The Siege of Firebase Gloria

Looks abandoned.

Or worse.

Let's go, Shortwave.

It was Chinese New Year,

the Tet holiday.

The communists had called a 36-hour truce.

It should have been a routine patrol.

But we weren't taking any chances.

Get Di Nardo up here.

Di Nardo was my right hand.

Go!

The kind of gung-ho fighting machine

the Marines are famous for.

We'd been to this village before

and done a lot of smiling, shaking hands and bowing,

to show that we were the good guys.

The people were friendly.

We like them, and they liked us.

Di Nardo knew enough Vietnamese

to be a big hit.

So it really hurt us to see their heads on stakes.

This rotten war was getting to us.

We'd stayed too long and seen too much.

Jesus Christ.

Son of a bitch!

Di Nardo!

Got more in the wells.

Oh, Jesus.

No amount of training could prepare you

for an experience like this.

Shortwave said he's seen worse on the streets of Detroit.

But that's the kind of bullshit you use

to keep from going crazy.

Murphy was the one it hit the hardest.

He was a green college kid from Indiana.

The closest he had been to death

was his granddad's funeral.

Sergeant Hafner.

Yo!

This is insanity.

This is effective.

Charlie has got this valley by the balls.

Won't nobody step out of line around here.

Sergeant Major! Yo!

We got a boy, Sergeant Major! He's alive!

Please, kid.

Here, give him to me.

Why don't you take it?

Yes. Calm down, sweetheart.

Come on. Juicy.

Little juicy. Look, juicy, juicy, juicy.

There ain't no ceasefire around here, that's for damn sure.

Something coming down. Something heavy.

And we gotta find out what it is.

We gonna leave the village like this?

Torch it.

We radioed headquarters,

but they didn't read the signs like we did.

Just another bunch of dead gooks.

What else is new?

Di Nardo was pretty steamed up inside,

so l put him on point.

Best therapy I could think of.

As point men go, Di Nardo had few equals.

He had a sharp eye and a good nose for trouble.

Hold on. It's Di Nardo, sir.

What do you got?

I got two VC coming out of a cave.

And I'm gonna pop them.

We got contact.

Murphy, I want you to check out the area.

I need to know how many dinks we're dealing with here.

You sure you wanna go this alone?

Yeah. My turn.

Besides that, I need a bath.

Okay, Nard, you got the ball.

If I ain't back in 10, use your imagination.

Here.

Stay on him.

Jesus Christ.

You look like a fucking ghost.

Whose are these?

I lost...

I lost my whole patrol.

What's your unit, son?

There were thousands.

We saw... We saw thousands of them.

What's your name, son?

I don't... I don't know.

No. No.

Homeward bound, baby. Homeward bound.

Two clicks back, abandoned campsite.

Looked about company size.

Where there's a company, there's a battalion.

Tell Di Nardo to get everybody ready to move out right now.

C-4 is in place, Sergeant Major.

Probably be a good idea to blow it up, then, wouldn't it?

Yes, sir.

Just beautiful.

Dinks up ahead!

Twenty, maybe 30.

You know the program, Di Nardo.

Do your thing.

I want you bunched up around the casualty.

Let's move it.

Duc Van.

Di Nardo was like the brother I never had.

He was always getting into trouble,

and I was always getting him out.

But when the times got tough,

he was the one I knew I could count on.

For a while, there'd been some tension between us,

and it needed to be resolved.

But now was not the time.

Now, I needed the best rifleman in the squad

covering my back.

Any VC in your area?

No VC here. Only fishermen and farmers.

Yeah, I'll bet.

Where boy come from?

We found the boy in An Lap Village.

An Lap Village?

I don't like it. Let's move. Let's get out of here.

I don't like the looks of this at all.

Get on the horn. There's not a swinging dick here that ain't recruiting age.

Tell Di Nardo to lock and load,

watch the one with the hairy face.

Lock and load, Di Nardo.

It don't look good.

Sergeant Major say watch the one with the beard.

Shortwave, get your dumb, black, John Wayne ass down!

Get down!

It's okay.

Get that 60 on the boat!

Cease fire! Hold your fire!

All right, kid. It's all right. It's over.

I want these boats underwater.

Don't use our frags, either.

There's plenty of dink grenades up here.

Yes, Sergeant Major.

I'd like to know where these needle-dick dinks

are getting new AK forty-fucking-sevens at.

What the hell is going on here, Spider?

You on R and R?

Get down there and help Hauk sink those boats.

Shortwave, you get in touch with the damn chopper yet?

No, sir, Sergeant Major.

Keep trying.

Hey, Di Nardo.

Yo!

I want an accurate body count.

I got it.

Twenty males, nine females and three goddamn ducks.

You're gonna love this shit.

VC regulars.

Just beautiful.

Happy Chinese New Year.

Murphy, are you ready yet?

I want that chopper in here right now.

Doing my best, Sergeant Major.

Yeah, well, that's not quite good enough. Try harder.

Golden Eagle, this is Shortwave.

What the hell am I gonna name you, huh?

How about Pee Wee, huh? Can you say Pee Wee?

Pee Wee.

Pee Wee.

Pee Wee. I named you Pee Wee.

Pee Wee Reese, the greatest baseball player

for the Brooklyn Dodgers to ever live.

Don't get too goddamn attached to that boy.

You know what?

He sure as hell doesn't look like Jimmy,

but he's got the same spark in his eye.

You know what I mean? Look at him.

Doesn't get any goddamn easier, does it, Nard?

Nope.

So, Sergeant Major, where the hell are we going now?

Some little goddamn firebase.

Gloria is the name of it.

What?

Gloria. It ain't too far from here.

Shit!

No! Where are we hit?

Don't worry about it. We're coming down.

We're hit broadside, Major.

This sucker is dead meat. Get us down now.

You got it, chief.

Get it down now!

It's all right. It's all right. We're gonna get out of here.

Keep cool. We're going down.

I smell fuel.

Get the fuck out of here!

Come on. Come on.

Jesus.

Get a fire extinguisher. SOLDIER: Yes, Sergeant.

All right, let's get the ghost down to the aid station.

Murphy, see to it that the kid gets deloused.

Di Nardo, you and the radio with me.

Let's move it. Let's go.

Shit.