Basic

The French tried to build a canal here before the Americans.

At the height of their effort, 500 workers...

... were dying every week from malaria and yellow fever.

They couldn't come up with cemetery space fast enough...

...not to mention the morale problem all those crosses would have made.

So they bought shiploads of vinegar in Cuba...

...and in each barrel, they sealed one corpse.

And then they sold them as medical cadavers all over Europe.

And for a while, that was their principal source of profit.

You see, this place has always had a special way of dealing...

... with both profit and death.

As some of you may have heard, there is a hurricane warning tonight.

Well, Rangers do not wait on good weather.

Rangers do not wait for a bright, sunshiny day.

Oh, no. Rangers are trained to operate in the worst possible conditions...

...and take said conditions and turn them against their enemy.

You each have one rifle, one sidearm and one white phosphorus grenade.

This is a live E and E, so please keep those weapons safetied...

...so as not to shoot off your nonexistent dicks.

The rally point is a bunker two clicks north of the LZ.

You will split into teams of two.

Each designated area has 20 reactive targets.

The first team to get all 20 and reach the rally point wins.

Anything goes pear-shaped out there, you pop white and radio in.

I will be in each area monitoring your progress.

If I see anybody drag ass...

...I swear to God, you will swim the canal.

-Where is the original pickup point? -About two klicks up the valley.

So this was a Ranger training team? When were they due?

They missed contact six hours ago.

Colonel Styles, that doesn't necessarily mean anything in a storm like this.

No, it wouldn't be any wonder if they were delayed.

I'm not seeing them.

I'm gonna have to come back around.

Wait a minute. Wait a minute, I'm coming around to your side.

We got one-- No, maybe two.

Wait, I think he's carrying somebody. Is he hurt?

All right, let's get down there.

What is that?

Is that live fire?

Christ, they're shooting at each other. Get us on the ground. Now!

I've got a bleeder down here. A little suction down there.

There it is.

That's enough!

You went out with your sergeant and six men last night on an exercise.

You came back a few men light.

Four, to be precise.

Where are they?

Not in this lifetime.

Captain...

...if you don't make progress on this, we'll have Washington crawling all over us.

What did he write?

"I'll only talk to a Ranger. Someone from off-post."

Let me see it.

It's a stall tactic. Nothing more.

Give him what he wants. I know somebody.

-Sir, I am confident that I can handle this. -And I'm not.

Oh, God.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

-Hello. -Tom, what's wrong with your phone?

I've been trying to reach you all day.

There's a hurricane. Everything's shut down.

-Hola, Tommy! -It's carnival, come on.

-The girl's name is Gabriella! -I want to meet all your friends!

-She wants to meet you. -Yeah, we'll samba!

-Are you coming? -I will. I will.

You better. I'm gonna come and get you.

-Tom? -What's that?

-I said, are you drinking again? -Nothing like that.

Any time a cocaine dealer is suspected of bribing an agent...

...we pull him off the assignment and run a check. It's not personal.

A drug lord that I helped bust says that he paid me off...

...you guys believe him, and say it's not personal? Fuck you.

Relax, I'm sure you'll come up clean. You'll be back on the job in a week.

With everyone looking at me sideways, wondering if I'm dirty.

Look, I'm DEA in cocaine central. All we have down here is trust.

And after what you did, nobody's ever gonna trust me-- Hold on.

Are you putting me--?

Tom, Bill. I need you to come down here.

-Come down where? -Clayton, as soon as possible.

-Something happened. It's bad. -Are you all right?

No.

No, I need your help.

Sir?

Sir, this is completely unorthodox. This guy isn't even Army.

Go ahead, sir.

He was Army. I hadn't seen him in years...

...until I ran into him the other night in a parking lot. Trust me, he was Army.

He trained at Benning and here with me, so he knows the territory.

Before he left the service, he was the best interrogator I had ever seen.

Tom Hardy could get in your head faster than you could tie your shoes.

-Why did he leave the Army? -I don't know and I don't care...

...because there is nobody better in a room.

Sir, if he's not Army, it's not official.

Well, then, Captain Osborne, it's unofficial.

Evening, sir.

It doesn't get unofficialer than that.

-Hey, Bill, how is it going? -Pretty much fucked. You?

Wet. So how's the knee?

They're never gonna make me a general anyway.

Fuck them if they can't take a joke. Why am I here?

