FIRST TIME WATCHING: We Were Soldiers (2002) REACTION (Movie Commentary)

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[@dastemplar9681]

Critics at first were hard on this movie. Saying the dialogue was too cliched and cheesy. Then the real Hal Moore went public and apologized that his men weren’t being original or creative in their final moments. That got the critics to shut up real quick.

[@coyotej4895]

My Dad was with the 1st air cav out of Saigon from 72 till they evacuated. He was a Chopper mechanic and Door gunner. R.I.P. Sgt Desparois. Dad, Husband and son. My Hero.

[@Vassil00]

Our Hero.

[@virginiapudelko6280]

Hal Moore was not only an excellent soldier but also an amazing husband and father. This true story of the first real battle involving Americans and the Vietnamese that drew us officially into the war is drawn from the real life actions and memories of the men that were there. As for the scene with the wives and the laundry discussion, the woman questioning the laundry only allowing white clothing is using a very deep accent for the northern part of the country, where those kinds of signs were not seen normally.

[@benjaminsarles6660]

The Vietnam Memorial Wall, while a simple piece of architecture, is so impactful and will hurt your soul seeing those names the first time you visit it. It really hits the word Memorial.

[@Mobius118F]

Black marble this was chosen because when you can read your face will reflect at the same time everything about it is to remember whoever spends even the slightest second They Were Human. They Were someone kid. They Were the same as you.

[@drunkenmmamaster419]

Yeah i aint gonna lie i got tears in my eyes the first time i seen the monument in DC in middle school Both sides were there belive it or not which made it even sader

[@lawrencedockery9032]

Hal Moore (played by Mel Gibson) died in 2017 at the age of 94 having retired as a Lieutenant General. For his actions during the Battle of Ia Drang he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Bruce Crandall (played by Greg Kinnear) is currently 90 years old and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. For his actions during the Battle of Ia Drang he was initially awarded the Distinguished Service Cross but that was upgraded to the Medal of Honor by President Bush in 2007. Basil Plumley (played by Sam Elliott) died in 2012 at the age of 92 having retired as a Sergeant Major. After his retirement he ran the military hospital at Fort Benning for 15 years. Joe Galloway (played by Barry Pepper) died in 2021 at the age of 79. He co-authored the book (with Hal Moore) We Were Soldiers Once...And Young which became a bestseller in 1992. For his actions during the Battle of Ia Drang he was awarded the Bronze Star, the only civilian to win the award during the Vietnam War. Ed "Too Tall" Freeman (played by Mark McCraken) died in 2008 at the age of 80 having retired as a Major. For his actions during the Battle of Ian Drang he was nominated for the Medal of Honor but due to a clerical error by his commanding officer was deemed ineligible. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross but was eventually awarded the Medal of Honor by President Bush in 2001. One man who was in the book (he's actually the guy on the cover of the book) but not in the movie was a man named Rick Rescorla. Rescorla was originally born in Wales and served in the British Army before eventually moving to the US. Her served in Vietnam for a number of years earning a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart. After the war he became the head of security for Morgan Stanley at the World Trade Center in New York. He was killed during the 9/11 attacks as he went back into the towers to bring more people to safety

[@douggetchess4732]

Fort Benning was recently renamed Fort Moore in honor of Hal Moore.

[@Scottie_S]

Thank you Lawrence for posting this. I was close to compiling and posting that, but you saved me here! The story "We were Soliders Once and Young" written by Hal and Joe Galloway is quite the read.

[@Mister_Belvidere]

Rick Rescorla was a hero on 9/11. He helped evacuate lots of people, and many more would have died that day if not for him.

[@tonygreene3941]

Seen an interview with Galloway, the pain of his interaction with the soldier after the broken arrow napalm attack he still carried with him. Horrific

[@lw3918]

My father participated in this battle. Part of the second wave of choppers.

[@burstingwizard975]

Your father's a hero. A lot of Vietnamese people were saved thanks to men like him

[@garfnob4832]

but what was his opinion of how the movie portrayed the the events?

[@KingDawg72]

@@burstingwizard975Really? How come?

