black market in Saigon." "We're gonna dry it up." "I want a senior inventory for tobacco, liquor, as well as income and disbursements." "1400 hours, my office, with your books." "Yes, ma'am." "Here's to you, Smitty." "You deserve it, man." "Yeah, congratulations, Smitty." "Yo, Smitty!" "You're gonna have to get used to being called that dirty 5-letter word." "Sarge." "Well, listen, I've really enjoyed working with all you guys." "I'm gonna miss it." "We're gonna miss having you around with us too." "Thanks for coming by, Miss Devlin." "You got it." "Alex, hold on." "Listen." "What was that I just heard?" "It sounded like you were leaving us." "Oh, no, no, no." "What I meant was, I'm just going to be doing fewer stories on Myron's platoon." "I want to write a broader view of the war, that's all." "So you and Goldman really are quits?" "Well, we're just not as involved as we were." "Actually, we're not involved at all." "Well, I guess that's kind of sad." "Well... onward and upward, John." "Yeah." "Listen, um..." "You know, I've always been interested in you, but Myron became a friend, so I kept my distance." "Now, if you two are really history..." "Johnny, come on." "Aren't you ever serious, huh?" "I'm serious now." "Have dinner with me tomorrow night." "All right, I'll be on the base tomorrow, and we can talk, okay?" "Yeah." "Okay." "Bull's-eye." "Man, the bet's 10 bucks." "I'm hip, but that's military money." "But this cash is worth five times what MPCs are worth in town." "What are you doing with cash, private?" "Possession of U.S. currency is in direct violation of Army regulations, isn't it?" "Yes, ma'am." "So I know the first thing you're gonna do in the morning is take that cash to the finance office, which is next door to my office, and exchange it for MPCs." "Right, soldier?" "Right." "First thing." "Don't make a liar out of me." "Whoa." "A frill's got no business being an officer." "The least she could do is cut a brother some slack." "What do you mean, cut you some slack?" "She didn't call the MPs, did she?" "You know, your problem is you don't know a good officer when you see one." "Taylor!" "Seems to me your opinion of officers took a U-turn." "Yeah, a U-turn at the sight of some soft shoulders." "And some dangerous curves." "What do you guys know?" "We know if you try to get close to an officer, you're gonna end up in the stockade." "Nobody's trying to get "close" to her." "She happens to be a decent person with some class." "'Course, you suckers wouldn't know nothing about women like that." "This Ven Hoy trucking company in Saigon..." "Have they been contracted to do Army work?" "Yes, ma'am." "A little one-truck outfit." "Captain Bean hired them." "He's rotated back." "These bills of lading are supposed to indicate cargo and destination." "They don't." ""Miscellaneous." "Local."" "That won't do." "The paperwork goes out over your desk, doesn't it, Mr. Brady?" "Excuse me." "Sorry." "I might have some collateral reports on this stuff, requisitions maybe, receipts." "I'll look." "Don't look, Mr. Brady." "Find." "Uh..." "I didn't mean to interrupt, lieutenant." "I'm beginning to think this wasn't such a swift idea, what I had in mind." "What is it, specialist?" "Well... okay." "I was thinking about you and your grandmother." "See, when I first came over here," "I was into some real troubled times." "I was scared and alone." "Well, my grandmother, she sent me this tape." "Spirituals." "You know, songs she really loved." "Some of them she taught me when I was a kid." "Well, it helped me out a lot." "It was like she was right there with me." "And I, uh..." "I thought it might help you." "Thank you." "Very much." "Um..." "I hope it helps." "Hey, Smitty, what's happening?" "I brought you something." "Sergeant stripes?" "Yeah, they give you a couple of sets, and there's no way I'm going to be here long enough to use both of them, so, uh..." "it's my gift to you." "Wow." "Thanks, man." "Thanks a lot." "Come on, it cost me about 12 cents." "Well, these mean a lot more than 12 cents to me." "If it hadn't been for you," "I wouldn't be around for them to pin them on." "Aw, come on, man." "Look, I know some of the guys think that you should have gotten the stripes instead of me, and I don't know if I don't agree with them." "Hey, Smitty." "You deserve it, man." "I mean it." "I mean, you got time on me." "Besides, I'm due up next allocation." "Marvin, you're the best there is, and if I'm half the sergeant you'd have been," "I'll be proud." "Hey, you're gonna be a fine sergeant, as long as you remember to keep my name off the KP roster." "This is my orders." "Hand-carrying these puppies down to the finance office so that kick in pay starts next week instead of a month or five down the line." "Well, let