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FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY
LIEUTENANT DREWRY -- EL TEE Bright green, brand new issue tropical fatigues, boots, M- 16, and .45 pistol. Just out of Officer Candidate School. Crewcut, clean face, ambitious and full of the wrong ideas. 24 years old. SERGEANT O'DONIGAN -- OD Well-faded tiger fatigues, scuffed boots, a lot of trail behind him. A black man from a large family, takes care of his team. Carries a CAR-15, carbine model of the M-16, and a Model 70 Winchester bolt action sniper rifle with scope, both with long black muzzle flash suppressors. A natural leader. An intensely serious man on the job, his rare smile dazzles. OD is 21. SPEC/5 -- CRACKER Spotted camouflage fatigues, worn and faded. He never tans, just gets red. Trace of a Southern accent and an old man's eyes. Defers to OD. Carries a 12-gauge riot shotgun with bandolier, and an M-14 sniper rifle with scope and flash suppressor. Dry wit, likes to watch the interplay between the others and wait for his opening. He is 24, but looks older. SPEC/4 BALDWIN -- PRETTY BOY Handsome, all-American, clean cut, easy going, he keeps the peace between Easy and Hammer. His tiger fatigues look tailored. Carries an M-79 grenade launcher with two bandoliers of grenades. Quick to smile, Easy's best friend and audience. Pretty Boy is 20. SPEC/4 THORPE -- HAMMER Short, stocky, Fu Manchu mustache, too-small tiger fatigues accented with black t-shirt and black leather gloves with the fingers cut off. Swaggering macho style, carries his M- 60 machine gun like he's seen too many John Wayne movies. Half immature teenager, half warrior, he is jealous of the affection shown toward Easy. He is 19. PRIVATE EASELY -- EASY Skinny, homely, his tiger fatigues look baggy. He carries the PRC-25 radio and M-1 carbine. Walks with a bounce, even in the jungle, and talks like an urban, rock and roll speed freak. Takes nothing seriously, least of all himself. Loves Pretty Boy, admires OD, teases Hammer because he's an easy target. He's been in the war too long and he is now getting scared. Easy is 21. VIETNAM - The Central Highlands - 1968 The CAMERA STARTS and focuses on the ground where the words -- -- have been scratched. An M-16 bayonet is jabbed into the ground next to the letters. The lettering goes fuzzy then sharp, fuzzy then sharp, as the Cameraman focuses. A hand reaches in and pulls the bayonet out of the ground. The Camera pulls back and focuses on LIEUTENANT DREWRY. He sheaths the bayonet and turns on the tape recorder that is next to his rucksack. He fiddles with the dials and looks at the Camera. Sound on. DREWRY ...turns this thing on? How do you tell if it's working? Outstanding. They stand outside a large tent with a sign in front of it -- "S-2/S-3". A soldier whitewashes a line of rocks that form a square in front of the tent. Further away a soldier casually guards four Vietnamese who are filling sandbags. Music plays in one of the tents. The Camera catches everything, including the rise of ground in front of the tent, the helicopter pad. Drewry finishes a cigarette as he tries to tighten the straps on his pack. The Camera dwells on Drewry as he puts out the cigarette on the heel of one shiny new boot, field strips the butt and scatters the tobacco, balls up the paper and pockets it and the filter. He is nervous. He stands and faces the Camera, adjusts his gig line and tries to look serious. DREWRY Ah... Drewry, Richard B., First Lieutenant... Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade... Vietnam. (beat) Lessons Learned Project, DASPO. He pauses a moment and thinks. CAMERAMAN (O.S.) Mission. DREWRY Reconnaissance mission, Central Highlands. Our goal is to record procedures peculiar to this combat situation. Uh... The fluttering of a distant helicopter is heard. It gets louder. Drewry looks into the sky and finds the helicopter. DREWRY That must be ours. The Camera finds the helicopter, a Huey. It descends toward the pad where a soldier helps it land, using hand signals. The blades kick up a huge cloud of dust. Through the dust walks the team with OD in the lead. Packs on their backs, weapons in hand. The Huey engine idles, the whoop-whoosh of the blades a slow, steady beat. OD halts the team and Easy gooses HAMMER with his thumb. Hammer just grins. HAMMER Damn, Easy, you got a cold nose. Drewry walks over to the team. DREWRY Which one of you is Sergeant O'Donigan? OD Yo, sir. The men play for the Camera. Easy cranks up a middle finger. Pretty Boy waves, "Hi, Mom". Hammer pretends to jack off. Cracker gurns. OD tries to ignore the Camera, but he is wary. DREWRY Glad to be working with you, Sergeant. I'm your new Officer in Charge. Major Nolin has briefed me on the mission. We're prepared to move out. OD looks at Drewry in surprise. He looks at the Cameraman, then back to Drewry. The team is stunned. OD We'll see about that. Angrily he drops his pack and weapons and strides into the S- 2 tent. Nonplussed, Drewry hesitates, then follows. The rest of the team look at the Cameraman. EASY TV news? CAMERAMAN (O.S.) Army. How about a roll call? EASY Easely, Private E-2! Soon to be promoted to PFC... Private Fucking Civilian! 27 days and a wake up! I'm short, sir! HAMMER/PRETTY BOY/CRACKER How short are you? EASY I'm so short I can parachute off a dime, sir! Easy gives a half-assed salute. The Camera focuses on Pretty Boy. PRETTY BOY Spec 4 Baldwin, San Bernardino, California. He straightens his hair and just stands there. CAMERAMAN (O.S.) Don't look at me, look at the camera. (beat) Say something. PRETTY BOY Something. Easy grabs the microphone from the Cameraman. EASY Testes, testes, one, two. HAMMER "Jingle bells, mortar shells... HAMMER/EASY ...VC in the grass... TEAM ...You can take your Merry Christmas and stick it up your... They all laugh. The Camera moves in on Hammer. He steps forward, at stiff attention. HAMMER Thorpe, William. Specialist 4th Class. US 16-848-107. Machine gunner. EASY What a lifer. HAMMER Put a liplock on my love muscle, Easy. EASY Let me fuck you in the ear so you can hear me coming. CRACKER I think they're in love. EASY We are, we're engaged. Easy leaps on Hammer and sticks his tongue in his ear. HAMMER That's disgusting, man. Easy tries to kiss Hammer. Pretty Boy, and Cracker join the pile up on Hammer. They roll in the dirt. The Cameraman singles out Cracker, who is a little worried. CAMERAMAN (O.S.) You want to sound off? CRACKER Uh, right. Spec 5 Frye, weapons specialist. I'm hare-lipped, hump- backed and half crazy. Not responsible for my own actions. Hammer stands behind Cracker and gives him horns. Easy puts a wet finger in his ear, and Pretty Boy raises a clenched fist between Cracker's legs. Cracker ignores them. OD and Drewry walk out of the tent accompanied by Major Nolin. OD is looking grim. Drewry salutes Nolin. OD (to team) Let's get our shit together. We got a mission. The team grab their gear and walk toward the helicopter. Easy takes off his soft cap and puts on his steel helmet. The Cameraman moves in on OD. CAMERAMAN (O.S.) How about your name and rank? Don't look at me, look at the camera. OD I'm not talking to the camera, I'm telling you. Get that thing out of my face. OD shoulders his gear. Cracker hands him his weapons and looks at OD with a question in his eyes. OD shakes his head. The team boards the Huey easily, they've done it a thousand times, a casual ride in the country. Drewry and the Cameraman wait to board last. Drewry looks at OD. OD glares at him. The Cameraman is helped in and he catches a shot of the S-2 tent. Major Nolin watches the chopper. The engine revs and the Huey lifts. BLACK. Sound off. STOCK FOOTAGE -- Vietnam countryside from the helicopter P.O.V., passing over a fire base. CAMERA ON. Hammer tries to talk with the door gunner. Easy blows into his thumb, inflating his middle finger. Pretty Boy sleeps. The Camera focuses on Easy, who looks nervous, but tries to cover it. The Camera turns and catches a view of the jungle below. Rice paddies, peasants working, water buffalo. STOCK FOOTAGE -- The Central Highlands, mountains, triple canopy jungle. BLACK. The CAMERA STARTS as the helicopter hits the ground. Sound on. Cracker and Hammer drop first and wait for the rest of the men to clear the helicopter. The wind from the helicopter blades beats the brush with hard rhythm. The men run through the brush, OD in the lead, followed by Pretty Boy, Easy, Drewry and the Cameraman. The sounds of the helicopter fade as it flies away off screen. Drewry's rucksack and harness rattle and clatter, flopping loosely on his back, straps flying. The Cameraman turns and kneels