[@VoicesfromtheSwamp]

Thank you for sharing this. I was a kid during Vietnam so my memories are from a child's perspective. We lived in a military town, my Mother worked Civil Service on base. There was not a single kid that I knew who didn't have someone fighting in 'Nam. I watched a lot of young men leave, I saw far fewer come back. And those that did were never the same. This is a hard movie to watch because it is so factual. Most of the still shots shown after battle were the actual photos taken. Several photos won awards for the starkness & brutality they depicted. It's important for younger generations to see this and understand what really happened. War is brutal on both sides. Families are affected on both sides. And none of us will ever be the same after living through it.

[@charleswoolley8367]

As a military vet, it pains me when I think of those who returned, and how they were treated. Unlike the WWII vets, we didn't "win" in Vietnam. So you didn't hear of Welcome Home parades, jobs for the returning soldiers, etc. My hope is that, over time, they have received their recognition. Thank You for reviewing this.

[@VoicesfromtheSwamp]

@@charleswoolley8367 They are still waiting for Welcome Home Parades

[@jonathancathey2334]

My Dad serviced in Vietnam, from '69-70. With the 173rd Airborne Brigade. He started out as a R.T.O. (radioman) , when he got a enough seniority in the platoon. He got rid of the radio ( a 25lbs target as he put it) . The Lt put my father as a pointman. For those that don't know what a pointman or point is. It's the first person in a patrol. As you can imagine my father has some interesting stories.

[@rittherugger160]

Phosphorus. That's what kind of grenade that was. Nasty stuff. Great movie.

[@facubeitches1144]

One of the officers who played a key role in the battle - though not particularly featured in the movie - ultimately died on 9/11, helping people get out of the South Tower.

[@adamr6794]

Rick Rescorla is credited with saving 2,700 lives on 9/11

[@NOLAgenX]

This was a very good adaptation of the book I read for a Military Literature class back in college. Hal Moore and CSM Plumley were by all accounts the level of leadership that most leaders should strive for.

[@RLKmedic0315]

And Joe Galloway is the type of journalist that all reporters should aspire to be.

[@NOLAgenX]

@@RLKmedic0315 I agree. They don’t make them like him anymore. He was well-respected in and out of journalistic circles.

[@davidrutherford6311]

I think one of the reasons that Command kept trying to recall Moore was the value his death/capture would have had. Lose a few hundred troops? That can be explained away. Lose a Colonel? Then you have to explain how that happened and why it happened.

[@alanrickles9285]

I love that you're doing this. When they are driving to the airfield in the buses, I am actually on one of the buses. I was in basic training during the time that this was being filmed at fort Benning. I was on the 3rd bus and my drill sergeant was driving. They used a lot of trainees as extras in that movie.

[@williamkerner3758]

I have always thought this movie was kind of metaphor for this entire war. By which I mean there was virtually no plan for what a victory might look like. For a very long time the strategy was "search and destroy", meaning that if we could kill enough enemy soldiers, we would eventually win the war, without any emphasis on how we would clear the enemy out of the places where we just fought them. Notice how, at the end of the movie, the enemy general is right there where the battle was fought. So, sure, we killed a lot more of his guys than he killed of ours, but in the end, he was the one who was still there. And, since the Vietnamese civilians could predict that despite the fact that we killed a lot more of the Communists, the Communists would be the ones standing there in their communities at the end, the civilians never really got behind us and it all just assured that we would eventually be gone and the Communists would remain in the end. By the time that anyone in our government came up with an alternative strategy, the war was so unpopular in the US that there was no way politically we were going to keep at it, and so we withdrew.

[@jima6545]

My dad was drafted at 18, '67-'68. Artillery scout with the 1st Infantry Division. Stories he shared outside of the combat really drove home the horror.

[@lukenshazard127]

This is my wife’s favorite war movie because it does show the wive’s side of the war. Really enjoy your reactions. So thoughtful and respectful.

[@deiwi]

If you like space stuff, you might like From the Earth to the Moon produced by Tom Hanks. It follows Apollo space program and there's a whole episode dedicated to astronaut's wives, something that no other movie dared to show.

