Casualties of War (1989) - full transcript
During the Vietnam war, a girl is taken from her village by five American soldiers. Four of the soldiers rape her, but the fifth refuses. The young girl is killed. The fifth soldier is determined that justice will be done. The film is more about the realities of war, rather than this single event.
Let's NDP here.
We're gonna NDP here.
Eriksson, hold up.
Hold up.
OK Eriksson, set 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
as far as the eye can see.
- Shit!
- What was that?
Fix that sound!
- I hate fucking mortars, goddammit.
- Fix that sound, sergeant.
They're after somebody else.
Who are they after?
Lieutenant, is that 3rd Platoon, over there?
- Captain Hill says Alpha's gettin' hit, sir.
Shit man, do they know we're here?
- What do you say, Meserve?
I'll get it to you ASAP, sir.
Hawthorne, Sergeant Hawthorne!
Set out security to the flanks,
front and rear.
But not too far.
I don't want 'em get separated from us.
Yes sir. Eriksson, take the right flank.
Don't get lost over there.
Get me Superman 0-2.
Tell 'em we're tryin' to get a fix on the tube.
Tell 'em we can here it.
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 them people in this shit...
- I saw him!
Superman 0-2 needs your map co-ordinates, Sarge.
The tube's kicking ass on Alpha.
Fuck this!
The tube's got a fix on us!
Oh, Christ!
They found us, goddammit!
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! Left flank! Move on!
Silent Twin 0-2, out.
Go! Go!
Oh, Jesus! Oh, Jesus!
Oh, God!
- Where's Hawthorne?
He's the way we goin' man but...
Eriksson's on right flank.
He ain't come 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 there.
My shit is together. My shit is forever together.
I'm a armor-plated motherfucker!
Oh, fuck! Help me!
Oh, fuck! Help me!
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! 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!
Help!
Sarge, help me! I'm stuck!
Oh, I'm stuck. Help me.
- Thank God!
- Pull!
Oh, shit!
I'm gonna put some tracers up our rears.
- 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 shit, Meserve.
- We ain't short yet.
Thirty days and a wake-up, man is so short,
we damn near invisible.
We gonna DEROS right out of this jungle man.
Gonna' DEROS right out of 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?
You escape the Nam,
you die an airline fatality.
- Never happen Cherry.
You survive the Nam,
you get to live forever, man.
How long you been in country, Eriksson?
- Three weeks.
- Three weeks?
Oh man, you breaking my heart.
You know, Meserve,
I've been thinking, man.
Maybe it's about time we stopped
balling these slant-eyed bitches, man.
Otherwise we might end up
home diseased, you know.
Dinky dau, man.
Yeah, the Nam's a trip.
First 30 days you don't know shit,
the last 30 days you don't give a shit.
I mean, you care, but it's just kinda
humpbacked and crooked, you know?
Like the Cherry. He's liable to end up wasted
because he don't know nothin'
and you and me liable to end up in peril
because we don't care about nothin'.
- I care, Brown.
- Sure you do, man.
It's just kinda 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 Cherry, man.
Sui?
It's mango.
Quit beggin' Eriksson. They don't want your
fuckin' candy bar. You can give it to me, man.
Eriksson!
Cam on ong very much.
Don't be eatin' one fuckin' thing these gooks give
you. Now get back where you're supposed to be.
You want to die a sudden horrible death, Cherry?
- No, Sarge.
- You were gonna eat it weren't ya' Cherry?
You see these people here, they confuse
themselves, are they Cong, are they not Cong.
Yeah man, they're schizophrenic, you know.
- Depends on who scared them last.
You eat some chopped up razor blades or
something they give you, some shaved up glass...
what are you dead of?
- Stupidity, man.
It's a rog, Brown.
Much affirmed, Brown.
Yes, indeed.
These are the folks, the Sarge and me are
overjoyed to have travelled 11,000 miles...
to assist them in their struggle
to upgrade their ragged-ass selves.
Yeah, except every damn one of them
is old or kids, man. That ain't good.
Hey, this is a retirement ville, Clarkie.
This is sort of like Florida.
Hey Browne you know, I wasn't gonna eat that.
I was just, eh... I didn't want to be rude.
- Rude?
- Yeah.
Why I'll smack you upside of your
head for talking that foolishness, man!
Eriksson, man, you do something rude, you say,
"Sorry about that."
You know what I mean, like for example,
you strangle some of their chickens, man...
you cop some of their rice you know,
or barbecue their fuckin' hootch...
you say, "Sorry about that."
Let me hear you say it, Cherry.
"Sorry about that."
Sorry about that.
So you 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
sad-ass idea of fun, buddy.
Hey Brownie, this is some
piece of equipment, man!
Gee, it don't look like no piece
of equipment to me, man.
Look like some pathetic tree fell over and
got all tangled up in somebody's shovel.
And this fool goin' 'round tryin to act like some
sort of Einstein, he gonna tie it to his cow.
Hey do you have any idea
one of these things works?
Hey man, ain't you supposed to be
hauling water to your thirsty fellow soldiers...
instead of hangin' out with this
dubious motherfucker, man?
- Yeah.
- So let's go, then.
Right. Okay. No, no, no.
Okay, All right. Shit.
Sarge wants us stayin' together,
we best be stayin' together.
Or don't you want to be getttin'
home to do your own plowin'?
- You married, right?
- Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, come on, motherfucker!
What the fuck
was I talking about, man?
This some bad-ass Thai stick, man.
Oh yeah, you got any babies, Eriksson?
That's what I was talking 'bout man. You got kids?
- A little girl.
- A little girl, huh?
Now ain't that my point, man?
What the hell, was you doing back there,
the Sarge had to go flyin' bank to save your ass?
The ground opened up on me, Brownie.
I'm hanging there. Half in,
half out of one of their tunnels.
Mortar rounds coming straight
at me. Boom, boom, boom!
- I couldn't believe it.
- Did you pee your pants, man?
- C'mon, don't be shy, man. Talk to me.
- I'm talkin', man.
Yeah, but you ain't
telling me nothin' man.
Now your ass was stuck in a rabbit
hole like mud-fuckin' Winnie the Pooh, right?
So, what happened?
- Man, come on.
- Come on, man. Look...
Think about me as your priest.
You can tell me anythin'.
I'm Lutheran. I don't have a priest.
- Did you pee your pants, motherfucker?
Brownie, if Sarge hadn't come
back for me, I sure would have.
Without the Sarge, man, you ain't
nothing but a sack of monkey shit.
Now you ain't walking along at this
moment in time jivin' with me, man.
You so much grief
bagged and tagged
that your raggedy-ass people is pissin'
and moanin' all their heartbroken lives.
Ain't that right, Sarge?
Hatch!
- Hatcher!
- What?
Now listen up, you people got 30 days to be
learnin' what you can from me and Meserve.
Hatcher!
Listen up, man.
- I'm listenin', I'm listenin'.
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 fuckin' safe.
- They set us up. The bastards set us up!
Sarge, I'm in trouble, man.
I'm in trouble, Sarge.
- It ain't nothin', Brownie, it aint nothin'.
- You sure, man?
It ain't nothin', man.
It sure feels like something, man.
It feels bad, Sarge.
It ain't nothin', 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!
C'mon!
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 know it.
I'm a armor-plated motherfucker.
I'm a armor-plated motherfucker.
I'm a armor-plated motherfucker.
Sergeant! Let's see, Sergeant Meserve,
you're to hump it back two clicks to the road.
Our APCs are there.
One if them will take you to Ap Thanh.
You'll go lookin' for the truck back to Wolf.
Captain Hill's regrouping your company there.
That understood, Sergeant?
- You better watch your back here, sir.
This ville is bullshit, sir.
Those fuckers are harbouring VC.
Be advised Corporal. We're gonna bust some chops
before we're out of here.
- Don't you worry.
- Torch the fucking place.
Hey, hey, there it is.
My rack, my rack!
So, what are you gonna do, guys?
I'm gonna get shitfaced and go hump
the brains out of some of them dink hos.
- I don't know. I'm too tired.
- Come on Eriksson. Are we on duty or off, man?
Hey Hatch. Let me have one of your beers,
if you're not going to drink one.
No, man. You should
have brought more.
You're a goddam dog in a manger Hatch.
Give the guy a fuckin' beer, will ya.
- They're mine.
- I'll give you 1000 pi Hatch. 1000 pi.
- You should have thought ahead.
- I'll give you 10,000 pi.
For one?
Oreos. Oreos.
I'll give you some cookies.
- I was hoping you were still around.
- Forget about it, man.
Hey, we just spent some time
in a combat zone, man.