to capture Cracker and Hammer pulling up the rear. They run past him. The Cameraman gets to his feet and follows. Cracker stops for a second and grabs the Cameraman by the shoulder and shoves him ahead. CRACKER Move your ass, troop. The Cameraman runs on. Branches whip at the lens as it breaks through the dense brush. Sometimes the branches obliterate the picture completely for a second. The Cameraman loses sight of Hammer and he tries to catch up. The Cameraman suddenly reaches Hammer and the others stopped behind some brush at the edge of a clearing ten to fifteen meters across. OD crosses the clearing, running in a low crouch. Easy is on the alert, watching intently as OD disappears into the brush on the other side of the clearing. Cracker and Hammer watch the flanks, Pretty Boy the rear. Drewry sits on the ground huffing and puffing. He's not used to this. DREWRY How long... we gotta... run? PRETTY BOY This is Indian country, sir. Dime to a dollar, Chuck saw or heard that chopper. He don't figure the pilot stopped to take a piss. Best to put some klicks between the LZ and us. Can you dig it? Pretty Boy doesn't look at Drewry, he watches the jungle behind them. OD comes into sight on the other side of the clearing, his fist pumping in the air. EASY Clear. Easy runs across the clearing. He makes it safely. Hammer goes next. Pretty Boy hits the top of Drewry's helmet. PRETTY BOY Quick, like a bunny fucks. Drewry takes a deep breath and runs across the clearing. Pretty Boy follows. Cracker covers the rear. CRACKER (to Cameraman) Your turn in the barrel. Go. The Cameraman runs across the clearing. The team is clustered together, each man facing a different direction, alert. Drewry adjusts his pack straps. The Cameraman turns and catches Cracker crossing the clearing, then he tries to focus on the entire team. They are gone. All the Cameraman catches is Pretty Boy's back disappearing into the jungle. The Cameraman runs after them. He trips and almost falls, but runs on. Branches blind his lens. More busting brush, just keeping Pretty Boy's back in sight. The Camera explodes into a small circular clearing, an open pocket in the jungle growth. Drewry has fallen into a sweaty heap. Hammer and Pretty Boy stand on alert. Easy and OD crouch together. Easy is on the radio. EASY Stone Hombre, this is Outrider. Down and happy. Say again, down and happy. Sit Rep Alpha Oscar Kilo. Over. RADIOMAN (filtered) Outrider, Stone Hombre. We read you Lima Charlie. Down and happy. Sierra Romeo checks Alpha Oscar Kilo. Over. EASY Outrider, out. The Cameraman sits. OD looks at the Cameraman and Drewry in disgust. OD You ever heard of noise discipline? Easy, get these FNG's shit together. OD opens his map. Cracker joins him. EASY Pretty Boy, duct tape. Easy walks over to the Cameraman. Pretty Boy tosses him a roll of olive green duct tape and walks over to Drewry. EASY OD says your shit's flaky, your shit's flaky. (laughing quietly) You two are noisier than two skeletons fucking on a tin roof... PRETTY BOY ...using a soup can for a rubber. CRACKER Make more noise than a Chinese gang bang. HAMMER Noisier than a baby in a blender. EASY No sweat, GI, we'll just square away this load-bearing equipment. Pretty Boy gets another roll of olive drab duct tape from his pack and begins to tape down and tighten the loose straps on Drewry's pack. Drewry helps where he can. In the background, OD and Cracker consult the map and their compass. DREWRY I didn't have time to do this myself. I just reported in and they said I was going out into the field. Barely had time to go to Quartermaster and get my issue and weapon. CRACKER You never been on line, sir? DREWRY No. EASY I can't believe they gave us an El Tee, but, shit, a cherry El Tee. HAMMER Just what we need, an FNG. No offense, sir. DREWRY FNG? CRACKER Fucking New Guy, sir. Drewry has two grenades hooked to his harness suspenders. Pretty Boy unhooks them and puts them into a pouch. PRETTY BOY A vine or branch could pull the pin. Never "John Wayne" your grenades, sir. EASY Yeah, the last thing you want to do is blow yourself away, El Tee. A chest wound is nature's way of saying you fucked up. DREWRY What I heard, they had a man assigned to you from one of the line units, but his chopper crashed. So they grabbed me. OD looks at Drewry and shakes his head. Pretty Boy unclips one of Drewry's dog tags and hooks it behind his boot laces. PRETTY BOY Just in case you get separated. EASY How long you been in-country, fresh meat? CAMERAMAN (O.S.) 48 days down, 308 to go. DREWRY 26 days. You? EASY Oh, El Tee, you're so new you ain't been born yet. Me, I am short. PRETTY BOY (to Easy) How short are you? EASY I'm so short you have to dig a hole to kick my ass. (to Cameraman) What's your MOS? CAMERAMAN (O.S.) 84 Charlie MoPic. EASY No shit? 84 Charlie. Gotta be better'n 11 Bravo. MoPic? What's that stand for? Like Motown? PRETTY BOY Maybe MoPower. HAMMER Or MoFucker. CAMERAMAN (O.S.) Motion picture. Easy tapes the Cameraman's film cans together so they won't rattle. EASY Damn, Breeze. Must be a nice getting over job. CAMERAMAN (O.S.) I used to handle "grip and grins", award ceremonies, change of command, stuff like that... Hammer starts to smile at the Cameraman, but he suddenly hears something and freezes. Everyone but Drewry and the Cameraman also freeze. Hammer is at the center, tense, braced to fire, machine gun at the ready. Easy slowly, noiselessly picks up his M-1 carbine and eases the safety off. Pretty Boy looks around the brush. OD creeps over to Hammer. Cracker is scanning the jungle on the other flank. DREWRY What...? OD's CAR is instantly at Drewry's forehead. Their eyes meet. OD is hard, warning him to be quiet. Drewry looks at the Camera, then away, embarrassed. OD watches Hammer. Easy watches OD. Cracker and Pretty Boy scan the jungle. Hammer relaxes and grins foolishly. HAMMER Fuck-you-lizard. Everyone relaxes. OD Let's saddle up. Everyone gets ready to move out. Drewry glares at OD, anger taking the place of his initial fear. Cracker walks over to the Cameraman. CRACKER Don't ever get behind me. I pull the rear. (beat) You don't want to be left alone out here. HAMMER Roger that shit. The Cameraman lowers the Camera to pick up his pack. BLACK. Sound off. Sound on. DREWRY (O.S.) I want this on the record. CAMERA ON. The team is stopped, guns outboard. OD is getting a compass reading. Drewry walks over to OD followed by the Cameraman. DREWRY I won't let anything like that happen again. You point a gun at me again and I'll have you up in front of a court martial. OD Dig this, Lieutenant, we ain't in the rear no more. In order to have a court martial you need more than one officer. I don't see anyone with brass, but you. Out here the bush is the boss. The team remains on guard, but takes in every word of the confrontation. DREWRY I'm not walking in here off the street. I've had infantry training. OD That stateside Mickey Mouse shit don't cut it here, sir. This is Charlie's game, his rules. We learned how to play it, that's why we're out here. DREWRY And that's why I'm here. (indicating Camera) And why he's here. To take back some of that training. (beat) I'm ready to learn, but not at gunpoint. OD pauses. Drewry has made a peace offering. OD All right. Pay attention, El Tee, we'll teach you. But we don't grade on a curve, it's pass or fail. I have to point my gun at you again I'll pull the fucking trigger. OD starts off into the jungle. Drewry hits the Nagra switch viciously. Sound off. Drewry follows the team. BLACK. Sound on. EASY (O.S.) You don't want to hump all these C's, MoPic. We'll lighten you up. CAMERA ON. Easy is rummaging through the Cameraman's pack. Pretty Boy is preparing food. Hammer is leaning against a tree, wary and on guard. OD and Cracker aren't to be seen, just their rifles against a tree. The team is stopped on a slope halfway up a hillside. DREWRY (to Camera) Catch the food preparation. (to the team) Show the camera everything you do, how you do it. DASPO wants all the film it can get. Easy holds up a can from the Cameraman's pack. EASY Lookit this, ham and limas. Number ten, GI. MoPic, why you humping ham and motherfuckers? You don't like 'em, do you? Even God don't like ham and motherfuckers. Drewry digs through his pack and takes out some rations. PRETTY BOY Lessons Learned, sheeit. DREWRY What do you men know about your mission? HAMMER (shrugging) Same old shit. Find Charlie, get S-2 their intell, shoot some gooks, put the rest in a world of hurt. EASY Ham and motherfuckers. Looks like cows ate it and tossed their cookies. Easy starts fixing his own meal by opening a small can of white bread and another of jam. DREWRY