[@charles7836]

I believe this is also a project of Randall Wallace, who was involved in Braveheart. It's not only an excellent film, but because I served in the 7th Cavalry, the Gary Owen reference holds special meaning.

[@4325air]

Another GarryOwen Brother! I was with 3-7th 1977-1980. Schweinfurt, West Germany.

[@tomazroses6022]

That chooper pilots were cap off.. Respect.

[@aify5883]

Mel Gibson is one of our best exports to the world from Oz. Great film that he carried from start to finish imo. I 100% agree with you on the fact that this movie really portrays the soldiers as just cookie cut picture perfect people but I think what you also said beforehand that the film is supposed to be a memorial piece/documentary that focused on the sacrifices, rather than how Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now are instead using the Vietnam War as a setting to tell a more complex story. Also this film depicts the first major battle of the Vietnam War so having the soldiers appear in an innocent way is sort of true for the most part as the war had just begun and a lot of the darkest incidents were yet to unfold historically speaking.

[@samzorn4656]

Can we just take a minute to appreciate Julia Moore's efforts? Her efforts and complaints regarding casualty notification in the aftermath of the Battle of Ia Drang prompted the U.S. Army to set up survivor support networks and casualty notification teams consisting of uniformed officers, which are still in use to this day. Also, the cabby asking for directions seemed to be wearing an older US military jacket, which was a part of the US military combat fatigues during WWII and the Korean War. So, for that cabby to deliver those telegrams to those families, knowing they bear the bad news that their husbands, sons, and brothers (who were also his "brothers-in-arms-once-removed", for lack of a better term) have been killed in the line of duty, must have been heartrending for him.

[@williambranch4283]

Best Vietnam War movie. I remember trying to explain war to my little daughter, because there was a bronze WWI soldier outside our library.

[@laurawallis7093]

Thank you for this reaction. My dad is a Vietnam vet for the Australian Army.

[@JeremyCheuvront]

My friend was in this film. I love picking his brain about his experience

[@Anakinskywalkerfan1]

The way hal lead the soilders is very realistic

[@dannygreenland4853]

This is one of my fav movies and in my opinion one of the best war movies, it did so many things that others left out, mainly the families back home, War is terrible many people die when they shouldn't.

[@donaldfisher749]

Actually the woman's ignorance about whites only was still common , most segregation was still only in the south. Northern cities weren't as common to be segregated at the time

[@timm2428]

In the silence of the night you really do hear the screams, like a buzzsaw going through your brain always there.

[@frankhumphrey9898]

Snake and Too Tall were both awarded the Metal of Honor for the job they did during the battle . I believe that both Moore and Plumely are buried at Ft. Benning .

[@adamr6794]

Plumley and Moore are buried at the Main Post Cemetery at Benning, which is now named Fort Moore after Hal & Julia

[@johnwjr7]

It has become my favorite war movie of all time. The thing about the wife's receiving the notices I also thought was a good touch. Even more so because the Commander's wife took charge, as she should for the wives. Delivering them herself took some bravery. Me, I'm not a leader of men, but if I had a Commander like this one I would surely fight for him.

[@TheHulk2008]

At least these guys had back up . There's been many battles where one side was vastly outnumbered with nothing no reinforcements just on their own.

[@DerOberfeldwebel]

Jimmy Nakayama, never have people switched from 'please don't die' to wondering if he wouldn't be better off dead faster...

[@adamr6794]

It took 2 days for him to die. Awful. I can't imagine that pain

[@thomaseggle8886]

They wanted the Colonel out of the combat area because at the time...the situation was in doubt and those in Saigon didn't want a massacre with a high ranking officer lost at the same time since it was the first big engagement

[@Mark7limited]

The difference with this battle these men trained together and went into the first real American battle of the war, also this is bases on true story. Latter in the war men came and went and were plugged into what ever unit that needed men.

[@SharonS-fn2ym]

These were the very first American troops in Viet Nam. The public knew nothing about it. The average age of an soldier was like 19-21. The “Whites Only” scene is realistic because back then, people in the north were not familiar with the discrimination because very few white people knew any minorities. It wasn’t prejudice, just unfamiliarity. I have watched this movie many times and I want to tell you I’ve enjoyed your reaction more than any I’ve seen.

