Platoon Leader

This whole country's a battlefront.

This is life and death.

That shit you noted is no rehearsal.

You gotta have men... and you must trust these men...

and they must trust you...

and I don't care if your men like you... or your men hate you ...

Keep your men alive... they'll keep you alive!

Dismissed.

Hi, Sergeant!

Lieutenant Jeff Knight.

I see you're with the 173rd.

Why do they call it The Herd anyway?

What's it like?

What's it like?

It's good!

You go out on patrol and you kill a few of them.

Then they kill a few of yours.

Then you go back to base to eat, sleep.

Next day, same thing.

Before you know it, you're either dead or you're goin' home.

It's good!

Lieutenant, take a look at your new home!

You go back to officer's training.

You go back?

Check out the new Louie.

Excuse me.

Lieutenant, Sergeant McNamara.

Sergeant.

Welcome to the country club.

Oh, I wouldn't bother looking for Lieutenant Frick.

He left three days ago, three days early.

What was the problem?

No problem.

Well, he called it superstition.

What do you call it?

I'd call it paranoia.

Oh, he had this weird thing, this funny idea,

that there are people out here trying to shoot his ass.

You see that bunker?

That's where Frick spent the last two months of his tour.

Never stepped outside it once.

That's officer's quarters.

Thank you, Sergeant.

Dismissed.

Lighter.

So what do you think he's doing' in there?

Gettin' drunk or wishin' he were home

while he writes a Don't Worry, I'll Be Home

Before You Know It letter to his wife.

Good thing he's married.

Those guys never like to take chances.

You fuckhead, that means we gotta!

So?

There's a gook!

Where, where, where?

Hey, don't fuck with me, Bacera.

Don't fuck with me like that goddamn you!

Oh man, what did you do, shit in your pants?

You got any fruit in that bag, Bacera?

Come on, man, I know you got it in there.

I'll trade you two cans of Spam for them peaches.

No way, man.

Why don't you take some from that Lieutenant's stash?

I mean, he's gonna be gone before he can eat it up anyway.

Nah, he's gonna hibernate in that rabbit hole

then when his tour's up he's gonna pop up like a rabbit.

Yo, let me explain to you about the new second...

Oh, sorry, sir, sorry.

You Okay?

Morning.

Joshua Parker, I'm your radio operator.

Morning, Parker.

Get all the squad leaders and the squads formed up.

Sir?

You want all the squad leaders to form up?

Out here?

Okay, sir.

All right, come on, dress it up, dress it up!

Sergeant Hayes, sir.

Welcome to Second Platoon, Bravo Company.

Thank you, Sergeant.

Sergeant Roach, welcome to Nam.

Hey, that sounds like a poem.

Morning, men.

Glad to be among you.

Since I know we're gonna learn more than enough

about each other in the day's ahead,

we can drop the social stuff and get down to business.

What else is there around here?

What's your name, soldier?

Bacera, Raymond Bacera.

Our mission here is to protect the village of Truong Lam.

Everything we do is in response to that.

We need to be ready for them.

If we're to stop the enemy,

we'll have to destroy their raiding parties

and advance forces.

And to stop them, we'll have to cut 'em off at the roots.

You're talkin' about takin' over Hanoi, sir?

Not yet.

I'm talking about patrolling the countryside.

HQ says this area's gonna get hot,

and I have to prepare for it.

We'll be sending out three patrols a day.

Staggered of course with different timing

and routes, every day.

Yeah, and they'll be coordinated

from in Frick's office, eh?

Hey, shut up.

I'm going out on one patrol a day.

Dismissed.

All right, spread out, on the double!

Get to your posts.

Sergeant McNamara.

I wanna go over the new perimeter defenses with ya.

Well, you got it all worked out, don't you, Lieutenant?

No, but at least I'm trying.

Ah, well, if VC ever starts giving us grades for effort

then you're gonna do real good.

Why don't you just cut the shit, huh?

Just cut the shit, and while you're at it,

just cut the grass on both sides of that trail shorter,

and you keep it that way.

That's right outta the textbook, huh, LT?

Yeah, it's worked before.

Before wasn't the Nam!

But textbooks tell you where to

point these M60s into the jungle?

Because the book is wrong!

They shouldn't be pointing into the jungle.

You gotta point 'em right down Main Street.

Right down the center of Truong Lam

because that's where Charlie is.

He's as thick there as he is in the bush.

You're gonna learn that, fast.

You gotta know that if you wanna be good here.

Okay, Sergeant, what's our target?

Well, Roach's patrol found evidence of a VC campsite

about two clicks northeast of the village.

I figure we set up an ambush, wait and see

if Charlie shows up again.

Okay, let's move out.

Lieutenant, one of the things they don't

teach you about the jungle at West Point

is that when it looks safe, it ain't.

Present for ya.

Basera.

This thing were to blow,

they'd be picking pieces of you outta the trees.

Now this is as far as we go.

Get down, get down!

Unfuckin' believable!

You better believe it, Bacera.

Now let's get the fuck outta here!

That's why you guys wait till they get inside.

Right there.

He can see me.

Yo, I need a box here!

Hey, Josh, man, I shit my pants

when Josh did that.

Fore!

Doing armed patrol again, Lieutenant?

Every day until we own this district, Parker.

Got a job to do.

You ain't gonna be much good

if you fall asleep on the job, LT.

Hey, I'll go get my radio, okay?

What are you doin'?

VC.

Hold on!

If they're VC, we'll take 'em alive.

That was about the best way to

let the whole fuckin' countryside know we're coming!

Jesus!

Basera, Roach, torch it!

Forward!

Psst!

Tunnel

Shit!

Fuck!

Where the fuck is he?

Move!

Holy shit!

Where the fuck is he?

Locate him, locate him!

Move it!

You fuck.

A tunnel.

Shultz.

You lucked out again, LT, aye?

Oh, Jesus.

No, Lieutenant!

Oh, Jesus.

What happened?

Parker, how bad am I?

You're okay, you're okay, okay?

Alpha 6-1, this is Alpha 6-2.

Do you read me? 6-2 is down, he's been hit, okay?

Get a medevac over here immediately!

I'm on fire, ah!