Same old shit? You people don't have much respect for rank or your mission. HAMMER Don't get froggy, El Tee. (beat) You still pissed at OD? Pretty Boy giggles. Easy slices the bread lengthwise, puts jam on both halves, water on the top and heats it over a fire he's made from a white, clay-like substance. EASY (to Cameraman) C-4, plastic explosive. DREWRY He put a gun to my head and threatened to kill me. I don't forget that kind of shit. Easy makes himself a cup of hot chocolate using two packs. Pretty Boy fixes pre-sweetened Kool-Aid. They both heat canned rations over their own fires. PRETTY BOY You don't fuck with OD, he's a walking razor blade. You only take a run at him if you're thinking about suicide. One tough dude. Drewry eats his food cold. Pretty Boy feeds his fire with more pieces of C-4. EASY He thinks you'll get in our way. Easy eats his food and prepares more. HAMMER OD's so tough he eats the boogers out of a dead man's nose. PRETTY BOY You're a gross fucker. EASY OD's a righteous dude. He was just telling you to be quiet. Like "sshh". HAMMER Gross? You hear me rapping about canned cow vomit? OD pulls a lot of slack for us. We're all brothers. Pretty Boy finishes eating and takes Hammer's place on guard. Hammer crouches over the fire and fixes food for two. EASY Fucking "A". PRETTY BOY Family. HAMMER There it is. They slap palms. Drewry looks around and shakes his head. DREWRY Hell, you guys act like this is a picnic in the park. PRETTY BOY Man's got to eat, sir. You catch your pecks when you can. Never know when you can't. EASY Ain't no big thing, sir. Easy repacks the Cameraman's pack. HAMMER There it is. Easy holds up a ziploc bag of grass toward the Camera. EASY (to Cameraman) I better hold this for you. OD's death on the dew. HAMMER "Hold this for you"? Don't try to shit me, Easy. EASY I wouldn't shit you, Hammer, you're my favorite turd. There is some real antagonism between Hammer and Easy that underlies the joking. Drewry is uncomfortable. DREWRY (to Easy) If you're RTO, why do you have that carbine? I thought SOP for a radioman was only a .45. EASY Shit, El Tee, everybody needs a gook shooter. CRACKER (O.S.) Only trouble is, Easy can't shoot as straight as I can piss. Easy looks up. Cracker and OD have reappeared as if from nowhere. EASY Hey, OD, chow's still hot. Easy goes back over to his fire. HAMMER Cracker. Cracker walks over to Hammer and takes some of the food. OD spots the plastic bag of grass sticking out of Easy's pocket and he pulls it out. OD We don't do dew when we do business, right, Easy? You trying to get me killed? EASY Aw, Breeze... (quickly) Been waiting on you. Food's on the table and getting cold, Ward. OD So sorry, June. Has the Beaver been acting up again? They laugh. OD empties the bag of grass on the ground. EASY Aww, fuck. I'm coming back here in six months to harvest. Drewry pulls a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. Before he can get one out of the pack Cracker grabs them out of his hand, digs a hole in the ground with his heel and buries them. CRACKER Sorry, sir, smoking light's out for this operation. DREWRY (pissed) Don't ever do that again, soldier. OD Don't get all bent out of shape, sir. It's a habit. You'd forget and one match at night could waste all of us. On a good day you can smell cigarette smoke a quarter mile away. Especially menthols. (beat) Pretty Boy, salt tablets for the El Tee, he's sweating like a fat whore. No offense, sir. Lessons Learned. CRACKER MoPic, too. Easy pushes some food toward the Cameraman, then gets a container of salt tablets from his pack. EASY (to Cameraman) Take two salt tablets and drive on. Best chow down. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. The team humps the brush. Drewry has a lot of trouble. He is sweating, tired, and looking haggard. The others still look fresh. They go up a steep incline. The team works as one, helping each other automatically. Their rhythm is interrupted to help Drewry and the Cameraman. HAMMER (to Camera) Hey, man, why don't you DX that motherfucker? BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. The team moves through heavy brush. The team moves easily, each man threading his way through the jungle. Drewry is stumbling along, each vine and branch grabbing him by the shoulder or catching his foot. Pretty Boy pauses long enough to show Drewry how to walk, using his gun to probe ahead and make a path to move with the terrain. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. The team rests. Everyone is hot and sweaty. Drewry shows it most. Pretty Boy hands out salt tablets. DREWRY I can't even taste the salt. PRETTY BOY That means you need it. EASY 27 days. I'm a double digit midget. HAMMER Pretty Boy, how about me and you hitting Sin City when we get back? PRETTY BOY You know my motto. Never fuck a duck or duck a fuck. Easy makes a quieting motion. He listens to the handset. EASY Devil Dog Six is getting their shit blown away. HAMMER (to Drewry) 6-1-6 Battallion, South Vietnamese, our dinks. American advisors. EASY They're giving coordinates for Med Evac. OD pulls out a map and Easy checks his code book. EASY All their green monkeys skyed up. DREWRY How far away are they? Can we help them? OD We don't have enough fire power to do any good. CRACKER If we could get there in time. DREWRY But... OD Our primary mission is recon, sir. Let's move out. The team moves out. BLACK. Sound off. Sound on. PRETTY BOY (V.O.) I love the sunset in Nam. DREWRY (V.O.) It's gorgeous. CAMERA ON. Sunset. Drewry and the Cameraman watch Pretty Boy string trip wires around their camp. He uses the ration cans he stuffed in his socks earlier. He drops a couple pebbles in each can and hooks them to the wire and tests the rattle, then camouflages everything. PRETTY BOY Fuck "gorgeous", it means the day's almost over and I'm one day shorter. I hate this fucking place. They ought to DX the whole fucking country, north and south. Turn it in to the big quartermaster in the sky. Say, "Hey, motherfucker, this place is beyond repair." DREWRY It looks pretty some times. PRETTY BOY You should have seen it when I first came over. You could still see tigers and elephants on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Fucking elephants. Pretty Boy shakes his head in disbelief. They walk back to the main camp area on a steep slope. Drewry stumbles. PRETTY BOY We night camp on a slope, away from the trail. Even Chuck sticks to the trails at night, so he ain't likely to trip over us. Hammer is boiling water in his canteen cup. Easy is monitoring the radio. Cracker is on guard. OD is opening a pack of Lurp rations. PRETTY BOY Line's strung. HAMMER Water's boiling. OD tosses two Lurps to Drewry. OD Spaghetti and chili. Everyone gathers around Hammer with their Lurps. He pours water into the plastic bags. OD has him fill two and he gives one to Cracker. EASY Number one chop chop. Hammer boils more water for coffee and cocoa. OD First guard, Cracker, Hammer, me, then Pretty Boy and Easy. DREWRY I can pull a shift. OD I don't know you. Drewry and OD stare at each other for a moment. Drewry wants to make something of the rejection. OD You're not used to humping, you're beat. You'll need the sack time. Drewry accepts the conciliatory gesture. EASY MoPic's got a can of fruit cocktail and one of peaches that I saved. PRETTY BOY You sorry-assed motherfucker, you let the poor dude hump those cans, you're lower'n whale shit. EASY Bite my ass, Pretty Boy. It's good training for him. Hey, MoPic, souvenir me your pack. OD Peaches and fruit cocktail all around. The Cameraman tosses Easy his pack, but before Easy can look for the canned fruit, something calls him back to his radio. He hears something through the static. Easy holds the handset to his ear and listens intently. Pretty Boy gets the cans of fruit from the Cameraman's pack. EASY Echo Company. Getting mortared, calling in arty. (beat) Still haven't gotten their Med Evac, weather's real bad inland. Choppers can't get off the ground. HAMMER Monsoon season. A rat fuck. Pretty Boy opens the canned fruit. He takes a spoonful of fruit cocktail and passes the can to Hammer. PRETTY BOY Save a cherry for Easy. Pretty Boy slurps up a peach slice and hands that can to OD. Each man takes his share and passes it along. CRACKER Number one. HAMMER Not too shabby. OD starts eating his Lurp ration, a sign for the others to start. Easy and the Cameraman are the only ones not eating. EASY HQ's saying they might get choppered out tomorrow, late. A definite maybe so. CRACKER Better scarf up your pecks, MoPic. The Camera starts to lower, but catches Easy taking two pills from a ziploc bag and swallowing them. No one but the Camera sees it. Easy sees the Camera on him. EASY Tetracycline. Got the clap last time in Sin City. HAMMER There it is, the Nam. Where else in the world can you get a contagious disease for only five bucks a pop. PRETTY BOY Clap's no sweat, better'n crotch crickets. CRACKER Crabs are no big deal. You get yourself a bayonet and a can of lighter fluid. Set fire to your pubic hair and when the little fuckers run to the high ground, like your dick, you stab 'em to death. The Camera starts to lower again, but... HAMMER Better'n the black syph. The Camera reacts. Hammer knows a sucker when he sees one. HAMMER (too seriously) The black syph. You only get it in Nam. It rots your dick off, like leprosy. Just drops off. One day you're walking along and you feel something like a turd drop down your pant leg. Next thing you know, you're squatting to piss like a girl. EASY Yeah, and if you get it you can't go home. They keep you here so you don't infect the rest of the world. You spend the whole rest of your life in the Nam. No shit, the whole rest of your life in the Nam. Pretty Boy can't take it anymore, he bursts out laughing. OD Better chow down, MoPic. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. Drewry snaps his fingers in front of the Camera. DREWRY Sound. It is dark and the men are gathered around inside their night perimeter. Easy fiddles with the radio. The others prepare their sleeping areas. Drewry approaches OD. DREWRY We need to do some background interviews on each man. I thought we'd start with you. OD What kind of interviews? DREWRY Where you're from? What you did before the Army? Background stuff. OD glares at the Cameraman. OD I ain't telling you none of that stuff, that's my private life. The Army's got no business in my private life. The Camera holds a tenuous moment and then focuses on Drewry, who wonders whether to push it. Drewry decides to drop it and he shifts his attention to Cracker. DREWRY We'll do Sergeant Frye then. CRACKER Spec 5. He looks at OD, then at Drewry. CRACKER Maybe later if it's all right with you, sir. DREWRY Sure, soldier. Drewry looks at the other members of the team and fixes on Easy. Easy is smiling at him. Drewry walks over to Easy with the Cameraman. DREWRY All right, Private. Let's talk. EASY Let me tell a joke first. C'mon, just one. It's good training. Easy grins into the Camera. EASY I could be the next Shelley Berman. Is this on now? Sound. He raps a magazine against his helmet. EASY How do you eat a frog? There is laughter off screen. EASY C'mon, how do you eat a frog? DREWRY (O.S.) I don't know. EASY You put one leg over one shoulder, then you put the other leg over the other shoulder... Easy laughs. He might be high. He is changing the battery in his radio and cleaning it. DREWRY (O.S.) How long have you been in-country? EASY One year minus 28, 27 days. I worked RTO for a line company first, then with Forward Observers. I love my Prick 25. PRETTY BOY (O.S.) Tell him how many FO's you went through, Easy. EASY FO's don't have much of a life expectancy here. Don't even come with warranties. I lost eight in six months. Three dead, two went home all messed up, lost track of the rest. That's the real bummer over here. When your buddies get hit, not zapped, but wounded bad, Medevaced and gone, you don't know if they die, or what... People you were real close to, sort of gone into the Twilight Zone... Easy pauses a moment, his usual nervous energy subdued, but he brightens. EASY You know why shit's tapered at the ends? DREWRY No. EASY So your asshole don't slam shut. Pretty Boy laughs off screen. EASY Did I tell you I was a drummer back in the Real World? Lead vocals, too. Boy, did we ever do some dope when we were on the road. Stayed all fucked up. But nothing like the Nam. DREWRY How long were you on line? EASY Forever. Got 4 Purple Hearts, two Bronze Stars with "V". I got enough Green Weenies to open a hot dog stand. This radio antenna is like wearing a target on your back. (beat) You know why pubic hair is curly? So it don't poke you in the eye. DREWRY So, what will you do when you get home? EASY I don't know. Hang out. Get high. Check out my wife. (beat) She's probably fucking every Jody that passes the house. That's okay, though. She was 17 when we got hitched, dead meat in the sack. Maybe Jody can teach her how to fuck. DREWRY Why'd you join up? EASY The judge volunteered me. Either that or he'd lock me up. Do you know how you can tell the Nam sucks? It leaves hickeys on the bottom of your feet. Pretty Boy laughs again. DREWRY The judge blackmailed you. EASY He did me a favor. Army saved me from jail, unless I wind up in the stockade. So far, they've just Article 15'd me to death, took my rank ad pay. I can handle that. (beat) The bush saved me from the stockade and OD's saved me from the bush. Only thing I hate is the night. It's starting to spook me. I'm too short for this shit. You get short, you get paranoid beaucoup. (laughing) Is it paranoid to think people are trying to kill you when people are trying to kill you? DREWRY Then why do you do it? EASY Why does a dog lick his penis? (beat) 'Cause he can! (beat) And to be with my buddies out here. They'd be shit out of luck without me on the horn. My buddies. Easy starts, he hears something on the radio. EASY Hey, hey. Dig this. He cranks up the volume and faint music can be heard, Clarence Carter's "Steal Away". Static flickers through the music. DREWRY Is that the States? EASY Armed Forces Radio. VietNam, probably Saigon. PRETTY BOY Nah, we're too far away. An Khe. HAMMER Nope. Sappers wasted An Khe radio last Tet. EASY Now that pisses me off. CRACKER Shhh! The men listen and lean unconsciously toward the radio. The Cameraman focuses on each face in turn, half-shadowed in the faint light. The song fades away before it is done. The men settle into disappointed silence. Drewry turns off the tape recorder. Sound off. BLACK. Sound on. DREWRY (O.S.) Wake up and catch this. C'mon, c'mon. The Camera comes on, jerking and swaying. It is night. Drewry crouches near OD and Easy at the radio. The others are asleep. EASY (to Drewry) Devil Dog's been getting NVA probes all night. Sounds like sappers have infiltrated their lines. Easy turns up the volume. RADIO (ADVISOR) ...one giant cluster fuck. My green monkeys are shooting the hell out of each other trying to waste the sappers. There is the sound of gunfire and artillery explosions over the radio. Men scream. RADIO (ADVISOR) Werewolf One, tell the cannon cockers to pop another illumination round. Over. RADIO (HQ) Devil Dog Six, this is Werewolf. One illumination round on the way. How many caps you got left? Status please. Illumination round shot. Over. RADIO (ADVISOR) I don't know, I don't even know how many men are left. Right now I'm doing... The gunfire increases. RADIO (ADVISOR) Oh, shit! Fuck! We're getting overrun! Nothing but static. RADIO (VOICE #2) Werewolf, this is Devil Dog Three. We're in deep shit here. Help us! Please! (VOICE #3) The Lieutenant's hit! Oh, God! Medic! Medic! (VOICE #2) Oh, no! Colonel, Colonel! Six is down! Again I say, our Six is down. We got gooks inside our perimeter! We need help! (beat) What, sir? (beat) Yes, sir. Werewolf One, request big guns drop one hundred. Say again, drop one hundred. Over. EASY They're calling artillery in on their own position. The other members of the team are awake now and looking at the radio. Drewry reaches for his cigarettes. RADIO (VOICE #2) Where's the fucking medic?! Somebody give me a compress! Oh, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus... BOOM! An explosion, then static. Everyone is silent for a moment. EASY Poor fuckers. RADIO (HQ) Devil Dog Three, this is Werewolf. Status report, over. Silence. DREWRY We should have done something. RADIO (HQ) Devil Dog Three, this is Werewolf. Report status. Over. OD just looks at Drewry. DREWRY We could have been there. RADIO (HQ) Devil Dog, Werewolf. Please report status. OD And gotten wasted with them. RADIO (HQ) Devil Dog Three? Jimmy? (beat) For God's sake, Jimmy, report your fucking status! OD ignores Drewry. He reaches over and turns off the radio and walks over to a tree. He leans against the trunk and closes his eyes. DREWRY Go ahead, sleep. A hundred and twenty men just died. OD I have a lot of dead men in here. Plenty of room for more. Maybe even room for one smartass lieutenant. Drewry looks at Easy. Easy turns the radio back on and cruises the frequencies. He pops a couple more pills. EASY Ladybird's getting scattered mortar. Sixty mike-mike. Ruff Puff Advisor. Texas Hat is cool, though. Ice cubes in his armpits. (to OD) Everybody's catching some kind of flack. Probes all over. Shit, sounds like Tet again. OD Major offensive? EASY Little shit, ti ti action. Beaucoup noise. Chuck's feeling everybody out. OD Lot of over-reaction at night. EASY Night's the worst. I hate the night like a motherfucker. Trees walk at night if you stare at them long enough. The Nam's a motherfucker if you got any imagination. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Morning. The Cameraman follows OD across the camp. OD and the Camera stop next to Drewry, who is heating water in two canteen cups. Drewry slips on his boots and turns on the recorder. Sound on. OD Oughta shake those boots out before you put 'em on. All sorts of nasty critters love to crawl in your boots at night. Drewry looks at his feet, stands up and stamps them. DREWRY I've heated water for coffee or cocoa for everyone. OD You're our Mess Sergeant now, El Tee. DREWRY Figured it's better than riding free. OD nods, smiles, and leads Drewry and the Cameraman over to Cracker. Cracker is still asleep. Pretty Boy is awake, but still laying down. He rolls over to watch. Hammer is brushing his teeth. Easy is on watch, his rifle in his lap, radio at his side. OD stops next to Cracker and strikes a lecturer's pose. OD Lessons Learned. The first thing a grunt learns is to be ready at all times, night or day, asleep or awake, to encounter the enemy. OD brandishes a long stick. Cracker sleeps soundly, his mouth open. PRETTY BOY Watch this. OD It's night. Bangedy, bangedy, rattle, rattle, the enemy trips your early detection devices. You don't have time to wake up, stand and wander around with your dick in your hands looking for your weapon. The enemy is ten yards away ready to waste your ass. HAMMER OD oughta be a Drill Instructor. EASY Fucking Cracker sleeps like the dead. OD So you train yourself to wake with a rolling motion, providing the enemy with a low silhouette and, thusly, a minimal target. You sleep with your weapon in the same position every night, to the right or left of you depending on your preference, so when the shit hits... WHAP! OD whacks Cracker with the stick. OD BOOM! Cracker rolls to his right, picks up his shotgun in mid-roll and lands on hs stomach, sighting down the barrel and clicking off the safety. OD ...you land in a prone firing position, ready to engage the enemy. Everyone claps and laughs. Cracker looks pissed as he wakes more and gets up slowly. CRACKER OD, the payback on this is gonna be a motherfucker. I'm gonna shove that stick up your ass and roast you over a fucking fire. You wait. OD laughs. EASY Oooooh, wolf talk. Cracker glares at the Camera. CRACKER Turn that fucking thing off. BLACK. EASY (O.S.) Hey, Cracker, 26 and a wakeup. I'm so short I could tickle a pissant under the chin. CRACKER (O.S.) If you live, you dinky dau motherfucker. Everyone laughs. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. Pretty Boy brushes his teeth with salt from a packet sprinkled on his brush. The rest of the team are preparing to move out. Drewry interviews Pretty Boy. PRETTY BOY Hygiene. Clean mind, clean body, take your choice. Let's see, I was hanging out. Went to college for a year, real drag. All those classes got in the way of partying and pussy. Pretty Boy grins and changes his socks. PRETTY BOY Work was worse, no fun there. Me and a couple buddies joined together. Army said they'd keep us together. That lasted through Basic. One's in Germany now, freezing his balls off. Glenn's somewhere with the First Cav, Engineers. lucky fucker. Pretty Boy ties the dirty socks to the back of his pack. PRETTY BOY (to Camera) Dry 'em out during the day. EASY (O.S.) Gas warfare, kills all the mosquitoes for miles around. PRETTY BOY Some dudes get away without socks, not me. During monsoon, dry socks are better than sex. DREWRY You spent a lot of time in the field? PRETTY BOY Three months of hell. Every kind of shit you can imagine, and a lot you can't. I was Medevaced three times when they thought I was dead. Once they even zipped me into a body bag. We'd get hit, you know, and I'd be in a hole with three other guys. A mortar round would come right in the hole, blow everyone else to mincemeat. Concussion would knock me out, I'd have blood coming out of my ears and nose, blood all over me, not all mine... The medics would figure I was dead and throw me on the chopper with the bodies. No fun waking up there. (beat) My luck is unfucking believable. We're running across a paddy, fifty caliber opens up and catches the dudes on my left and right, wasted them. Me, I was skipped. (beat) I got a hundred stories... scary. Took a round in my helmet once, cut a groove in my hair. Weird shit. DREWRY Luck. PRETTY BOY Luck... God... Karma. My karma ran over my dogma. There is laughter off screen. PRETTY BOY Got to be a pain in the ass. Dudes hanging close like it would rub off. Boonie voodoo. People get strange in the bush, believe all sorts of things. Lucky scarves, bibles over their hearts, some ain't ever been to church. Baldwin's luck. The Company, the whole Brigade talked about it. We get mortared, dudes stick around me like a steel umbrella. I even started believing it. I do. Makes you think God's got something special planned for you. DREWRY Something special good, or special bad? Pretty Boy shrugs. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. The team has stopped. OD is talking to Hammer. A message is passed from one man to the other. Drewry is last. He turns to the Cameraman and switches on the Nagra. Sound on. DREWRY Something he wants us to look at. Sound. Drewry snaps his fingers at the Camera and walks to the front with the Cameraman. OD is kneeling on the trail. Drewry and the Cameraman bend down to get a better look. OD Trip wire. See the old, dead camouflage. OD indicates a dead branch, then a wire. He follows the wire with his fingers into the brush. There is a Chinese Communist grenade tied to a stick with the wire in the pull string. OD Booby trap. He gingerly releases the brush back into position. He stands and walks back to Cracker. Drewry and the Camera follow. OD Point man trips the wire, the grenade goes off, takes out him and maybe his slack. The rest of the patrol dives into the brush. OD stops at the side of the trail and pulls the brush aside. There are pointed bamboo stakes with barbs planted in the earth. OD And they get perforated. Chuck's got his shit together. OD leads the team off the trail at a right angle. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. The team is stopped by a stream. Everyone is on guard while Pretty Boy fills their canteens. PRETTY BOY Always try for running water. Still water's full of all sorts of ugly stuff. Drop in your halizon tablets and drive on. HAMMER Once we filled our canteens, then found five dink bodies further upstream, rotted all to hell, pieces floating around. By then we'd drunk half the water. DREWRY What'd you do? HAMMER Said, "fuck it", and drove on. No big thing. EASY Called it soup. DREWRY That's a war story, isn't it? PRETTY BOY El Tee, you're all right. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. The team is moving through the jungle at a good pace, but as quietly as possible. There is heavy breathing, branches slapping at the men, a muted rattle of equipment. The brush is dense, visibility no more than five meters. The team halts. OD raises his hand and dives to the ground. The others hit the ground after him. The Cameraman crouches. Drewry raises up to look around. Hammer pushes him back to the ground, hard. Drewry gasps, then mews with pain. Someone pushes the Cameraman down and the lens hits the dirt. BLACK. Fast, heavy breathing from Drewry. Footsteps and the swish of brush as something else moves through the jungle nearby. The Camera is raised and set horizontal. Feet in Ho Chi Minh sandals walk by. Low Vietnamese voices. Drewry's prone body is in view. A bamboo stake pierces his forearm. His face is tense with pain. Drewry's breathing seems to get louder. A pair of feet stop a few feet from Drewry. Drewry holds his breath. Louder Vietnamese voices. A stream of yellow water trickles to the ground as the NVA soldier pisses. He moves on. Drewry's breath rushes out. The noise fades as the soldiers move out of the area. Soundlessly, the team rises and continued along the trail, faster and quieter in a low crouch. Drewry clutches his forearm. BLACK. Sound off. Sound on. CRACKER (O.S.) ...get me a Ford, LTD or something. HAMMER (O.S.) I'm getting a speed monster, Dodge Four-Forty. CAMERA ON. Rest stop. Pretty Boy is bandaging Drewry's arm. Hammer and Cracker are on guard. Easy moves with nervous energy. PRETTY BOY Through and through. Looks like you're