The fucking lieutenant had high degree of
difficulty getting his head out of his ass...
which left us deployed throughout 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 Eriksson?
- Later.
Come on man, I wanna shower.
Let's go shower.
You wanna shower Hatch?
Hey, Sarge.
Hey man, it's the sarge.
This asshole, Clark,
just 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.
Let's go shower, man. Sarge, we're gonna
go take a shower. What are you gonna do?
I'm gonna go into town and get laid.
Hey Sarge.
What do you hear about Brownie?
He's dead.
This place is bullshit, man.
I hate this fucking place, man.
They ought to blow it up and pave it over, man...
- Fucking-A.
Brownie could make me laugh, man.
And I like to fucking laugh.
You know...
I never knew a fuckin' far-out spade dude
like Brownie before Brownie, you know man.
They just shouldn't keep makin' you hump the
boonies when you're short, like Brownie was, man.
They oughta' let you you home, man.
Yeah, but then you'd be short when you getting
close to when you didn't have to go on anymore.
- So what?
- So nobody'd want to go, then.
So I don't want to go now.
Yeah, but hey keep moving it back, Hatch.
They move it back and move it back, and pretty
soon they wouldn't be sending anybody over here.
So what's wrong with that?
What I'm saying is these fucking gooks
are shit, man!
They're low-lifes!
Every bug-eyed motherfucker in that ville, man.
Every man, woman and child knew
about them fucking mortars, man.
And they knew about the snipers too,
and they just let 'em zap Brownie.
They're slugs, man.
They're roaches, and total fucking destruction
is the only way to deal with them, man.
Sorry, Sarge. Passes been cancelled.
What?
- The ville's been declared off-limits.
What did he say? What did he say? What did he say?
- For how long?
- Indefinitely.
He's serious, man.
Fuck 'em.
Hey, all right, all right... Come on.
- Watch it, Sarge!
- Motherfucking bull shit...
- Take it easy.
Yeah, that was easy!
That was motherfuckin' easy!
- What we gonna do, Sarge?
You know what this bull shit's about?
The fucking Cong is in town tonight, is why
it's off-limits. Charlie's in the whorehouse.
Oh yeah, see 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?
Goddammit!
The Cong's getting laid.
And we're just...
It ain't fair, man, you know?
Am I talking?
I can't tell if I'm
talking or not, man.
Diaz, how you doing?
Do one of you guys got a Playboy
on you I could borrow?
- Jeez, on me?
- Yeah.
- I gotta find one.
- Somebody sent you a present.
This is Diaz, from 3rd Platoon.
He's Brown's replacement.
Now we're out of here in the morning
is 0500.
I want everyone carrying two frags.
Make sure you guys smoke. Sit down.
Leave your vest behind. I don't want
to take any heat casualties out there.
Beyond that, wear what you want to wear,
as long as it's charmed...
as long as it's what made
you survive to this day.
Our destination is Hill 209
in the Tra Khuc River Valley.
The hill overlooks this Blue Line.
There are caves,
Battalion thinks there might be VC.
We're looking for tunnels, bunkers,
unmapped trails, whatever.
Now. The orders are we don't shoot
except in self-defence.
But you get one of these little mother-fuckers
out in the open, you waste him.
All right. Now we're leaving a full
hour early because at this point,
we're gonna detour 2000
metres to the south...
to the ville of Nghia Hanh.
'Cause 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.
Now I want nuthin' but charmed people around me on
this one gentlemen, 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?
I mean 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...
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, GI.
This 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 in there?
You guys done this before?
No.
This is unbelievable.
I didn't think he meant it, Hatch.
Did you?
I don't know, man.
Let's move gentlemen.
I want to be out of here by first light.
No, no, no.
What do you want?
What do you want?
You want her to have this?
You want her to have it?
All right, no sweat. No big thing.
She can have it! Shut up, bitch!
Let's get out of here, Sarge.
- Then let's move.
Get some rest. You're upset.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Gone.
Yeah, we're gonna win her heart
and mind, Eriksson. If she's got one.
Hey, Sarge.
A couple a more clicks,
we'll take a break.
I thought you were kidding last night, Sarge.
- I was serious as a heart attack, you know that.
Yeah I know, that's what I mean.
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, man. He's unbelievable.
I mean... I mean what we're doin'...
It's fantastic.
I can't figure out how come
he never thought of it before?
Hatcher, this is nuts.
- It ain't nuts. It's what armies do.
- We ain't Genghis Khan.
- You're the one who's nuts, man.
It's the 20th century, man.
Jesus, we're supposed to be
here to help these people.
What's the matter with you?
You okay, you okay. Come here.
That was some hump, huh man?
Yeah.
You want some gum?
I'm not gonna hurt you.
Come here for a second.
Hey Eriksson, if I don't want to
mess with her man, do I have to?
Diaz...
No, man.
Hey, come here.
Come here, somebody.
Somebody, come here.
Come here, quick, man.
- Come here.
- Check it out, Clark.
Is that a farmer ditty-boppin' down there,
or is that VC? - Where?
Right there in the pool.
- What is it, Clark?
I don't know, it's a rock, I think.
- It's movin'.
The bushes are moving,
the rock ain't.
What the fuck are you shootin' at?
- The Sarge says we should shoot 'em in the open.
It's a water buffalo, Sarge.
Dumb, very fuckin' dumb.
Aspirin. Number one. Number one.
Okay. Okay.
Hey, Sarge
- Yeah.
We on track?
Just follow the little
red Crayola line.
Goes for about, two and a half hours,
we'll be there.
Hey Sarge, you gotta give me a
minute here on this thing we're doin'.
I mean, what we're doing.
What are we doing, Sarge?
We've incarcerated a VC suspect.
Is that what you're talkin' about?
She's a VC whore and we're
gonna have a little fun with her.
Yeah, but she's just a farm girl,
like she's...
Eriksson, you're the Cherry here,
right? So lighten up.
Just let me carry the weight.
- What's the problem, Sarge?
Eriksson don't think our
VC whore's a VC whore.
You don't? Wow man, you've been in town, Eriksson.
They'll sell you their children.
Clark, these people were
sleeping in their hootch.
He got the wrong outlook on this thing, man.
He's all discombobulated
You got the whole wrong
outlook on this thing, Eriksson.
- What are you talking about?
- He's talkin' 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.
Hold it up Hatcher. You ain't gonna
be cutting yourself this slack, man.
You ain't humpin' your own ruck,
You'll be humpin' mine.
- Why, man?
- Just put it on.
Hey, Sarge!
Hey! I'm a corporal, Hatcher.
I'm givin' you a direct order.
You hump my ruck.
Oh, man. What an asshole!
Yeah, it's all clear, Sarge.
The stream's no more than 30 metres down
there Sarge. They got plenty of water.
Get her inside.
Get your ruck off her, Hatcher.
Put mine over there.
All right, we'll use this
sally-ass place as our C.P.
Eriksson, you and Diaz get the chow and
ammo stored, and square this place away.
Clark, you and Hatcher come with me,
I want to reconnoitre this area.
Oh man, I ain't gonna rape nobody.
Eriksson you gotta back me up.
- I'll back you.
- Swear it.
I do, man. I promise.
You gotta back me too, okay.
You got it, man.
It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you.
I'm not gonna hurt you.
You're cut. Okay.
You're hurt.
Let me fix it, okay?
Give. Give.
Okay.
I'm gonna clean.
I'm not going to hurt you.
Okay.
Shh! Come here.
Stay still.
See?
It's going to be okay.
Okay, I'm your friend.
I'm your friend. Okay.
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 it to the dinks for that, eh.
How you doin'?
I'm all right.
I'm sorry I jumped on you back there.
It's just, we're out here, right. Fuckin' boonies,
with the Cong hanging in every tree
just waitin' to grease
us out of existence.
What'd we hump, five, six hours at this bush?
Gooks had half a brain, they'd be fightin'
to get out of this stink-hole, not to keep it.
It's five, six hours of the ugliest
snakes and stingin' spiders.
We got to count on all that,
with each other. Right?
Yeah.
Come here.
I don't want any problems
with you, Eriksson.
I'm counting on you as a matter of fact,
in particular.
Yeah, well I don't know what
the hell's goin' on here, Sarge.
We're gonna...
interrogate the prisoner.
This isn't right.
We ain't supposed to be doin' this.
Don't fuck with me.
You're taking your turn in here.
I ain't rapin' nobody.
You think you're sayin' no to me?
You ain't hotshot enough
to be sayin' no to me.
Motherfucker! Motherfucker!
You think you're standin' up to me?
I ain't doin' it. No way.