me know how it feels." "I will." "By the way, uh, this hooch could use another coat of paint." "Sergeant Johnson." "Part of your unit's job is base security." "That's the part I'm interested in." "A large part of the equipment and supplies that's being reported lost or destroyed is ending up in the Saigon black market." "Do you have any idea how it's being taken off the base?" "Lieutenant Patterson, our people at the gates check everybody's papers very thoroughly." "But, uh, the Vietnamese who work on the base will pretty much take anything they can get their hands on." "Now, you know, usually it's trash or scrap and stuff we don't need, like a piece of cardboard to patch a window, or, you know, a scrap of tin to keep the rain off their heads" "or something like that." "The rule is, if we don't need it, it's all right." "Yeah." "Lieutenant." "Sarge, could I speak to you for a minute?" "I think it's important." "Ma'am?" "Hmm." "What are you doing, fast-walking your papers to payroll?" "Oh, it's right down the hall." "Sarge, are those Russian rifles supposed to be in the arms room?" "As far as I know." "Why do you ask?" "Um, I was shortcutting through the supply dump just now, and I saw that guy Doyle and a couple of Vietnamese loading one of those rifle crates into a truck." "Were the Vietnamese ARVN?" "No, civilians." "The truck said "Ven..." "Ven Hoy Saigon" on the door." "All right, well, Smitty." "Lieutenant Goldman is handling the matter." "Why don't you just forget about the rifles for now and get your pay squared away?" "Think how much you're gonna enjoy being a sergeant and a short-timer." "They might even make you trade in your M-16 for a desk like this." "Won't have to twist my arm." "Lieutenant." "Well, well." "Looks like we can add rifles to the scraps and trash the Vietnamese are carrying away, sergeant." "Well, lieutenant, it's like I told my man there." "My LT's in charge of the matter." "Are you sure that wasn't a VC ambush?" "Are you sure they were Montagnards?" "I'm positive." "Duffy, you're in and out of that area all the time." "I figured if there was something unusual going on, you'd know about it." "I had to ditch a bird up there this spring, and the Montagnards were the only people that kept me from being an MIA or worse." "See, that's what I can't figure out." "Why would they attack us?" "They're friendlies." "All the ones in that area have a reputation for loyalty." "Believe it, unless you mess with their women or cheat them at trade." "What kind of trade?" "A lot of it's drugs, opium bricks." "It's like any other type of trade to them." "You can see the sheds where they store the stuff." "I'd like to see them." "I got a last-light recon up there in a little bit." "You're welcome to go along." "Thanks, Duffy." "That's what I wanted to hear." "You got it, LT." "I'll tell you what." "I think Taylor's looking for trouble messing around with that lieutenant." "Yeah, well, don't talk him out of it yet." "If she likes him, he can get us off some of these lame details, like guard duty." "Hey, what's the hurry?" "Man down." "Next to the wire." "It's Smitty." "Get a medic!" "Somebody get a medic!" "With all the fighting and killing" "Smitty's been through, everything he's got to come back home to, a wife, a baby, probably a good job waiting on him, just wouldn't be right if he died now." "Johnson, it's never right, no matter what you got, no matter who you are." "Do you think it was a sniper, sarge?" "I don't know." "I don't know." "I just wonder what Smitty was doing out there." "Maybe he saw something." "You know, the question is why didn't somebody see him when he went out there?" "There's a lot going on out there during the day." "Working on the wires, stringing trip flares, vehicles coming and going." "It looks bad." "He's lucky it was only a .22." "What, .22 caliber?" "Yeah." "That was no sniper." "Oh, no." "Whoever shot this man did it at point-blank range." "Sergeant." "I need to show you something right away." "Yes, ma'am." "Come on, Smitty, you can make it." "You gotta make it, man." "Myron, get your camera ready." "That's the biggest hooch I ever saw." "It's not a hooch." "It's for storage." "You think that's where they store the opium?" "Yeah." "Either that or the family station wagon." "Look, this is real close to where I found Doyle." "Why don't you take me back around again, all right?" "I'll have to charge you extra." "Hey!" "VC!" "VC!" "Take us lower!" "Oh!" "Chief, they got Crockett." "They got Crockett." "Get him off the cyclic." "He's chilling on the cyclic." "Duffy!" "The chief's hit!" "Ugh!" "I'm..." "I'm hit." "I'm hit." "Duffy!" "I'm losing it." "I'm losing it." "A little beef, a little vino, and then it's party..." "Saigon." "Okay." "Listen, I want to