[@JohnThomas-xq6hb]

The head Vietnamese officer, was involved with the movie tell his side.

[@P-M-869]

In Feb '63, my father was transferred from Syracuse, NY to Daytona Beach, FL. We drove down and it wasn't until we got into South Carolina did I figure out what a colored restroom was. They were all whitewashed white. We just weren't exposed to this.

[@maxsparks5183]

The grenade the wounded NVA soldier tossed that exploded and caught the American soldier on fire where part of the shrapnel was burning and had to be dug out of his face with a bayonet was white phosphorous, AKA “Willie Pete”. Not what you would want to be anywhere near when it explodes. Used as an incendiary. WP was/is used as well in rockets and artillery to mark a position so an observer can know where follow up rounds will fall.

[@donaldstone540]

When I was in High School, we had a guest speaker come in. He was a Navy veteran from the riverine Patrols in Viet Nam. Du4ing a firefight, he pulled the pin on a willie pete grenade and cocked it back to throw it and a bullet hit it and it exploded next to his head. His face was badly scarred and his hand was disfigured but when he was telling his tale, you could hear a pin drop. This was about 1987.

[@donaldstone540]

I looked his name up. It's Dave Roever.

[@jamesrustles8670]

"Does the Sgt. Maj. have any fear?" No, Sgt. Majors have nothing to fear as they are GOD

[@robertlaube574]

We were soldiers once, and young. Madylin stowe,His wife is, straight beautiful.

[@garrymoore2161]

As many former colonies of the European powers, such as the British Colonies in America, the Vietnames people fought a prolonged war to lose their identity of French Indochina and free themselves of French control. In the north of the country, the viet cong received arms, training, and socialism indoctrination held their own against the French. In the south, capitalist leaders arose and fought the French as the Republic of Vietnam. As the French pulled out, a civil war broke out between South Vietnam and North Vietnam. The South signed an alliance with NATO. The North signed an alliance with the Soviet Union. The first time the Americabs took military action instead of just military advisors, a battalion of several hundred U.S. Army soldiers with no military experience at all found themselves facing a division of over a thousand North Vietnsm Army soldiers who had come from years of combat experience led by a Commander with over two decades of experience fighting the French. It was a decisive victory fir the Americabs as would be every battle between the U S. Army and the NVA. The war was lost as the main stream media bought the war home in living color to Americans sitting down to their evening meal. For the first time, we saw men, women, and children being horribly wounded or killed. Check your history. The left leaning politicians ran on claims of stopping senseless violence. People began to protest our involvement in a war on the other side of the re world. U.S. forces could pursue the enemy as far as the border with Laos, Cambodia, or North Vietnam. Once across the border, the beaten NVA would resupply, get new recruits, and come back to fight again.

[@ianbrown2533]

Man, go read the book. So good. And you wanna know why SGT MAJOR was like that. Man went to every major battle

[@CodeeXD]

"Fix bayonets!" Probably one of the last things you wanna hear. Means we bouta be in stabbing range boys.

[@nicholasholloway8743]

White Phosphorus Grenade, also known as "Willy Pete" and as Nathalie White says, it's nasty stuff

[@4catsnow]

Someone very high up wanted to tinker with the idea of air mobile assault on a specific enemy position...And without specific intelligence...set these guys down in front of opposing forces that could have been in division strength..Consequently,, and historically,, what the movie missed was,, without the artillery and B-52 sorties all the way from Guam...No American under Moore's command would have left that area.

[@adamr6794]

I think artillery, helo re-supply, air support, great training and leadership won the day. B-52 missions had no bearing on the battle. You can't support troops on the ground with B-52 runs without killing them all. This battle was too close for that option. The Army had a standing rule that troops on the ground had to be 3km away from any B-52 drops. That's why those held in reserve marched out to LZ Columbus and LZ Albany. Very bad decision. The Brass wanted to hit the Chu Pong after the Battle at X-Ray and those on the ground had march out so they could do so. The B-52 drops in that area are shown on a grid with the dates they were hit and none of those drops happened at X-Ray between Nov 14-16. They occurred on Nov 17-18 after the LZ was abandoned. There is a grid on the Wikipedia page for Ia Drang Battle that show what section of the area was and on what day.. Colonel An said he watched and counted the bombing runs as there was nowhere to hide from them. They didn't have a tunnel system on the Chu Pong as depicted in the movie. He said they got pretty close. but not close enough

[@zedvar3806]

That most likely was a white phosphorous grenade

[@Ronfost89]

After all that Sergeant Major Plumley has been through this is just another Tuesday.