What's the matter? Don't you like girls?
Haven't you got a pair? Is that your problem?
What is goin' on here, Sarge?
Eriksson here, don't want to ball the dink.
- How come?
I don't know.
- He's a chicken-shit.
Is that it?
Is that your problem, Eriksson?
- No.
- So, what is it?
Maybe he's queer.
Is that... you a faggot?
Huh, is that your goddamn problem?
- No!
So, what is it?
Everybody else is up for this.
What are you looking at Diaz for?
Diaz's with the program.
You got a problem with this, Diaz?
- Hell, no, Sarge.
- 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 on our patrol.
Is Eriksson a faggot, Hatcher?
- I don't know Sarge.
- I think he is.
He's a chicken-shit, man.
I'm gonna cut his heart out.
How we gonna count on you?
You're a goddamn VC sympathizer.
You could get killed real easy,
don't you know that.
Somebody stumbles...
They don't mean to shoot you. They're sorry.
Friendly fucking casualty. I mean, a body
bag's a body bag, right. Who's countin'.
Your mama's cryin'.
Your daddy's pissin' and moanin'.
- He's dead.
- What?
He's dead. My father's dead.
Who cares, man. Nobody cares about your goddamn
family history, pal. Nobody's askin' about that.
You're taking your turn.
In there.
No.
Well maybe when I'm done with her,
I'm gonna come after you.
Maybe when I'm done humping her,
I'm gonna come hump you!
What, you're gonna take an
attack posture with me?
Yeah, you got a weapon.
Clark got a weapon. Clark 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,
man you know.
I'd really like an ice-cold beer,
man you know.
Better than nothing.
Wish we had a beer, huh Sarge.
Don't you wish you had a beer?
Are we gonna flip a coin
for who's next, or what?
- Diaz is next.
- When am I up, Sarge?
- After Clark.
- That's last.
Move it, Diaz goddamn it, move it!
Wish we had a goddamn beer, man.
We gotta have some beers, Sarge.
- Shut the fuck up.
- I just want a beer, man.
We oughta' gag this bitch you know.
We'll have VC all over our case.
Hatcher manages about three strokes you know,
and then he starts goin'... yee! yee! yee!
- Like a fuckin' mouse.
Clark had his knife in his hand, the whole time,
man. He was holdin' it at her throat, man.
So what?
Well!
What do you mean?
When was the last time you
had a real woman, Sarge?
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, you know,
bored and stroked.
The fastest thing in the street!
Diaz'll relieve you at 2400, okay?
You probably like the Army,
don't you Eriksson?
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.
'Cause I'm the meanest
motherfucker in the valley.
It's a bunch of them
cruel-hearted little people.
There you go.
What do you make of that Sarge?
You want to light 'em up?
There's something happening here.
Maybe they're just fishing.
Hatcher, you and Eriksson
get back to the hootch.
Load up on extra ammo
and smoke grenades.
Diaz, gimme Big Brother. I wanna pre-arrange
BooBoo support. - Right.
Didi mau, gentlemen.
Big Brother 0-2, Big Brother 0-2,
this is Silent Twin 0-2, over.
Fucking bullshit, man.
What did I do to deserve this?
I'm sick of babysitting this fuckin' whore.
What's happenin' man?
Meserve wants smoke
grenades and ammo.
We're gonna light up some
little motherfuckers, man.
- Where's Meserve?
- He's back at the ridge, man.
Well, what am I
supposed to do, man?
Sit here and babysit the whore while
you guys get to waste some gooks?
What'd he say about me?
He didn't say anything.
All right.
All right, man. I'm saying it.
I'm sayin',
I'm goin' up there, man.
Eriksson, you stay here.
- I'm supposed to go up.
Hey man, I'm going up there and get some. Okay
I ain't gonna miss this good shit.
You ready Hatcher? - Yeah.
- Meserve ain't gonna like... Eriksson,
I'm a corporal, man. You're a PFC. You got it?
Now you're stain' here.
Now give me the thump gun.
All right, let's didi, Hatch.
- We're gonna K.I.A. Some VC gooks, man.
Fuckin'-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.
Oh, man, you're burning up.
You're hot.
You hungry? Hungry, food?
Eat, okay? Number one. 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 understand.
I don't know what you're saying.
I don't know what you're saying.
- What's happenin' Sarge?
- Clark, what are you doin' here?
They said there's some shit happenin'.
- Where's Eriksson?
He's in the hootch.
Is your head up your ass,
did you leave him alone with the whore?
Are you nuts?
Go get him up here. Go get everybody
and everything up here ASAP. Go!
I gotta do every fuckin' thing myself!
I'm gonna take you out of here. Okay?
You. You.
You, me, go. We go.
We're gonna didi, 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. You go.
Go, go!
I can't go!
I'm gonna be a goddamn deserter.
Go! Go!
No, I'm sorry!
I'm sorry! I can't do this!
I can't do it!
You don't understand!
Oh, Jesus. Okay.
What are you doin'?
Nothin', man.
Nothin'.
Meserve wants everything
and everybody up top.
Shut the fuck up!
She's gonna give us away
with all that coughin', Sarge.
We gotta waste her, Sarge.
She's gonna get us lit up.
- Eriksson, waste the bitch.
- What?
You heard me. I want you to grease her.
Another boat, Sarge.
Get Reilly. I want that pre-arranged support now.
Slicks, Snakes, ARA, man, the whole shitload.
Right, Sarge.
Big Brother 0-2, Big Brother 0-2,
this is Silent Twin 0-2, over.
I want you to waste her.
I don't know
what you're talkin' about, man.
- Kill the bitch.
- You're nuts!
Yeah!
- Yeah!
Brownie were here, he would
kick your ass on this, man.
He would not tolerate this bullshit!
Brownie ain't on my frequency no more.
Brownie's on the dead peoples.
Are you on my frequency, motherfucker?
'Cause if you ain't, you're K.I.A. just like the
rest of them gook motherfuckers down there.
Let her go. Let her go, Sarge!
What she gonna do, man? Let her go!
- Hatcher, waste her.
- What?
- I'll do it, Sarge.
- No, Hatcher's gonna do it. Hatcher.
Why me, man?
Listen, you little piece of bug-shit.
You do what I'm tellin' you.
No, I don't want to, Sarge. C'mon.
Choppers, Sarge.
Goddamn it! Goddamn it!
They're gonna see her.
We gotta get rid of her.
We're gonna have every kind
of bird circling this area.
Diaz!
- Do it! Do it!
- I'll do it, Sarge.
- Diaz is gonna do it. Do it!
- Diaz, no, man. Don't do it.
- You yellow piece of shit! Be a man!
- Diaz, don't do it, man.
- Be a man! Do it! Do it!
- Don't do it!
- Do it!
- Don't let him make you do it, Diaz.
- Don't do it, man!
- Do it!
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 lay our cover!
Now we're in the shit.
Take no names and count the bodies!
What the hell is that?
Look it, Sarge! Look at it!
It's a gunboat.
I fixed her, Sarge.
I fixed her.
Everybody, move! Right flank!
Right flank!
Switch with me, Hatch.
Go! 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!
No!
No!
Let's make our hat!
Rowan! Rowan!
They did it, man.
They did it. You didn't think they were gonna
do it, and I didn't think they were gonna do it
but they did.
They took her and they killed her.
What, the girl? They did it?
Oh man, this ain't supposed to happen.
We go into this ville.
We just march in...
and they take this girl.
They tie her up, they drag her out...
and they fucked her and they killed her, man.
This ain't supposed to happen.
This ain't supposed to happen...
Hatcher's talking...
Hatcher's talking about...
about Genghis Khan.
- Meserve is tellin' me that I'm K.I.A.
- And Clark?
- He's nuts.
- Yeah, he's right here.
What are you guys talking about.
Eriksson, what are you talking to him about?
I'm talkin' to him, man.
I'm allowed to be talkin' to him.
Hey man. What happens in the
field stays in the field, man.
You know that. Everybody knows that.
Hey Clarkie, where's Meserve, man?
Is he back?
What happened to you, man?
You disappeared.
Yeah, I got choppered out, Clark.
Yeah. All right, we're supposed to regroup...
All right! All right!
Don't fuckin' pull at me, man!
Don't pull at me.
Reilly wants to see you in an hour.
- I'll be there. - I'll be there.
- Yeah, you better be there, Cherry.
Victor Charles Cong's one
hardcore jackass, man.
They told us things were heatin' up out
where you guys were and we were on alert.
I said, "I am always on alert."
- Did you see him, man?
- That was freaky, man. That was very freaky.