stop at my place and change first." "Well, you look great to me." "Whatever you like." "Listen, we can leave those there." "Oh, Johnny." "You're spoiling me." "Lieutenant!" "Lieutenant, we need you in Operations right now." "It's an emergency." "You want to stay here while I check this out?" "Hell, no." "Took some ground fire." "Gunner and copilot down." "I don't think I can make it back." "Blue Fox, this is Golden Eagle." "Over." "Lieutenant Duffy." "Duffy's unconscious, and the copilot's dead." "Look, I'm in his seat." "I'm holding the cyclic." "What the hell do I do?" "Johnny..." "Johnny, that's Myron." "All right, hold the cyclic steady, Myron." "This is McKay." "Over." "All right." "I read you." "I read you." "All right, now, just keep the cyclic steady and come down easy on the collective." "You gotta get the aircraft level." "All right." "Down easy." "Down easy." "Listen to me, Myron." "You can do this." "You've been in that seat before." "Yeah, but you were flying the damn thing." "Don't worry about that." "I'm gonna talk you in." "I'm listening." "All right, just keep her nice, straight and level." "Listen, I need you to read these gauges for me." "Your airspeed is the big one in front of you." "Okay, on its right is the torque meter." "Right below that is the altitude." "Read those to me." "All right." "Sixty knots." "Forty-five percent torque." "And I think it's 500 feet altitude." "I think I'm too close to the treetops." "Don't look at the ground!" "Johnny, do something!" "Listen, just keep your eyes on the horizon and your instruments." "All right, pull tower a little." "I want you to get a message to Zeke." "You tell him that the Montagnards were after Doyle." "Tell him it had something to do with narcotics." "Tell him to tell Major Darling, ASAP." "Do you read me?" "Find out where he is." "Find out where he is!" "Alex, I'll handle this!" "Would you get her out of here?" "No, no." "I'm okay." "I'll go." "You might need him." "I'll go..." "I'll go find Anderson and give him the message." "Okay, let's concentrate on flying, buddy." "Ma'am." "Yeah, this looks like the truck that Smitty saw Doyle loading the rifles into." "It is the truck." "This company's name kept cropping up on a lot of suspicious circumstances." "I called CID." "They located the truck in the Vietnamese section of the air base, impounded it and brought it here." "Here are the rifles." "But this is what interests me." "Good Lord." "Maybe I ought to go into the trucking business, huh?" "I estimate $100,000." "Whose is it?" "What's it for?" "My audit of our records involving the Ven Hoy trucking company shows a lot of paperwork that allows easy access to the base, but no contract." "No one authorized it." "I just want to touch it." "Sergeant?" "Sergeant." "Oh, lieutenant." "Excuse me." "Listen, Myron wanted me to tell you right away." "He thinks the Montagnards were after Doyle, not the GIs." "He thinks Doyle might be involved in drug trafficking." "Wait a minute." "If Doyle's running drugs, that explains what this money's all about." "What's this?" "We don't know what it's for." "Well, I know what the rifles are for." "My contacts told me that Doyle knows this Air Force general back in the States who's a gun collector." "He gets exotic guns, and then the general sends an Air Force plane to pick them up." "All right, these rifles are Doyle's ticket to ride." "He's got all this currency he's gotta get into the States." "He uses the general's plane." "That way, it doesn't have to go through Customs." "His people unload the money, and the general doesn't know anything about it." "Myron wanted you to take this to the major right away." "He radioed in from Duffy's chopper, flying back to base right now." "All right, if that's what he wants." "Yeah." "Miss Devlin, are you all right?" "Yeah." "Sarge." "Excuse me." "What's up?" "Smitty died." ".22 caliber, point blank to the head." "Just like the CIA teaches." "Yeah." "That's Doyle all the way." "Doyle was freelancing, major." "He needed a way of getting the money through Customs, and the Russian rifles were his key." "Army intelligence tells me they have received all the rifles." "They didn't get them all." "Smith saw Doyle loading some of them up when they're supposed to be locked in the arms room." "Then Smith was shot point blank with a .22 caliber pistol." "If that isn't a spook execution, I don't know what is." "If you're not gonna haul in Doyle," "I'm going to get him myself." "You know where he is?" "I want two men from CID and eight MPs at the gate now." "Remember... you're just an observer." "My clothes are soaked, and I got cottonmouth." "That's what we call the "zactlies."" "That means that your mouth tastes exactly like the bottom of your boot." "That's