[@RayHardman7567]

Probably the best Vietnam war movie there is.

[@DBCuzitis]

“Whites Only”… if she was a sheltered northerner wife without exposure to racial issues she could easily be confused. No internet or such back then. Can’t remember where the base was but if it was in the south and she never experienced anything like it it could make sense.

[@kervinmckellar2684]

Red tails

[@Ailurophile1984]

15:00 That was white phosphorous (Willy Pete). Really really nasty stuff

[@robertmorris8997]

White Phosphorus

[@donglass9072]

White phosphorus, grenade!

[@thegridrunner9976]

You need to check out Mel Gibson in Payback.

[@daltonatkinson1666]

There is a code I watch your back you watch mine that applies at all levels

[@최미자-y8r]

왓어원더풀월구

[@williamchilders6363]

You should do a review of the HBO series Band of Brothers

[@tarasv260]

Play RS2 Vietnam.

[@harr77]

Why did they have to put racial propaganda in the film? Yes every white person in America was aware of segregation and Jim Crow and what it meant. Kudos to this channel for knowing it was a bullcrap scene.

[@Mr_Dumpty]

I have always loved this film but it has several scenes that have also always annoyed me. So many elements of this film are done so well but then you have scenes like the 'whites only' scene which is beyond cringeworthy; truly a film of its time (aka a typical Hollywood film, I suppose). One scene I have always adored and found incredibly powerful is that of Lt. Col. Nguyễn Hữu An pondering the results of the battle, whilst collecting the dead, before replacing the American flag in the shattered tree stump, destroyed by war. I've always sort of wished the film ended with that scene.

[@yellowsubmarine1321]

Hey❤

[@1521Palm]

Can highly recommend that you watch Platoon

[@haraldisdead]

We were the nazis in this film

[@ralphtijtgat3233]

The intro with the French getting destroyed should have tipped it off, this was a hopeless war against a determined and fearless enemy on their home court. Nice try though, I guess?

[@BrettShadow]

I am in this movie

[@cyberpunkspacejams]

If you're looking for more Mel Gibson, RANSOM (1996) is an overlooked, often forgotten, masterpiece from Ron Howard, who directed Apollo 13. It's an edge of your seat experience start to finish.

[@eslimeyer5621]

Awesome movie!

[@eslimeyer5621]

Personally, I love all Mel Gibson movies. I haven't watched a single one I didn't like aahhahaha

[@budoboy1977]

I agree. Gibson and Gary Sinise are phenomenal in Ransom.

[@notgivennotgiven7776]

Fatman was a good one too

[@eslimeyer5621]

@@notgivennotgiven7776 oh ya

[@edgarcia4794]

Yes Col. Moore did send the book and photo back with a letter telling her that like his men her man had fought gallantly , and died quickly with no fear.

[@kregmaffews]

One of the best war movies ever made imo. Excited to watch! Edit: Jimmy Nakayama died 3 days later from his burns 😢

[@drunkenmmamaster419]

I know to think he had to live like that for 3 days with horrible burns all over his body ..... Rip Jimmy

[@evolutionizer15]

"I'll never forgive myself" "For what sir?" "That my men died and I didn't" That gets me every time 😢

[@Gnossiene369]

Yeah it's disgusting. Imagine that scenario in a purely profitable agenda. Crie and die. that's what americans are taught, and they follow it mindlessly. It's depressing.

[@ingobordewick6480]

The taxi driver saying "I don't like this job, I'm just trying to do it." Gets me also ever feckin time.

[@CorkKNIFE]

"Whites only" was a Democrat/Southern thing, she moved from the north for that assignment, she was not familiar with that.