They get me back out in the bush, Row,
I'm dead, man. I'm coming back in a bag.
You gotta tell somebody.
Who?
Who do you think?
You should tell Reilly. I don't like Meserve.
- What about Hill. 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 give
birth to our first child.
I took her to the hospital,
a natural thing to do.
Well, 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.
And 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 working in that hospital.
That's what I was doing.
But you know what?
It was like they could
read my mind...
and they just kept me in that jail until
my mind was turned around completely.
By the time I got out,
I wanted nothing but 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?
Now I tell you what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna break up the squad, send you
five men off in five different directions.
Sir, I think this is...
- No, you don't think. You listen.
Be advised, you'd best just relax
and try to forget about this thing.
You can't expect anything
different in a combat zone.
Is that clear?
Sir. Yes, sir.
Hey guys. I got some boneless chicken I'll trade
for some pound cake, if anybody wants to trade.
Sorry Cherry, we'd kill to keep our pound cake.
- That's what everybody says.
In fact, we have killed
to keep our pound cake.
If you was me,
what would you have done, Row?
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 coulda'... We both could have taken off.
And then Clark... I mean, goddammit, what
was I supposed to do? Waste a fuckin' corporal?
- No, man. And Meserve
and Hatcher and Diaz.
Just blow away four
goddamn Americans?
- No.
- What then?
Guys, I can't find my squad.
What are you doin' here, Cherry?
- I can't find Wilkins and Maclntyre.
- Find any pound cake?
- No, I still got the boneless chicken.
- What happened to your own pound cake?
Somebody stole it.
Can I stay with you guys?
Yeah, back there.
I should have gone to see Captain Hill, myself.
You know, he'd straighten this thing out.
When we reconnoitre to
those caves tomorrow
do you think everybody'll have to
go or you know just some of us
Private, move out.
- You told Reilly?
- Reilly's bullshit, man. Reilly's doin' zip.
No, I gotta see
Captain Hill, myself.
He will square this shit away.
He will ream some people out over this.
You can't go around Reilly.
He's your immediate superior.
And if I don't?
If I do nothing, she just vanished.
You cannot violate the chain of command, man.
You're gonna piss some people off.
Oh no, I wouldn't violate something as sacred as
the chain of command, just to report a murder.
What are you guys talking about?
Don't worry about it.
I better go find my own squad. I don't feel right.
I feel like I'm doing something wrong.
I'll see you guys later.
I don't think you will see us later
if you don't stop boppin' around
here like it's a goddamn playground.
Just take it easy, okay. Slow down.
All right.
Tough. There he goes.
- Pathetic, sad-assed...
- If he rendezvoused with his brain, he'd be...
Cease fire! Cease fire!
What's the haps, Sarge?
Booby trap.
Somebody stepped on a toe-popper.
All right, let's move it out.
Let's get where we're supposed to be.
- Who got hit, sarge?
- Cherry.
That boy was bagged and tagged the
minute they cut his orders to this place.
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, Rowan.
We're getting it backwards, man.
'Cause it's a day in, day out dose
of bullshit, man, is what it is!
I mean just because each of us might
at any second, be blown away...
everybody's acting like
we can do anything, man.
And it don't matter what we do.
But I think it's the other way 'round.
Maybe the main thing is just the opposite.
Because we might be dead
in the next split second...
maybe we gotta
be extra careful what we do.
Because maybe it matters more.
Jesus, maybe it matters more
than we even know.
- PFC Eriksson reporting, sir.
- At ease, Eriksson.
Captain Hill, something happened sir...
I think you ought...
I'm aware of why you're here, Eriksson.
Lieutenant Reilly detailed it to me just after
you brought it to him. I'm handling everything.
Sir, I didn't know that, sir.
That just about cover it,
as far as you're concerned, trooper?
I am max-attentive to this situation.
Yes, sir.
Is there someone I oughta' speak to, sir?
I mean has the investigation started?
I hope you understand how serious
this situation is.
Yes, sir.
That's why I reported it, sir.
This kinda thing can cause a major
international incident. Are you aware of that?
Yes, sir.
Eriksson...
These men fucked up good...
but you bringing
formal charges against them...
is that gonna help that
poor girl one little bit?
Maybe if you had been there, sir.
Maybe if you heard her screaming, you'd feel...
You don't tell me shit about screaming, boy! I've
heard a lot of fuckin' screamin' in this country!
Most of it's come from
wounded American boys.
I'm gonna transfer you out of my company,
Eriksson. That all right with you?
I'll get you out of the bush, out of the infantry.
Any fucking place you want to go, you name it.
I saw your 201 file in the rear.
Said you volunteered to be a tunnel rat.
Is that what you want, Eriksson?
I'd like to get out of this particular company.
Yes sir.
Well, that's a rog, Eriksson. You're a tunnel rat.
We get to the rear, you pack your trash.
That's not gonna keep me from
tryin' to bring this thing out, sir.
Nobody's trying to keep you
from doing a goddamn thing.
My function here is just to tell you how
something like this is gonna come down.
And you ought to be advised...
that military court-martials
are notoriously lenient.
Stateside review boards
are even more lenient.
Even if these four guys get convicted
they're not gonna do any real time.
Yes, sir.
In fact, they're gonna be out of the stockade
before you can flick flies off a shit, Eriksson.
And if I was them,
I'd be pissed off, wouldn't you.
I'd be looking fora little 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 simply tryin' to illuminate the terrain in
which we currently find ourselves deployed.
You don't mind, do you.
And if you do, fuck you!
- You on my frequency?
- Yes, sir.
You fuckin' maggot!
Who the hell do you think you are?
You're in that report recommending
Meserve for a Bronze Star!
He pulled you out of a VC tunnel, boy!
Now the shit with that girl,
that was wrong.
But he's a kid, Eriksson.
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,
'cause I'm shootin' next.
I'm gonna be there in two seconds.
I'm gonna take a piss. - Okay. All right.
Hey, Clarkie!
What?
What the hell's goin' on, there?
Christ man!
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.
I told 'em you don't have to worry.
You don't have to try and kill me, man.
I told them, and they don't care!
You dinky dau, man.
You boocoo dinky dau!
How you doing, son?
Sir.
I'm sorry, sir.
Drunk, sir.
Mind if I join you for a little?
Drunk. Very drunk, sir.
You goin' on leave?
Getting transferred, sir.
Fidi 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,
problems with the wife, 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're a chaplain, sir?
Are you religious, son?
I'm a Methodist.
I'm a Lutheran.
But 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.
You couldn't let it rest, could you?
You had to push it.
Go to hell.
Sir!
So you don't feel responsible for
the crimes of rape and murder?
No, sir. I don't.
Is it your feeling then, Corporal Clark...
that you are wrongly brought to trial
by the United States Government?
Hey, I don't have anything against
the United States government.
But I just think soldiers like
Tony Meserve and me...
belong out in combat...
not here.
You throw guys like us in the stockade and
you're helping nobody but the Viet Cong, sir.
When your turn was called by Sergeant Meserve,
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 PFC Eriksson
stayed out of the hootch?
Well, he was brand-new, sir.
You know, I'd been there
a lot longer than him.
I'd been there at least three
weeks longer than him, sir.
You're saying then, PFC...
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.
Because 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, too.
'Cause I have a loyalty to the men
I was out there with.
And is it standard practice for
U.S. Personnel to have...
sexual relations with their
prisoners and then murder them?
- Objection!
- Overruled.
The prisoner made attempts to give
away the position of the squad, sir.
She was ill and coughing from the
abuse of you and your men.
She shouldn't have been there
to jeopardize your position!
You drag her out
there and rape her!
And then you blame her for coughing,
so you kill her!
- Does that about sum it up?
- Objection. - Overruled.
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 went into a hootch that
had been burned down.
Some Vietnamese were carrying
children out of a bunker with a hootch.
They suffered from smoke inhalation.
I gave one small child
mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
That just goes to show you
we ain't all combat over here.
Of the charges of rape and
unpremeditated murder...
PFC Antonio Diaz is found guilty...
sentenced to eight years
imprisonment and hard labor.
Of the charge of rape, Private First Class
Herbert Hatcher is found guilty...
and sentenced to
15 years hard labor.
Of the charges of
rape and premeditated murder...
Corporal Thomas E. Clark is found guilty...
sentenced to life imprisonment
at hard labor.
Of the charge of
unpremeditated murder...
Sergeant E5 Tony Meserve
is found guilty...
sentenced to 10 years hard labor.
All sentences'll begin immediately...
at United States Disciplinary Barracks,
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Prisoners dismissed.
Even if these four guys get convicted,
they're not gonna do any real time.