I'm curious about that myself, sir.

Sir, I am Julia Osborne. I am the provost marshal here.

-Osborne, do I look like a "sir" to you? -Not particularly, sir.

Captain, Osborne is the closest thing we have to an in-house investigator.

And you're going out of house. How does that make you feel?

-Hostile and uncooperative, sir. -Fantastic.

Okay. Tom, look, before this hurricane hit...

...I recalled all exercises except for one...

...a six-man Ranger team and their Black Hat out in the bush.

-We're missing three and the sergeant. -Not West?

Oh, tell me it wasn't West.

-You know Sergeant West, sir? -He was our Black Hat.

-That must have been an honor. -That's one way to put it.

West is a professional, the face of the modern Army.

You notice I'm no longer in the Army.

They were due for pickup at 1 830.

So the problem is that three didn't come back?

No. The problem is, one of them is dead...

...one has a bullet in his hip and one won't talk.

Now the one who won't talk was exchanging live fire with the dead one.

I'm assuming that's what made him the dead one.

Sergeant Mueller, killed right in front of me.

If Command finds out you're using a civilian...

...with my background, forget it, they'll cut you a new asshole.

Your involvement's a secret. Anything you uncover will be credited to Osborne.

-Well, then, let her do it. -Sir, that is not a bad idea.

Captain, will you excuse us for a moment?

All due respect to Osborne, this is way out of her league.

This kid we have in interrogation requested a Ranger.

Someone he'd never met. That's you.

Jesus, Bill, he could have requested a sailboat.

It doesn't mean you have to give it to him. I don't get this.

Any spooks involved here? ClA? FBl?

Not exactly.

What does that mean?

There was a group of guys down here and they....

And they what? Come on, Bill, spill it.

Permission to speak freely, sir?

Osborne, I swear to God...

...you call me sir one more time, I'm gonna scream.

I know who you are. The DEA is investigating you for bribery.

Suspicion of bribery. It's all in the wording, really.

I'm not comfortable having you involved with this.

Three things: First, you don't have a choice.

Second, I've never taken a bribe in my life.

And third, I'm still a little drunk from earlier today...

...so if I skip over the witty banter...

...and move straight into coming on to you, I hope you don't take offense.

Dog tags identify them as Sergeant Raymond Dunbar...

...and Second Lieutenant Levi Kendall.

Levi? Who would name their kid Levi?

General Jonathan Kendall, of the Joint Chiefs.

Remind me to thank Bill for mentioning that on the phone.

Kendall Jr. will be unconscious for at least another hour.

The soldier we're talking to first is Dunbar.

-ls he in an interrogation room? -Yes, sir.

-Move him. -Why?

Interrogation rooms tend to look suspiciously like interrogation rooms...

...which makes people uncomfortable. Is he cute?

-Excuse me? -Dunbar, is he cute?

-lf you're not gonna take this seriously-- -ls he handsome?

Does he carry himself well?

Does he look you in the eyes or down at the floor?

Does he have good bones, which suggests good breeding?

Does he slouch or sit up?

These are questions that reveal a great deal about a man's character.

Get over yourself for two-and-a-half seconds and tell me, is he cute?

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Agent Hardy, if this goes to trial someone is gonna have to testify...

...about what's said in interrogation. And with your colorful background...

...you'd be the most impeachable witness in history.

Now, I may be stuck with you, but you're definitely stuck with me.

Okay. At some point I want you to go bad cop on him.

-The signal will be my rubbing my nose. -Not scratching your balls?

Look for both. Any donuts around here?

I questioned him for two hours. He didn't make a sound.

You try poking him with a stick?

Sorry, no. I didn't learn sophisticated techniques like that.

I bet I can get him to talk in under three minutes.

Ten bucks. That's without telling him I'm a Ranger.

Go.

Sergeant Dunbar, good evening.

I'm Tom Hardy. I believe you've already met the vivacious Captain Osborne.

I understand that you've had a rough time of it out there...

...and that you're not talking.

I'm sure you just want to get some sleep and food.

Did they feed you yet?

Go on. You can still eat in front of someone and not talk.

My parents did it for years.

You want another one?

Maybe later.

Okay, Ray, I'm gonna be upfront with you.

I don't know if you did what you did in self-defense...

...and frankly, I don't care.

The thing is, I made an agreement with a friend...

...to talk to you till your transport showed up.

So....