[@Thepitz2000]

What made this movie for me is that they touched on how the enemy also felt and how they are as scared as anyone that would be in that situation.

[@Bhint320610]

This movie is severely underrated.

[@darkglass1]

Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now are works of pure fiction. The people in this movie were real people, not characters. Yes there was some dramatization, but overall these simple characters were real people.

[@maxsparks5183]

Your point is well taken but not entirely accurate. There is at least one scene in Apocalypse Now that is in fact an accurate telling of an event that occurred during the Viet-Nam War as reported by Michael Herr in his groundbreaking book “Dispatches”. This is the scene at the Do Lung Bridge where they have “gooks on the wire” and call for “The Roach” to take ‘em out. Whoever the real life soldier was he was reported to be so damn good with the grenade launcher he didn’t have to be able to see the enemy. Hearing them was enough for him to determine how close they were (He’s close man, real close.”), their direction and the angle at which he needed to hold his weapon before firing. He used a painted up weapon as well, like in the movie. I suspect there were other scenes Coppola pulled from that book or other books. He didn’t just make all that up.

[@stephenmelone8589]

When my mother was little ,during the second world war , on the way to school she would see sashes in the Windows. They would have stars on the m representing family in their house that were in combat . The stars would be changed from red to gold as their loved ones died in war . She had the sashes memorized along her route to school . When a star would turn to gold she would cry and pray . TOUGH times .

[@chrisjohns4461]

Sometimes, when you’re surrounded by chaos and death, laughing keeps the horror and grief at bay long enough for some to survive.

[@thomaseggle8886]

The book is something all in itself. There was another battle after this involving the reserves who followed Hal Moore after they left. That battle seemed worse but its raw and very graphic. Reading about men with multiple wounds who continue to fight is some of the most awesome examples of bravery and valor. I think the real Joe Galloway did a piece on the History channel "Vietnam in HD". Galloway gives an eerie and haunting narration about the "Broken Arrow" scene. The look on his face trying to explain the scene of the mortar man Jimmy who gets hit with friendly fire is just about the hardest but fascinating things to witness. You can see his trauma in his eyes and the way his hands start shaking. Definitely check that out for anyone wanting to learn a bit more about the battle.

[@whitediggity]

That grenade is white phosphorus. It reacts with moisture and burns. You have to cut the burning parts off or it will just keep going. Nasty stuff.

[@erwinquiachon8054]

Did you hear that they renamed Fort Benning to Fort Moore? It is now named after a General that actually fought for, not against, The United States.

[@obdiane]

Also, Fort Hood changed to Fort Cacazos The post is named after Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, a native Texan, and the US Army’s first Hispanic four-star general. Formerly named Fort Hood for Confederate General John Bell Hood,

[@erwinquiachon8054]

@@obdiane Today, Fort Bragg was renamed Fort Liberty.

[@danielrupp7578]

Woke ass military leadership at it once again. What a shock.

[@JTW12]

The fort is named for both the general and Mrs Moore.

[@eq1373]

🙄

[@potterj09]

I was obsessed with this movie for awhile when it came out. The first time watching however I was with a friend, we'd been drinking a bit & a couple of scenes haunted me enough to ask him to pause it, especially that scene where it is pitch black under a canopy when the flare goes up & they engage at point blank. Horrific what those men went through. All sides.

[@progunliberal]

Being that this was the first engagement in Vietnam, I feel like it comes across more like a WW2 movie. Because these guys weren't disillusioned yet by the politics of the war. They were the first of the field and didn't have the culture wars affecting them yet like you see in most other Vietnam movies that pick up a year or more into the war. These guys really went there feeling like they were the good guys, trying to liberate an oppressed people from a Communist regimen, and you get to see very quickly how different this sort of war was, both technologically and emotionally.

[@zaphod43]

Broken Arrow means we are overrun by the enemy, send all available aircraft to bomb our position.

[@pablom-f8762]

It is also an awesome John Woo movie.

[@scottdarden3091]

Colonel Moore made sure Snake and Too Tall received the Medal Of Honor and I saw a video of Colonel Moore going back to Vietnam and meeting his counterpart the Vietnamese commander 😊

[@adamr6794]

ABC Day One "They were Young and Brave". Bruce Crandall took his own name off the table for the MOH to clear the way for Ed Freeman. Too Tall got his in 2001, Snake got his in 2007

[@devoncooper8296]

Great reaction. You really picked up on soMe important aspects.