They're gonna be out of the stockade
before you can flick flies off a shit.
And if I was them,
I'd be pissed off, wouldn't you.
I'd be looking for a little 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.
We're gonna NDP here.
Eriksson, hold up.
Hold up.
OK Eriksson, set 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
as far as the eye can see.
- Shit!
- What was that?
Fix that sound!
- I hate fucking mortars, goddammit.
- Fix that sound, sergeant.
They're after somebody else.
Who are they after?
Lieutenant, is that 3rd Platoon, over there?
- Captain Hill says Alpha's gettin' hit, sir.
Shit man, do they know we're here?
- What do you say, Meserve?
I'll get it to you ASAP, sir.
Hawthorne, Sergeant Hawthorne!
Set out security to the flanks,
front and rear.
But not too far.
I don't want 'em get separated from us.
Yes sir. Eriksson, take the right flank.
Don't get lost over there.
Get me Superman 0-2.
Tell 'em we're tryin' to get a fix on the tube.
Tell 'em we can here it.
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 them people in this shit...
- I saw him!
Superman 0-2 needs your map co-ordinates, Sarge.
The tube's kicking ass on Alpha.
Fuck this!
The tube's got a fix on us!
Oh, Christ!
They found us, goddammit!
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! Left flank! Move on!
Silent Twin 0-2, out.
Go! Go!
Oh, Jesus! Oh, Jesus!
Oh, God!
- Where's Hawthorne?
He's the way we goin' man but...
Eriksson's on right flank.
He ain't come 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 there.
My shit is together. My shit is forever together.
I'm a armor-plated motherfucker!
Oh, fuck! Help me!
Oh, fuck! Help me!
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! 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!
Help!
Sarge, help me! I'm stuck!
Oh, I'm stuck. Help me.
- Thank God!
- Pull!
Oh, shit!
I'm gonna put some tracers up our rears.
- 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 shit, Meserve.
- We ain't short yet.
Thirty days and a wake-up, man is so short,
we damn near invisible.
We gonna DEROS right out of this jungle man.
Gonna' DEROS right out of 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?
You escape the Nam,
you die an airline fatality.
- Never happen Cherry.
You survive the Nam,
you get to live forever, man.
How long you been in country, Eriksson?
- Three weeks.
- Three weeks?
Oh man, you breaking my heart.
You know, Meserve,
I've been thinking, man.
Maybe it's about time we stopped
balling these slant-eyed bitches, man.
Otherwise we might end up
home diseased, you know.
Dinky dau, man.
Yeah, the Nam's a trip.
First 30 days you don't know shit,
the last 30 days you don't give a shit.
I mean, you care, but it's just kinda
humpbacked and crooked, you know?
Like the Cherry. He's liable to end up wasted
because he don't know nothin'
and you and me liable to end up in peril
because we don't care about nothin'.
- I care, Brown.
- Sure you do, man.
It's just kinda 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 Cherry, man.
Sui?
It's mango.
Quit beggin' Eriksson. They don't want your
fuckin' candy bar. You can give it to me, man.
Eriksson!
Cam on ong very much.
Don't be eatin' one fuckin' thing these gooks give
you. Now get back where you're supposed to be.
You want to die a sudden horrible death, Cherry?
- No, Sarge.
- You were gonna eat it weren't ya' Cherry?
You see these people here, they confuse
themselves, are they Cong, are they not Cong.
Yeah man, they're schizophrenic, you know.
- Depends on who scared them last.
You eat some chopped up razor blades or
something they give you, some shaved up glass...
what are you dead of?
- Stupidity, man.
It's a rog, Brown.
Much affirmed, Brown.
Yes, indeed.
These are the folks, the Sarge and me are
overjoyed to have travelled 11,000 miles...
to assist them in their struggle
to upgrade their ragged-ass selves.
Yeah, except every damn one of them
is old or kids, man. That ain't good.
Hey, this is a retirement ville, Clarkie.
This is sort of like Florida.
Hey Browne you know, I wasn't gonna eat that.
I was just, eh... I didn't want to be rude.
- Rude?
- Yeah.
Why I'll smack you upside of your
head for talking that foolishness, man!
Eriksson, man, you do something rude, you say,
"Sorry about that."
You know what I mean, like for example,
you strangle some of their chickens, man...
you cop some of their rice you know,
or barbecue their fuckin' hootch...
you say, "Sorry about that."
Let me hear you say it, Cherry.
"Sorry about that."
Sorry about that.
So you 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
sad-ass idea of fun, buddy.
Hey Brownie, this is some
piece of equipment, man!
Gee, it don't look like no piece
of equipment to me, man.
Look like some pathetic tree fell over and
got all tangled up in somebody's shovel.
And this fool goin' 'round tryin to act like some
sort of Einstein, he gonna tie it to his cow.
Hey do you have any idea
one of these things works?
Hey man, ain't you supposed to be
hauling water to your thirsty fellow soldiers...
instead of hangin' out with this
dubious motherfucker, man?
- Yeah.
- So let's go, then.
Right. Okay. No, no, no.
Okay, All right. Shit.
Sarge wants us stayin' together,
we best be stayin' together.
Or don't you want to be getttin'
home to do your own plowin'?
- You married, right?
- Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, come on, motherfucker!
What the fuck
was I talking about, man?
This some bad-ass Thai stick, man.
Oh yeah, you got any babies, Eriksson?
That's what I was talking 'bout man. You got kids?
- A little girl.
- A little girl, huh?
Now ain't that my point, man?
What the hell, was you doing back there,
the Sarge had to go flyin' bank to save your ass?
The ground opened up on me, Brownie.
I'm hanging there. Half in,
half out of one of their tunnels.
Mortar rounds coming straight
at me. Boom, boom, boom!
- I couldn't believe it.
- Did you pee your pants, man?
- C'mon, don't be shy, man. Talk to me.
- I'm talkin', man.
Yeah, but you ain't
telling me nothin' man.
Now your ass was stuck in a rabbit
hole like mud-fuckin' Winnie the Pooh, right?
So, what happened?
- Man, come on.
- Come on, man. Look...
Think about me as your priest.
You can tell me anythin'.
I'm Lutheran. I don't have a priest.
- Did you pee your pants, motherfucker?
Brownie, if Sarge hadn't come
back for me, I sure would have.
Without the Sarge, man, you ain't
nothing but a sack of monkey shit.
Now you ain't walking along at this
moment in time jivin' with me, man.
You so much grief
bagged and tagged
that your raggedy-ass people is pissin'
and moanin' all their heartbroken lives.
Ain't that right, Sarge?
Hatch!
- Hatcher!
- What?
Now listen up, you people got 30 days to be
learnin' what you can from me and Meserve.
Hatcher!
Listen up, man.
- I'm listenin', I'm listenin'.
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 fuckin' safe.
- They set us up. The bastards set us up!
Sarge, I'm in trouble, man.
I'm in trouble, Sarge.
- It ain't nothin', Brownie, it aint nothin'.
- You sure, man?
It ain't nothin', man.
It sure feels like something, man.
It feels bad, Sarge.
It ain't nothin', 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!
C'mon!
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 know it.
I'm a armor-plated motherfucker.
I'm a armor-plated motherfucker.
I'm a armor-plated motherfucker.
Sergeant! Let's see, Sergeant Meserve,
you're to hump it back two clicks to the road.
Our APCs are there.
One if them will take you to Ap Thanh.
You'll go lookin' for the truck back to Wolf.
Captain Hill's regrouping your company there.
That understood, Sergeant?
- You better watch your back here, sir.
This ville is bullshit, sir.
Those fuckers are harbouring VC.
Be advised Corporal. We're gonna bust some chops
before we're out of here.
- Don't you worry.
- Torch the fucking place.
Hey, hey, there it is.
My rack, my rack!
So, what are you gonna do, guys?
I'm gonna get shitfaced and go hump
the brains out of some of them dink hos.
- I don't know. I'm too tired.
- Come on Eriksson. Are we on duty or off, man?
Hey Hatch. Let me have one of your beers,
if you're not going to drink one.
No, man. You should
have brought more.
You're a goddam dog in a manger Hatch.
Give the guy a fuckin' beer, will ya.
- They're mine.
- I'll give you 1000 pi Hatch. 1000 pi.
- You should have thought ahead.
- I'll give you 10,000 pi.
For one?
Oreos. Oreos.
I'll give you some cookies.
- I was hoping you were still around.
- Forget about it, man.
Hey, we just spent some time
in a combat zone, man.
The fucking lieutenant had high degree of
difficulty getting his head out of his ass...
which left us deployed throughout 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 Eriksson?
- Later.