fascinating, McKay." "Look, I think I can see the base." "All right, we want to start cutting your power now." "Now, you watch the indicator, you ease down on the collective and bring the cyclic back a hair." "I'm doing it." "All right, I'm doing it." "All right, keep giving me your airspeed." "Forty..." "All right, there's a big open space on the other side of the fence." "I'm gonna need about as much room as I can get." "Now, you're gonna come in, and you're gonna do a shallow run-on landing." "That means that you're gonna skid in instead of a vertical descent, okay?" "What?" "I'm gonna argue?" "All right, now, you're gonna have to do this by sight and touch." "What the hell does that mean?" "That means when your airspeed is close to zero and you're near touchdown, you have to watch the ground, and you ease the collective down as it feels right." "Where are you?" "I just cleared the trees." "What's your airspeed?" "It's..." "It's 15, and it's dropping." "Pull power!" "Pull power!" "Okay." "Okay." "Just..." "Just relax." "We're gonna try this again." "You're gonna have to cut your airspeed sooner this time." "Start now." "You're gonna feel it try to yaw to the right." "Yeah, yeah, I feel it." "Okay." "Real easy." "Just a touch of left pedal." "That'll keep you horizontal." "Where are you?" "I'm coming up on the spot." "Airspeed." "It's 15 and still dropping." "Okay." "Down easy on the collective." "Okay." "Okay." "Sight and touch, buddy." "This is it." "Let's go!" "Get the wounded men off this chopper!" "I love the ground." "I love the ground!" "Move it!" "Move it!" "All right, that's his place right up there." "We'll take it from here, sergeant." "I better go with you." "I said we'll take it from here, sergeant." "Let's go." "Hey, what's going on over there?" "I don't know, man." "Doyle!" "Doyle, hold it!" "That's him right there." "You!" "Halt!" "Hey, Zeke." "Up against the wall." "Hold it right there." "Sergeant, tell the CID guys we got their man down here." "Have to watch him." "He's slippery." " Hey, hey!" "Look out!" " Watch it!" "Hey." "Hey." "Whoa, Zeke." "Zeke." "I can make you a lot of money, a very rich man." "I'm a simple man, Doyle." "You put down the knife." "I'm taking you." "Zeke..." "wait a minute." "You take me in, ain't nothing gonna happen, Zeke." "I'm gonna walk." "That's the way it is, Zeke." "Like I told you, my people... take care of our own, you know?" "All right." "Nice." "Even this feels too far off the ground." "You were a good stick out there today, Myron." "You saved Duffy's life." "Be proud." "I'll settle for being lucky." "Thanks for being there." "Yeah." "Well, uh, maybe we should all get something to eat, huh?" "You know, it's too late to go into town, but I got a pal in mess hall that'll fix us up something tasty." "No, thanks." "I...think my stomach's been through enough for one day." "Yeah." "I think that goes for all of us, Johnny." "But, listen, would you drive me back to my car?" "I could fire the chopper up and fly you back." "Well, the way I drive, you have as good a chance of hitting a tree either way." "I think I'll take my chances on the ground." "We'll see you later." "Ain't gonna seem right rucking-up without Smitty." "Yeah, he made this place a lot better than it would've been without him." "Somebody ought to write his wife or something." "You know LT usually does that." "Yeah, well, maybe I'll do it this time." "I think you should, Marvin." "Yeah." "I think you'd say what we're all feeling." "Taylor?" "I'm out, guys." "Hi." "Hi." "I, uh, heard about your friend." "Yeah." "We were friends." "We weren't as close as me and Johnson are, but..." "Damn." "You know, every time it happens like this, you wish you'd taken the time and got to know the person better." "I just wonder if I bought it tomorrow, how many guys would be like, "Yeah, too bad,"" "and just move on." "Hey." "I really haven't thanked you adequately for your kindness toward me." "I thought maybe..." "You know, maybe I could help you in the same way." "But I don't have anything to share... like your songs." "Just being my friend is the greatest thing in the world you can do for me right now." "Yeah, come on." "Grab a chair." "Well, I guess we both have a decent reason to have a drink for a change." "Here." "I'll do that." "Learning to fly a chopper's enough for one day." "This business about Doyle makes me sick." "Yeah, well, believe it or not, LT, he used to be a good soldier." "You know, I used to think... that war was a pretty orderly process, us against them." "But this is nuts." "It's one thing fighting an enemy you can't even see." "It's a whole other thing when it's one of your own." "Sometimes I guess I don't know what this all means." "Sure you do, LT." "It don't mean nothing." "To nothing."