[@tomwallace3103]

And think approximately 58,000 Americans died in Vietnam in approximately 10 years. And over 50,000 Americans died at Gettysburg in one battle. Americans have paid for their and other peoples freedoms.

[@iangraham6887]

They kept trying to call him in for "Briefings" as an excuse to pull their highest ranking officer out of danger. nobody back home would care if a lieutenant or a captain got killed. But losing a Lieutenant colonel in the first ever battle of the vietnam war wouldve been devastating to troop morale and home support for the war.

[@iamdclxvi]

I'm surprised you didn't put the " good morning " scene when Sam Elliot finally showed respect to that soldier.

[@Mangoes95]

The combat scenes in this movie are amazing (and super accurate, both in realism and in historicity) but everything besides those are the cheesiest BS filled with such bad acting. Cringe

[@jamesfischer2427]

34:40 Racism wasn't equal everywhere. Especially if the woman had lived in a small town that happened to have all white residents, then the concept of Racism may have been one that she never dealt with. There were national news stories covering the early civil rights movement at the time, but the national news on television was not as popular as it would become (especially during and after the Vietnam war).

[@kimarhironso437]

In BCT they told us to always expect that the enemy could move twice as fast as you on their home turf. That way you aren't surprised by them being where they aren't supposed to. If you just assume that you have more capabilities than they do, and that will always let you maneuver more efficiently, then your setting yourself up for an L. I always thought this movie at least demonstrated that pretty effectively with the enemy troops being everywhere all the time.

[@michaelatteberry6462]

You forget that this was 1 battle while the other movies were over a long period of time. You do not flesh out full characters in a 3 day battle

[@lungfulldrummer8921]

Clint Eastwood directed a couple of great war dramas. Flags of our fathers & letters from iwo Jima. Also recommend the thin red line. Its a slow burn. But beautifully shot.

[@alainorozco8032]

Platoon and The Thin Red Line are great war movies to get into

[@Britcarjunkie]

You really need to read up on Sgt. Plumley: while Col. Moore was a "cookie cutter"-type of person, the real Plumley was a holy terror, that even officers feared! His character was toned-down for the film, because they didn't think he would be beliveable! I've read that even in his 70's, recruits were afraid of him!

[@adamr6794]

Joe Galloway said at reunions 20 years after some guys were still trying to sneak by Plumley fearing that Plumley still carried a small notepad with their names in it for sins large and small.

[@bluesrock1]

When asking that question about any war: Why? Remember, war is almost always a response to a political problem. In the case of Vietnam, a large portion of the politicians in the US Gov needed to make Communism terrify Americans to achieve their political goals.

[@markhagerman1837]

When the wives deliver the letters, that gets me every time 🥹🥹

[@twrampage]

If you're interested in another movie in Vietnam focused on real events, I can wholeheartedly recommend Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan. It follows Australian soldiers and uses the actual recorded transcripts of radio communications for the dialogue.

[@alainvachon6255]

You have to think about what the Viet commander say at the end, that Americans winning this first battle would just make the war a lot longer.

[@clivegwyther5683]

The grenade that they threw was "Phosphorous". It burns right through. You cannot put it out with water etc, you have to dig it out as he did in this part.

[@danielrupp7578]

Your criticism of the movie is valid. Look at the year it was made and then think about what happened in the year before. It should explain quite a bit why. Many, many patriotic videos produced in 2002 for some strange reason.

[@Smokeater4444]

Very good Pod cast , Took me A LOT of Years before i could watch this all the way through , just too real, BUT after my Kids & Grandkids saw it , they finally understood , Hand Salute from an Old Tired Veteran , Remember All gave some , BUT Some gave it all Vietnam 1972

[@catharsus21]

i paused vid at your comment about what " BROKEN ARROW is .. the term " broken arrow " is used to indicate the code phrase to indicate an American combat unit was in danger of being overrun and outnumbered in this scenario .