Come on man, I wanna shower.
Let's go shower.
You wanna shower Hatch?
Hey, Sarge.
Hey man, it's the sarge.
This asshole, Clark,
just 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.
Let's go shower, man. Sarge, we're gonna
go take a shower. What are you gonna do?
I'm gonna go into town and get laid.
Hey Sarge.
What do you hear about Brownie?
He's dead.
This place is bullshit, man.
I hate this fucking place, man.
They ought to blow it up and pave it over, man...
- Fucking-A.
Brownie could make me laugh, man.
And I like to fucking laugh.
You know...
I never knew a fuckin' far-out spade dude
like Brownie before Brownie, you know man.
They just shouldn't keep makin' you hump the
boonies when you're short, like Brownie was, man.
They oughta' let you you home, man.
Yeah, but then you'd be short when you getting
close to when you didn't have to go on anymore.
- So what?
- So nobody'd want to go, then.
So I don't want to go now.
Yeah, but hey keep moving it back, Hatch.
They move it back and move it back, and pretty
soon they wouldn't be sending anybody over here.
So what's wrong with that?
What I'm saying is these fucking gooks
are shit, man!
They're low-lifes!
Every bug-eyed motherfucker in that ville, man.
Every man, woman and child knew
about them fucking mortars, man.
And they knew about the snipers too,
and they just let 'em zap Brownie.
They're slugs, man.
They're roaches, and total fucking destruction
is the only way to deal with them, man.
Sorry, Sarge. Passes been cancelled.
What?
- The ville's been declared off-limits.
What did he say? What did he say? What did he say?
- For how long?
- Indefinitely.
He's serious, man.
Fuck 'em.
Hey, all right, all right... Come on.
- Watch it, Sarge!
- Motherfucking bull shit...
- Take it easy.
Yeah, that was easy!
That was motherfuckin' easy!
- What we gonna do, Sarge?
You know what this bull shit's about?
The fucking Cong is in town tonight, is why
it's off-limits. Charlie's in the whorehouse.
Oh yeah, see 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?
Goddammit!
The Cong's getting laid.
And we're just...
It ain't fair, man, you know?
Am I talking?
I can't tell if I'm
talking or not, man.
Diaz, how you doing?
Do one of you guys got a Playboy
on you I could borrow?
- Jeez, on me?
- Yeah.
- I gotta find one.
- Somebody sent you a present.
This is Diaz, from 3rd Platoon.
He's Brown's replacement.
Now we're out of here in the morning
is 0500.
I want everyone carrying two frags.
Make sure you guys smoke. Sit down.
Leave your vest behind. I don't want
to take any heat casualties out there.
Beyond that, wear what you want to wear,
as long as it's charmed...
as long as it's what made
you survive to this day.
Our destination is Hill 209
in the Tra Khuc River Valley.
The hill overlooks this Blue Line.
There are caves,
Battalion thinks there might be VC.
We're looking for tunnels, bunkers,
unmapped trails, whatever.
Now. The orders are we don't shoot
except in self-defence.
But you get one of these little mother-fuckers
out in the open, you waste him.
All right. Now we're leaving a full
hour early because at this point,
we're gonna detour 2000
metres to the south...
to the ville of Nghia Hanh.
'Cause 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.
Now I want nuthin' but charmed people around me on
this one gentlemen, 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?
I mean 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...
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, GI.
This 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 in there?
You guys done this before?
No.
This is unbelievable.
I didn't think he meant it, Hatch.
Did you?
I don't know, man.
Let's move gentlemen.
I want to be out of here by first light.
No, no, no.
What do you want?
What do you want?
You want her to have this?
You want her to have it?
All right, no sweat. No big thing.
She can have it! Shut up, bitch!
Let's get out of here, Sarge.
- Then let's move.
Get some rest. You're upset.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Gone.
Yeah, we're gonna win her heart
and mind, Eriksson. If she's got one.
Hey, Sarge.
A couple a more clicks,
we'll take a break.
I thought you were kidding last night, Sarge.
- I was serious as a heart attack, you know that.
Yeah I know, that's what I mean.
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, man. He's unbelievable.
I mean... I mean what we're doin'...
It's fantastic.
I can't figure out how come
he never thought of it before?
Hatcher, this is nuts.
- It ain't nuts. It's what armies do.
- We ain't Genghis Khan.
- You're the one who's nuts, man.
It's the 20th century, man.
Jesus, we're supposed to be
here to help these people.
What's the matter with you?
You okay, you okay. Come here.
That was some hump, huh man?
Yeah.
You want some gum?
I'm not gonna hurt you.
Come here for a second.
Hey Eriksson, if I don't want to
mess with her man, do I have to?
Diaz...
No, man.
Hey, come here.
Come here, somebody.
Somebody, come here.
Come here, quick, man.
- Come here.
- Check it out, Clark.
Is that a farmer ditty-boppin' down there,
or is that VC? - Where?
Right there in the pool.
- What is it, Clark?
I don't know, it's a rock, I think.
- It's movin'.
The bushes are moving,
the rock ain't.
What the fuck are you shootin' at?
- The Sarge says we should shoot 'em in the open.
It's a water buffalo, Sarge.
Dumb, very fuckin' dumb.
Aspirin. Number one. Number one.
Okay. Okay.
Hey, Sarge
- Yeah.
We on track?
Just follow the little
red Crayola line.
Goes for about, two and a half hours,
we'll be there.
Hey Sarge, you gotta give me a
minute here on this thing we're doin'.
I mean, what we're doing.
What are we doing, Sarge?
We've incarcerated a VC suspect.
Is that what you're talkin' about?
She's a VC whore and we're
gonna have a little fun with her.
Yeah, but she's just a farm girl,
like she's...
Eriksson, you're the Cherry here,
right? So lighten up.
Just let me carry the weight.
- What's the problem, Sarge?
Eriksson don't think our
VC whore's a VC whore.
You don't? Wow man, you've been in town, Eriksson.
They'll sell you their children.
Clark, these people were
sleeping in their hootch.
He got the wrong outlook on this thing, man.
He's all discombobulated
You got the whole wrong
outlook on this thing, Eriksson.
- What are you talking about?
- He's talkin' 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.
Hold it up Hatcher. You ain't gonna
be cutting yourself this slack, man.
You ain't humpin' your own ruck,
You'll be humpin' mine.
- Why, man?
- Just put it on.
Hey, Sarge!
Hey! I'm a corporal, Hatcher.
I'm givin' you a direct order.
You hump my ruck.
Oh, man. What an asshole!
Yeah, it's all clear, Sarge.
The stream's no more than 30 metres down
there Sarge. They got plenty of water.
Get her inside.
Get your ruck off her, Hatcher.
Put mine over there.
All right, we'll use this
sally-ass place as our C.P.
Eriksson, you and Diaz get the chow and
ammo stored, and square this place away.
Clark, you and Hatcher come with me,
I want to reconnoitre this area.
Oh man, I ain't gonna rape nobody.
Eriksson you gotta back me up.
- I'll back you.
- Swear it.
I do, man. I promise.
You gotta back me too, okay.
You got it, man.
It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you.
I'm not gonna hurt you.
You're cut. Okay.
You're hurt.
Let me fix it, okay?
Give. Give.
Okay.
I'm gonna clean.
I'm not going to hurt you.
Okay.
Shh! Come here.
Stay still.
See?
It's going to be okay.
Okay, I'm your friend.
I'm your friend. Okay.
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 it to the dinks for that, eh.
How you doin'?
I'm all right.
I'm sorry I jumped on you back there.
It's just, we're out here, right. Fuckin' boonies,
with the Cong hanging in every tree
just waitin' to grease
us out of existence.
What'd we hump, five, six hours at this bush?
Gooks had half a brain, they'd be fightin'
to get out of this stink-hole, not to keep it.
It's five, six hours of the ugliest
snakes and stingin' spiders.
We got to count on all that,
with each other. Right?
Yeah.
Come here.
I don't want any problems
with you, Eriksson.
I'm counting on you as a matter of fact,
in particular.
Yeah, well I don't know what
the hell's goin' on here, Sarge.
We're gonna...
interrogate the prisoner.
This isn't right.
We ain't supposed to be doin' this.
Don't fuck with me.
You're taking your turn in here.
I ain't rapin' nobody.
You think you're sayin' no to me?
You ain't hotshot enough
to be sayin' no to me.
Motherfucker! Motherfucker!
You think you're standin' up to me?
I ain't doin' it. No way.
What's the matter? Don't you like girls?
Haven't you got a pair? Is that your problem?
What is goin' on here, Sarge?
Eriksson here, don't want to ball the dink.
- How come?
I don't know.
- He's a chicken-shit.
Is that it?
Is that your problem, Eriksson?
- No.
- So, what is it?
Maybe he's queer.
Is that... you a faggot?
Huh, is that your goddamn problem?
- No!
So, what is it?
Everybody else is up for this.
What are you looking at Diaz for?
Diaz's with the program.
You got a problem with this, Diaz?
- Hell, no, Sarge.
- 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 on our patrol.
Is Eriksson a faggot, Hatcher?
- I don't know Sarge.
- I think he is.
He's a chicken-shit, man.
I'm gonna cut his heart out.
How we gonna count on you?
You're a goddamn VC sympathizer.
You could get killed real easy,
don't you know that.
Somebody stumbles...
They don't mean to shoot you. They're sorry.
Friendly fucking casualty. I mean, a body
bag's a body bag, right. Who's countin'.
Your mama's cryin'.
Your daddy's pissin' and moanin'.
- He's dead.
- What?
He's dead. My father's dead.
Who cares, man. Nobody cares about your goddamn
family history, pal. Nobody's askin' about that.
You're taking your turn.
In there.
No.
Well maybe when I'm done with her,
I'm gonna come after you.
Maybe when I'm done humping her,
I'm gonna come hump you!
What, you're gonna take an
attack posture with me?
Yeah, you got a weapon.
Clark got a weapon. Clark 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,
man you know.
I'd really like an ice-cold beer,
man you know.
Better than nothing.
Wish we had a beer, huh Sarge.
Don't you wish you had a beer?
Are we gonna flip a coin
for who's next, or what?
- Diaz is next.
- When am I up, Sarge?
- After Clark.
- That's last.
Move it, Diaz goddamn it, move it!
Wish we had a goddamn beer, man.
We gotta have some beers, Sarge.
- Shut the fuck up.
- I just want a beer, man.
We oughta' gag this bitch you know.
We'll have VC all over our case.
Hatcher manages about three strokes you know,
and then he starts goin'... yee! yee! yee!
- Like a fuckin' mouse.
Clark had his knife in his hand, the whole time,
man. He was holdin' it at her throat, man.
So what?
Well!
What do you mean?
When was the last time you
had a real woman, Sarge?
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, you know,
bored and stroked.
The fastest thing in the street!
Diaz'll relieve you at 2400, okay?
You probably like the Army,
don't you Eriksson?
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.
'Cause I'm the meanest
motherfucker in the valley.
It's a bunch of them
cruel-hearted little people.
There you go.
What do you make of that Sarge?
You want to light 'em up?
There's something happening here.
Maybe they're just fishing.
Hatcher, you and Eriksson
get back to the hootch.
Load up on extra ammo
and smoke grenades.
Diaz, gimme Big Brother. I wanna pre-arrange
BooBoo support. - Right.
Didi mau, gentlemen.
Big Brother 0-2, Big Brother 0-2,
this is Silent Twin 0-2, over.
Fucking bullshit, man.
What did I do to deserve this?
I'm sick of babysitting this fuckin' whore.
What's happenin' man?
Meserve wants smoke
grenades and ammo.
We're gonna light up some
little motherfuckers, man.
- Where's Meserve?
- He's back at the ridge, man.
Well, what am I
supposed to do, man?
Sit here and babysit the whore while
you guys get to waste some gooks?
What'd he say about me?
He didn't say anything.
All right.
All right, man. I'm saying it.
I'm sayin',
I'm goin' up there, man.
Eriksson, you stay here.
- I'm supposed to go up.
Hey man, I'm going up there and get some. Okay
I ain't gonna miss this good shit.
You ready Hatcher? - Yeah.
- Meserve ain't gonna like... Eriksson,
I'm a corporal, man. You're a PFC. You got it?
Now you're stain' here.
Now give me the thump gun.
All right, let's didi, Hatch.
- We're gonna K.I.A. Some VC gooks, man.
Fuckin'-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.
Oh, man, you're burning up.
You're hot.
You hungry? Hungry, food?
Eat, okay? Number one. 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 understand.
I don't know what you're saying.
I don't know what you're saying.
- What's happenin' Sarge?
- Clark, what are you doin' here?
They said there's some shit happenin'.
- Where's Eriksson?
He's in the hootch.
Is your head up your ass,
did you leave him alone with the whore?
Are you nuts?
Go get him up here. Go get everybody
and everything up here ASAP. Go!
I gotta do every fuckin' thing myself!
I'm gonna take you out of here. Okay?
You. You.
You, me, go. We go.
We're gonna didi, 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. You go.
Go, go!
I can't go!
I'm gonna be a goddamn deserter.
Go! Go!
No, I'm sorry!
I'm sorry! I can't do this!
I can't do it!
You don't understand!
Oh, Jesus. Okay.
What are you doin'?
Nothin', man.
Nothin'.
Meserve wants everything
and everybody up top.
Shut the fuck up!
She's gonna give us away
with all that coughin', Sarge.
We gotta waste her, Sarge.
She's gonna get us lit up.
- Eriksson, waste the bitch.
- What?
You heard me. I want you to grease her.
Another boat, Sarge.
Get Reilly. I want that pre-arranged support now.
Slicks, Snakes, ARA, man, the whole shitload.
Right, Sarge.
Big Brother 0-2, Big Brother 0-2,
this is Silent Twin 0-2, over.
I want you to waste her.
I don't know
what you're talkin' about, man.
- Kill the bitch.
- You're nuts!
Yeah!
- Yeah!
Brownie were here, he would
kick your ass on this, man.
He would not tolerate this bullshit!
Brownie ain't on my frequency no more.
Brownie's on the dead peoples.
Are you on my frequency, motherfucker?
'Cause if you ain't, you're K.I.A. just like the
rest of them gook motherfuckers down there.
Let her go. Let her go, Sarge!
What she gonna do, man? Let her go!
- Hatcher, waste her.
- What?
- I'll do it, Sarge.
- No, Hatcher's gonna do it. Hatcher.
Why me, man?
Listen, you little piece of bug-shit.
You do what I'm tellin' you.
No, I don't want to, Sarge. C'mon.
Choppers, Sarge.
Goddamn it! Goddamn it!
They're gonna see her.
We gotta get rid of her.
We're gonna have every kind
of bird circling this area.
Diaz!
- Do it! Do it!
- I'll do it, Sarge.
- Diaz is gonna do it. Do it!
- Diaz, no, man. Don't do it.
- You yellow piece of shit! Be a man!
- Diaz, don't do it, man.
- Be a man! Do it! Do it!
- Don't do it!
- Do it!
- Don't let him make you do it, Diaz.
- Don't do it, man!
- Do it!
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 lay our cover!
Now we're in the shit.
Take no names and count the bodies!
What the hell is that?
Look it, Sarge! Look at it!
It's a gunboat.
I fixed her, Sarge.
I fixed her.
Everybody, move! Right flank!
Right flank!
Switch with me, Hatch.
Go! 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!
No!
No!
Let's make our hat!
Rowan! Rowan!
They did it, man.
They did it. You didn't think they were gonna
do it, and I didn't think they were gonna do it
but they did.
They took her and they killed her.
What, the girl? They did it?
Oh man, this ain't supposed to happen.
We go into this ville.
We just march in...
and they take this girl.
They tie her up, they drag her out...
and they fucked her and they killed her, man.
This ain't supposed to happen.
This ain't supposed to happen...
Hatcher's talking...
Hatcher's talking about...
about Genghis Khan.
- Meserve is tellin' me that I'm K.I.A.
- And Clark?
- He's nuts.
- Yeah, he's right here.
What are you guys talking about.
Eriksson, what are you talking to him about?
I'm talkin' to him, man.
I'm allowed to be talkin' to him.
Hey man. What happens in the
field stays in the field, man.
You know that. Everybody knows that.
Hey Clarkie, where's Meserve, man?
Is he back?
What happened to you, man?
You disappeared.
Yeah, I got choppered out, Clark.
Yeah. All right, we're supposed to regroup...
All right! All right!
Don't fuckin' pull at me, man!
Don't pull at me.
Reilly wants to see you in an hour.
- I'll be there. - I'll be there.
- Yeah, you better be there, Cherry.
Victor Charles Cong's one
hardcore jackass, man.
They told us things were heatin' up out
where you guys were and we were on alert.
I said, "I am always on alert."
- Did you see him, man?
- That was freaky, man. That was very freaky.
They get me back out in the bush, Row,
I'm dead, man. I'm coming back in a bag.
You gotta tell somebody.
Who?
Who do you think?
You should tell Reilly. I don't like Meserve.
- What about Hill. 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 give
birth to our first child.
I took her to the hospital,
a natural thing to do.
Well, 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.
And 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 working in that hospital.
That's what I was doing.
But you know what?
It was like they could
read my mind...
and they just kept me in that jail until
my mind was turned around completely.
By the time I got out,
I wanted nothing but 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?
Now I tell you what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna break up the squad, send you
five men off in five different directions.
Sir, I think this is...
- No, you don't think. You listen.
Be advised, you'd best just relax
and try to forget about this thing.
You can't expect anything
different in a combat zone.
Is that clear?
Sir. Yes, sir.
Hey guys. I got some boneless chicken I'll trade
for some pound cake, if anybody wants to trade.
Sorry Cherry, we'd kill to keep our pound cake.
- That's what everybody says.
In fact, we have killed
to keep our pound cake.
If you was me,
what would you have done, Row?
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 coulda'... We both could have taken off.
And then Clark... I mean, goddammit, what
was I supposed to do? Waste a fuckin' corporal?
- No, man. And Meserve
and Hatcher and Diaz.
Just blow away four
goddamn Americans?
- No.
- What then?
Guys, I can't find my squad.
What are you doin' here, Cherry?
- I can't find Wilkins and Maclntyre.
- Find any pound cake?
- No, I still got the boneless chicken.
- What happened to your own pound cake?
Somebody stole it.
Can I stay with you guys?
Yeah, back there.
I should have gone to see Captain Hill, myself.
You know, he'd straighten this thing out.
When we reconnoitre to
those caves tomorrow
do you think everybody'll have to
go or you know just some of us
Private, move out.
- You told Reilly?
- Reilly's bullshit, man. Reilly's doin' zip.
No, I gotta see
Captain Hill, myself.
He will square this shit away.
He will ream some people out over this.
You can't go around Reilly.
He's your immediate superior.
And if I don't?
If I do nothing, she just vanished.
You cannot violate the chain of command, man.
You're gonna piss some people off.
Oh no, I wouldn't violate something as sacred as
the chain of command, just to report a murder.
What are you guys talking about?
Don't worry about it.
I better go find my own squad. I don't feel right.
I feel like I'm doing something wrong.
I'll see you guys later.
I don't think you will see us later
if you don't stop boppin' around
here like it's a goddamn playground.
Just take it easy, okay. Slow down.
All right.
Tough. There he goes.
- Pathetic, sad-assed...
- If he rendezvoused with his brain, he'd be...
Cease fire! Cease fire!
What's the haps, Sarge?
Booby trap.
Somebody stepped on a toe-popper.
All right, let's move it out.
Let's get where we're supposed to be.
- Who got hit, sarge?
- Cherry.
That boy was bagged and tagged the
minute they cut his orders to this place.
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, Rowan.
We're getting it backwards, man.
'Cause it's a day in, day out dose
of bullshit, man, is what it is!
I mean just because each of us might
at any second, be blown away...
everybody's acting like
we can do anything, man.
And it don't matter what we do.
But I think it's the other way 'round.
Maybe the main thing is just the opposite.
Because we might be dead
in the next split second...
maybe we gotta
be extra careful what we do.
Because maybe it matters more.
Jesus, maybe it matters more
than we even know.
- PFC Eriksson reporting, sir.
- At ease, Eriksson.
Captain Hill, something happened sir...
I think you ought...
I'm aware of why you're here, Eriksson.
Lieutenant Reilly detailed it to me just after
you brought it to him. I'm handling everything.
Sir, I didn't know that, sir.
That just about cover it,
as far as you're concerned, trooper?
I am max-attentive to this situation.
Yes, sir.
Is there someone I oughta' speak to, sir?
I mean has the investigation started?
I hope you understand how serious
this situation is.
Yes, sir.
That's why I reported it, sir.
This kinda thing can cause a major
international incident. Are you aware of that?
Yes, sir.
Eriksson...
These men fucked up good...
but you bringing
formal charges against them...
is that gonna help that
poor girl one little bit?
Maybe if you had been there, sir.
Maybe if you heard her screaming, you'd feel...
You don't tell me shit about screaming, boy! I've
heard a lot of fuckin' screamin' in this country!
Most of it's come from
wounded American boys.
I'm gonna transfer you out of my company,
Eriksson. That all right with you?
I'll get you out of the bush, out of the infantry.
Any fucking place you want to go, you name it.
I saw your 201 file in the rear.
Said you volunteered to be a tunnel rat.
Is that what you want, Eriksson?
I'd like to get out of this particular company.
Yes sir.
Well, that's a rog, Eriksson. You're a tunnel rat.
We get to the rear, you pack your trash.
That's not gonna keep me from
tryin' to bring this thing out, sir.
Nobody's trying to keep you
from doing a goddamn thing.
My function here is just to tell you how
something like this is gonna come down.
And you ought to be advised...
that military court-martials
are notoriously lenient.
Stateside review boards
are even more lenient.
Even if these four guys get convicted
they're not gonna do any real time.
Yes, sir.
In fact, they're gonna be out of the stockade
before you can flick flies off a shit, Eriksson.
And if I was them,
I'd be pissed off, wouldn't you.
I'd be looking fora little 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 simply tryin' to illuminate the terrain in
which we currently find ourselves deployed.
You don't mind, do you.
And if you do, fuck you!
- You on my frequency?
- Yes, sir.
You fuckin' maggot!
Who the hell do you think you are?
You're in that report recommending
Meserve for a Bronze Star!
He pulled you out of a VC tunnel, boy!
Now the shit with that girl,
that was wrong.
But he's a kid, Eriksson.
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,
'cause I'm shootin' next.
I'm gonna be there in two seconds.
I'm gonna take a piss. - Okay. All right.
Hey, Clarkie!
What?
What the hell's goin' on, there?
Christ man!
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.
I told 'em you don't have to worry.
You don't have to try and kill me, man.
I told them, and they don't care!
You dinky dau, man.
You boocoo dinky dau!
How you doing, son?
Sir.
I'm sorry, sir.
Drunk, sir.
Mind if I join you for a little?
Drunk. Very drunk, sir.
You goin' on leave?
Getting transferred, sir.
Fidi 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,
problems with the wife, 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're a chaplain, sir?
Are you religious, son?
I'm a Methodist.
I'm a Lutheran.
But 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.
You couldn't let it rest, could you?
You had to push it.
Go to hell.
Sir!
So you don't feel responsible for
the crimes of rape and murder?
No, sir. I don't.
Is it your feeling then, Corporal Clark...
that you are wrongly brought to trial
by the United States Government?
Hey, I don't have anything against
the United States government.
But I just think soldiers like
Tony Meserve and me...
belong out in combat...
not here.
You throw guys like us in the stockade and
you're helping nobody but the Viet Cong, sir.
When your turn was called by Sergeant Meserve,
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 PFC Eriksson
stayed out of the hootch?
Well, he was brand-new, sir.
You know, I'd been there
a lot longer than him.
I'd been there at least three
weeks longer than him, sir.
You're saying then, PFC...
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.
Because 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, too.
'Cause I have a loyalty to the men
I was out there with.
And is it standard practice for
U.S. Personnel to have...
sexual relations with their
prisoners and then murder them?
- Objection!
- Overruled.
The prisoner made attempts to give
away the position of the squad, sir.
She was ill and coughing from the
abuse of you and your men.
She shouldn't have been there
to jeopardize your position!
You drag her out
there and rape her!
And then you blame her for coughing,
so you kill her!
- Does that about sum it up?
- Objection. - Overruled.
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 went into a hootch that
had been burned down.
Some Vietnamese were carrying
children out of a bunker with a hootch.
They suffered from smoke inhalation.
I gave one small child
mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
That just goes to show you
we ain't all combat over here.
Of the charges of rape and
unpremeditated murder...
PFC Antonio Diaz is found guilty...
sentenced to eight years
imprisonment and hard labor.
Of the charge of rape, Private First Class
Herbert Hatcher is found guilty...
and sentenced to
15 years hard labor.
Of the charges of
rape and premeditated murder...
Corporal Thomas E. Clark is found guilty...
sentenced to life imprisonment
at hard labor.
Of the charge of
unpremeditated murder...
Sergeant E5 Tony Meserve
is found guilty...
sentenced to 10 years hard labor.
All sentences'll begin immediately...
at United States Disciplinary Barracks,
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Prisoners dismissed.
Even if these four guys get convicted,
they're not gonna do any real time.
They're gonna be out of the stockade
before you can flick flies off a shit.
And if I was them,
I'd be pissed off, wouldn't you.
I'd be looking for a little 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.