Purple-Hearted, El Tee. EASY Man, that was something. I mean, fuck me, Alice. First the booby traps, last night the ARVN's shit gets flaky. Now we just about get a Ho Chi Minh sandal on our backs. DREWRY What about infection? HAMMER Can't hack it, Easy? PRETTY BOY No sweat, GI, I put on some sulfa. And here's some Tetracycline, take a couple every four hours, or four every two hours. EASY Smoke my pole, Hammer. It's just... there seem to be gooks everywhere. I'm too short for this shit. Pretty Boy uses a Kotex to cover the wound. Drewry looks at it curiously. PRETTY BOY Kotex. My mom sends 'em. They're better'n bandage packs. CRACKER I tell you, it gave me one mean pucker factor. CAMERAMAN (O.S.) Pucker factor? HAMMER Pucker factor. It's... EASY That's when... CRACKER When the shit hits, you kinda feel your asshole pucker up, like it starts sucking wind you're so scared. EASY Yeah, like an ambush. That's a pucker factor of ten. HAMMER Hearing a mortar tube go "bloop" and waiting for the shell to hit, that's a six maybe. EASY Sniper is ten. CRACKER Back there on the trail, that was an eight. HAMMER Seven. EASY Nine. PRETTY BOY Three. They all look at him in disbelief. PRETTY BOY I fell asleep. EASY What a fucking John Wayne. CRACKER Hey, El Tee, you're the first man ever blooded on one of our missions. The first ever. EASY Bad omen. Drewry looks down at the bandage. He pops two, then four Tetracycline tablets. PRETTY BOY We'll be out of the boonies before it gets too infected. HAMMER The only thing that's fast in this country is rot. EASY And bullets. (beat) You know, this mission... This shit ain't fun no more. Nam's giving war a bad name. There is a noise so slight it's almost indistinguishable. The team grab their guns and face outward. Cracker calls out quietly. CRACKER Swamp. OD (O.S.) Fever. OD appears quietly out of the jungle. The team relaxes. OD Cracker. (beat) El Tee. OD and Cracker confer over a map. Drewry joins them. HAMMER Fucking Cracker wants an LTD. Car's such a pig they twist the antenna into a curlicue. OD Never seen so many gooks around. Mostly NVA regulars, FNG's like the El Tee. We can get over on them easy. EASY Getting me a Mach One. 351, four- barrel, Hurst four-speed, positraction. Red on red. Ordered it already at the PX. Be waiting for me at home. HAMMER I want a Four-Forty. Big fucking Chrysler engine. You see "Bullitt"? CRACKER Didn't have trouble finding them? OD Just stopped one and asked directions. DREWRY I could have done that. PRETTY BOY Fucking Chrysler's suck green donkey dicks, fifteen cents a herd. EASY Trade my Boss 302 for the Mach One. OD looks at Drewry's wound. Drewry tries to smile. HAMMER Thought you had a jacked '54 Ford with a 390 hemi. EASY I do, I let my brother drive it. Boss 302 he can't touch. HAMMER Yeah, I suppose you bought it when you toured with the Four Seasons? Man, you can always tell when Easy is lying, his lips move. PRETTY BOY I want a Jag, XKE. EASY It was the McCoys, doofus. I want any shit from you I'll squeeze your head. OD We can camp here, or here. I figure we recon and do it tomorrow, real quick. Get this job done. CRACKER I don't like the high ground. OD Affirm. El Tee, where you figure we can squat for the night? HAMMER You feel froggy, jump. You wanna throw some hands? EASY I'll tear off your leg and beat you roundly about the head and shoulders with it. HAMMER I'll tear off your head and shit in the hole. The argument is starting to get serious. Hammer smacks Easy's helmet. OD gives them the evil eye and they calm down. DREWRY This looks like it has a good back door. We can camp on the hump. OD nods and rewards Drewry with a smile. Pretty Boy interrupts the argument between Hammer and Easy and gets the conversation back to cars. PRETTY BOY El Tee, what kind of car you got? DREWRY Volkswagon Beetle. 65. Everyone looks at Drewry like he's from Mars. PRETTY BOY Automatic? DREWRY Stick. (beat) But I'd like to get a Camaro or a Firebird. OD Okay, let's get you hoodlums off the streets for the night. The team moves out. HAMMER VW Beetle. Stick. El Tee, you got hair on your ass. PRETTY BOY One hard corps motherfucker. DREWRY My folks gave it to me for graduation. There is a round of stifled laughter. OD Cool it. Everyone shuts up. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. The team moves through the jungle, slower, more cautiously. Drewry is traveling with less effort and he is quiet. The men are beginning to move as a unit again. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. The men are extremely alert. OD and Cracker aren't with them. PRETTY BOY (softly) That booby trap was old. Left over from the French. So were the punji sticks I suppose. Any gook in the last year or two would have left a nice, new Chinese "Bouncing Betty". HAMMER Those Bouncing Betty's'll tear you a new asshole. You trip 'em, they shoot out of the ground and go off waist high. Blow your balls off. That spooks me the most. EASY Can't miss what you don't got. Easy looks around the jungle nervously and pops a pill. DREWRY How long are they usually gone? PRETTY BOY Don't sweat it, El Tee. Cracker and OD got beaucoup jungle smarts. Better than those little rice propelled bastards, right? HAMMER They can out-Chuck Chuck. EASY Dig it. Silence. No one is convinced. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. The team is gathered around OD. OD inserts small sticks in the ground as he talks. OD First, intelligence. Regiment size unit, NVA regulars. New uniforms, new weapons, SKS's mostly. One AK for every eight or ten SKS's. RPG's, looks like one to a squad. Mortar platoon. Plenty of ammo, haven't cached it yet. Pretty green. NCO's, officers, everything on down. Led by a squad of hard corps VC. (to Drewry) Everyone's briefed in case we get separated or something happens. The intelligence has a better chance of getting back. PRETTY BOY Army intelligence, now there's a contradiction in terms. Easy laughs. OD Here's the mission by the numbers. CRACKER OD does everything by the numbers. He even fucks by the numbers. One, insert member, two, thrust, three, retract member, four, repeat two and three rapidly. OD (smiling) We move out just before dawn. There's a hill on the east side of their camp, we'll have the morning sun behind us. CRACKER They'll be just waking up, slow and sluggish before they have their morning tea. Security's real lax. OD We'll set up at the military crest. Easy will call the FDC. Range for our long rifles is about 450 meters. Primary targets are as follows -- CO, Radioman, First Pig, XO, Radio, Mortar, then targets of opportunity. DREWRY Why shoot at all if you're going to have Easy call in artillery? OD Confuse 'em, shake 'em up. If they sit there and see that smoke round coming they could get their shit together and sky up. And... DREWRY And... OD If the Fire Direction Center fucks up at least we get a few of the bastards. CRACKER That's for damn sure. OD By the numbers. One, Easy calls fire mission. Hold fire. Two, I commence firing, CO. OD knocks over the sticks one at a time. OD Cracker fires. Primary targets hit. Targets of opportunity. Pretty Boy pops a few blooper rounds for effect. Easy lets go his smoke. Adjust. We sky up. CRACKER Like a stripe-ed assed zebra. OD We head back to our camp here, make a 90 here, about 50 meters before the camp, and head for Ladybird. Compass reading for Ladybird is 132 degrees. Got that, Hammer? OD draws the route on the ground. HAMMER One-three-two. OD Questions? DREWRY What do I do? OD Stay out of our way. OD picks up the sticks and throws them into the brush and wipes the drawings from the dirt. DREWRY How about I walk on over to Thailand and get laid? I promise to be back in time for the pick up. EASY Hey, El Tee, dig it. Check it out. HAMMER We gotta get you a new name. PRETTY BOY How about "Big D"? Drewry looks down at his crotch. DREWRY Somebody looked. The men laugh. BLACK. HAMMER (O.S.) I'm cleaning the M-60. Cover me. PRETTY BOY (O.S.) You got it. DREWRY (O.S.) You still have film? (beat) Turn it on. CAMERA ON. Hammer gets out his oil and shaving brush and starts to break down the machine gun. DREWRY Feel like talking? HAMMER What the fuck, sure. Hammer strips, cleans and reassembles his M-60. He even cleans the belt of ammunition. DREWRY You enlist? HAMMER Nah, I'm a fucking US. Worked for my old man. Couldn't cut that nine to five Mickey Mouse shit. Rammed around. I'm from a small town, but me and my buddies own it. Nobody gives a shit. We get a little static from the Sheriff, but just little shit. (beat) I think my old man suggested to the draft board it was my turn. Make a man of me, he said. Shit. Drafted. (beat) I wasn't doing anything anyway. All my buddies started copping out. Larry got married. Ed went to Junior College. I was painting houses, laying linoleum, little of everything. DREWRY You volunteered for this unit, too? HAMMER The Green Line was getting to me. Too much dope. Figured I might start taking the hard stuff. Trip on LSD, hash. It was so fucking boring. They were starting inspections, spit-shined boots in the Nam! See, we got it dicked in the rear, this team. Nobody fucks with us, no KP, details or inspections. Nobody fucks with us, not even officers. They think we're crazy. Dinky dau, mad killers. DREWRY Are you? HAMMER We're the only sane killers the Army's got, OD says. DREWRY You're a hard corps dude. HAMMER Damn right. Mercenaries kill for money. Sadists kill for fun. Paratroopers kill for both. Hammer winks at the Camera. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. Night camp. Drewry signals the Cameraman to follow him over to where the team are talking. EASY The question is, did you get laid? What I want to do, there's this asshole where I live, owns all the parking lots. In the morning he drives to them all in his Continental, sees that all his dollar-an-hour doofus mother-fuckers are on the job. Then he goes to the country club for the rest of the day, rubs elbows with all the other rich assholes. End of the day, he drives by his lots again, collects the money and makes his deposit. (beat) What a fucking life. When I get back the first thing I'm gonna do is buy me a fucking parking lot. No building, no maintenance, paint a few lines once a year. I'm gonna get me a parking lot, no shit, and lay back. DREWRY What about you, Cracker? HAMMER Cracker's a lifer. He ain't never leaving the Army. PRETTY BOY He's been in since Christ was a corporal. EASY Pulled KP at the Last Supper. Cracker is cleaning and checking his M-1 sniper rifle. DREWRY (to Cracker) You like the Army? CRACKER Yeah, been in six years. I come from South Carolina. Up north they call us hillbillies, but we ain't. Dictionary defines hillbilly as a Michigan farmer. We're white trash, dirt poor, big family. I got four kids myself, two boys, two girls last time I checked. (beat) The Army helps a poor man pull himself up. Feeds my family, good retirement, gives me an education. I got my GED. Black people, Puerto Ricans who don't even speak English, Army's the only equal opportunity employer I ever saw. I could get to be First Sergeant, even a Warrant Officer. Good money. DREWRY You figure what you're doing here is right? CRACKER I don't figure right or wrong about it. People like me go day to day, spend our time figuring how to get food on the table. (beat) My daddy was the best cabinetmaker you ever saw. Didn't get a lot of work 'cause of his hands, arthritis twisted them up, but whenever he made something, a cabinet, a three- legged stool, it was the best goddamn three-legged stool he could make. He taught the same to me. You do your job the best you can, no matter you like it or not. (beat) Once he made a black oak china cabinet, black oak, and when the lady said he should paint it white to match her floorboard trim, well, my daddy painted it white. Beautiful black oak, grain like running water. He painted it the smoothest, cleanest white you ever saw. Milk ain't that white. (beat) You do your job, let the right or wrong to others. You earn your pay. OD feels the same. That's why me and OD are this close. Cracker holds up two fingers horizontally, one on top of the other. CRACKER That's me on top. DREWRY Being from South Carolina, how does it feel, being led by a black man? Cracker's eyes narrow. CRACKER We don't ask those questions out here, that's a Real World question. Ask me that in South Carolina. Right now ask me if OD isn't the best fucking boonie rat I ever met. Ask me if OD ain't the best human being I ever humped a ruck with. Ask me if I love him like a brother and if I'd kill for him. I do and I have. If I'd lay my life on the line for him... I have. And if he ain't done the same for me. (beat) We're finished here. Cracker gets up and walks away. Drewry sees the Camera on him. He looks away, embarrassed. DREWRY Turn that fucking thing off. BLACK. Sound off. Sound on. EASY (O.S.) Before it gets dark you lay in your position, check out your fire lanes, and most of all you memorize the terrain in front of you. CAMERA ON. Easy lies on the ground and looks into the night. He talks nervously. EASY Every tree, bush, and rock. Sometimes you draw a picture in the dirt in front of you. Then at night, those shadows, you know what they are. They're not the bad guys, you know? (laughing nervously) But then you think, the little dink fucker replaced the bush with himself. You know it moved, you know it did. (beat) I hate it just before a mission. See that little berm, looks like a crawling gook, don't it? Freaky shit. Stare at it long enough, it'll move, I wouldn't shit you. Pretty Boy appears and lays a hand on Easy's shoulder. PRETTY BOY Hey, Breeze, what does the Jolly Green Giant fear the most? EASY What? PRETTY BOY Avocado pickers. They both laugh. The laughter fades and they stare out into the darkness. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. Easy grins into the Camera. He motions to the Cameraman to follow him. Easy picks up Drewry's Nagra and walks across the camp. It is dark. There is some fog. OD is cleaning his long rifle. Easy fiddles with the Nagra's knobs. EASY Like my TEAC fifteen hundred. Easy and the Cameraman walk over to Drewry. Easy points the microphone at him. Drewry looks worried. EASY Your turn in the barrel, El Tee. Pretty Boy and Hammer laugh off screen. DREWRY I see. I've thrown some punches at you guys and now it's your turn. EASY Now, El Tee, how long you been in- country? Oh, never mind. How long you been on line? Ooops. Wait, wait. How long you been in the Army? DREWRY Active? Close to two years. I was National Guard in college. Wanted West Point, but I couldn't get in, politics. EASY Ohhh, Regular Army. El Tee, I didn't take you for a lifer. Easy shakes his head and smiles. EASY So, El Tee, why you being such a hard ass on us? We're just some regular assholes trying to do a dirty job. Silence. OD gets up and walks over to Easy. OD That's enough, Easy. DREWRY No, it's a fair question. I think you people treat the war like some game. You dress up like GI Joe or Sergeant Rock, play hard corps. Pretty Boy and Hammer join them. EASY Bull-fucking-shit. PRETTY BOY Dig it. HAMMER Sergeant Rock, my ass. OD And how do you see the war, El Tee? DREWRY Business. Big business. The Army is one big corporation, like Gulf and Western. PRETTY BOY Engulf and Devour. OD And we're just cogs in the big machine. DREWRY If you want. But there's opportunity, like Cracker said. You can be a peon, or, if you see yourself as executive material, the advancement potential is enormous. Cracker, on guard, turns and looks at the other men. CRACKER You some kind of junior executive? DREWRY Exactly. In twelve months I can go from Second Louie to First. And if I play it right, I can leave Nam as a Captain, with Major around the corner. OD If you play it right. DREWRY That's why I volunteered for this unit. EASY You volunteered? DREWRY Volunteered and finagled. See, with a line unit I'm just another shavetail lieutenant. My only chance was if we got hit bad and I pulled it through. But there were too many people above me making the decisions and they'd take the credit. OD Of course. DREWRY With this unit I can show my stuff, and spend a lot of hours in the rear mingling with my superiors. Like they say, it's who you know. EASY Or who you blow. DREWRY Of course, I could take you guys with me. You watch, promotions, medals, I'll get them for you. Slip in a recommendation. Hooch maids, more R&R. OD You're using the Nam to punch your ticket. DREWRY It's the chance of a lifetime for a career officer. Wars don't come along very often. Combat duty is the foundation for a successful career. CRACKER That's what's wrong with this war, all that ticket punching. How can you win when everybody's just passing time for 12 months? Who ever heard of a part-time war? HAMMER Who ever heard of a war where you couldn't cross enemy borders? We oughta invade. If you're gonna be a bear, be a grizzly. PRETTY BOY It's like they're doing everything they can to keep from winning this one. EASY We're just rearranging furniture on the Titanic. There is a moment of silence. OD Better cut some "Z's", mission tomorrow. (to Easy) Get your act together. Who's monitoring the radio? EASY I was just having some fun. OD Is this fun? EASY Not even close. Easy gives the Nagra to OD and walks away. OD (to Drewry) There it is. OD flicks off the sound and hands the recorder to Drewry. BLACK. CAMERA ON. Sound on. Night. The team is sleeping. Pretty Boy is on guard. OD sits near him. They talk softly, unaware of the Camera. OD ...big family. Lots of brothers and sisters. PRETTY BOY Why don't you set me up with one of your sisters? OD And you can set me up with your mama. PRETTY BOY I want to find a girl. Quit fucking around. Just... you know... forget all this shit. OD I had a girl. We were even engaged. But... I've been over here two tours and... every time I go home... The land of the big PX... Things sure change quick. PRETTY BOY You ain't a lifer are you, OD? OD Say what? You know what they say NCO stands for... No Chance Outside. (beat) No. No future for me in it. PRETTY BOY There it is. Easy starts in his sleep. Pretty Boy and OD look at him in concern. Easy settles down. PRETTY BOY You know, OD, I can't handle much more of this. My shit's getting flaky. OD Just one more time. So you just roll your shit up into a tight little ball and flick it in Charlie's eyes. OD notices the Camera and looks at it with surprise, offended at the intrusion. He gives the Cameraman the evil eye. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. Dawn at the camp. The Camera is shaky and out of focus. It centers on a new man, the Cameraman, leaning against a tree and taking a leak. HAMMER (O.S.) Okay, MoPic, don't piss on me, piss on the camera. The Cameraman turns, surprised and embarrassed. He buttons up. Pretty Boy and Easy laugh. HAMMER (O.S.) Wa, c'mon, MoPic, give the folks at home a thrill. Haul it out. Let 'em see a real soldier's weapon. EASY/PRETTY BOY This is my weapon, this is my gun. With this I kill people, with this I have fun. They show the difference by brandishing their weapons and cupping their crotch. They laugh. The Cameraman tries to retrieve his Camera from Hammer. Hammer backs away. HAMMER (O.S.) Hey, soldier, how'd you wind up in this circle jerk? CAMERAMAN I was working in the lab back in the rear, post-production. We used to get these cans of film in, no cameraman, just the reels. We'd hear he got shot, or was dead. Spookiest thing in the world, waiting for that film to develop. Wondering what you were going to see. Sometimes you saw nothing. Other times... Real scary. EASY You think that's scary. PRETTY BOY Another volunteer. We're all crazy on this bus. Pretty Boy and Easy start grab-assing. Hammer follows. BLACK. HAMMER (O.S.) What happened? CAMERAMAN (O.S.) You ran out of film. HAMMER (O.S.) Shit. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. Hammer and Cracker drag their rucksacks across the ground, making obvious marks. Easy walks over to Drewry. Pretty Boy is rebandaging his arm. EASY El Tee, Big D, give me all your bubble gum wrappers. Drewry is puzzled, but he complies. Easy scatters the wrappers around the campsite. OD leaves a full magazine on the ground. OD First two rounds are good. Third round, gunpowder's been replaced with C-4. Bang, bang, boom! Scratch one enemy and one enemy gun. (to Camera) We're making it look like fifteen men were here. Makes the gooks chase us with a larger unit. The larger the unit, the slower and noisier it is. We need every edge we can get. Cracker digs a small hole. He takes a smoke grenade and a regular grenade from his pack and unscrews the fuses. He swaps fuses and screws them down. CRACKER Regular grenade's got a three-second fuse, gives you time to throw it. Smoke grenade's instantaneous, better for booby traps. Cracker straightens the pin on the grenade, puts it in the hole spoon up and hooks a wire to the pin. CRACKER (to Drewry) Sir, you've been wearing that steel pot too long. May I borrow it? Drewry takes off his helmet and hands it to Cracker. Cracker puts a couple handfuls of dirt inside the helmet to steady it and sets it on top of the spoon. He checks the balance of the helmet, the tension on the spoon, and carefully pulls the wire and the pin. DREWRY I signed for that thing. CRACKER If you want it, sir, you'll have to get it the way Mister Charlie will. And I guarantee it'll ruin your whole day. Cracker wipes away all traces of his footprints and the trail of wire. He stands back and admires his work. Easy hands Drewry his own soft cap. Drewry puts it on. OD Let's do it to it. The team slides into the jungle. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. Further along the trail. Cracker strings a wire across the trail to a grenade that has been inserted into a C-ration can. He attaches the wire to the grenade and pulls the pin. The can restrains the spoon. Cracker and the Cameraman walk about fifteen feet up the trail. Cracker takes off his bandana and ties it conspicuously to a branch. CRACKER You stay here long enough and you can out-Chuck Chuck. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. The team is setting up on the side of a ridge. OD and Cracker set up their long rifles using their rucksacks as gun rests. They load their ammunition one round at a time, cleaning each one with a rag. Everyone else wears their packs. Pretty Boy and Hammer set up as spotters next to OD and Cracker and get out their binoculars. Pretty Boy lines up his M-79 ammunition in a neat row of six rounds. Easy sits behind them with the radio. The sun is rising at their backs. Everyone whispers. OD and Cracker look through their scopes. OD I see One, dead center, the tent. Three and Six about two o'clock. CRACKER I see Two at nine o'clock, Five at eleven o'clock and moving. OD Anyone spot Four? Drewry takes out his binoculars and looks. DREWRY Sweet Mary, Mother of Jesus, there's hundreds of them. The Cameraman gets behind OD and zooms down the rifle barrel and focuses on the target area. One hundred and fifty men, most sleeping in tents or bed- rolls, a few on guard. In the center of the camp eight men are performing tai-chi, graceful and uncaring. OD They must have gotten reinforced overnight. Pretty Boy, see that antenna? Can you reach it with your Thumper? The focus comes back to the team. Drewry looks at OD, then back through the binoculars. PRETTY BOY No sweat, but I'm not sure of the mortar. Really reaching. DREWRY That must be a quarter mile. OD More like a third of a mile, El Tee. Secondary targets? CRACKER That dude wandering around, the VC guide. People seem to listen to him. I think the dude's got his shit together. Lotta men down there, OD. OD and Cracker get into position behind their rifles, prone, and snuggle into the dirt. EASY (into radio) Thunderbird Control, this is Outrider. How do you read me? Over. (beat) I read you Lima Charlie. I have a fire mission. Request artillery HE. Stand by for coordinates. OD and Cracker go through a silent run, making "pow" sounds with their lips, jerking their rifles with each faked shot. EASY (into radio) Enemy in the trees, single canopy. Size, regiment. In my funny book I read Delta Oscar Lima Echo November Golf Foxtrot India Papa Tango Tango Echo. Say back. (beat) Affirm. Fire one smoke on my order. They plug their ears with plastic earplugs, cigarette filters, whatever they have. Easy and Drewry use cartridges. OD hesitates. OD Wait one. Everyone looks at OD. OD Most of those dudes ain't the ones I saw yesterday. Cracker takes the binoculars and looks. CRACKER Must be out humping. Keeping a low profile for air recon? OD I say we don't shoot. Call in arty and just didi mau. OD looks at each man in turn. Easy and Pretty Boy nod. Hammer shrugs. OD looks at Drewry. DREWRY You're the boss of the bush. OD nods to Easy. EASY (into radio) Fire one. Pretty Boy launches five quick rounds while OD and Cracker get up and put their packs on. Hammer keeps his binoculars on the camp. Everyone gets ready to move out. Muffled explosions sound. HAMMER Got 'em! Chuck's hurtin'! Smoke round. Drop one hundred, left fifty. EASY (into radio) Drop one hundred, left fifty. Fire for effect. HE and Wicked Picket. HAMMER Shake and bake. OD Move it. The team moves out, fast. The crest the ridge and the air above them is ripped by artillery shells. Hammer looks up. HAMMER Get some. Explosions sound in the distance. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. The team runs down slope, OD leading. He spots Cracker's bandana and grabs it off the branch on the run. He makes an immediate left off the trail and the men pass the bandana back to Cracker. CRACKER I hate it when we don't shoot. Get all the juices going... BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. The team is stopped. They look behind them. Drewry is out of breath. The others are all hyper. DREWRY ...tripped your wire? CRACKER Sounds like. Wait one to see if your helmet bounces. Jets roar overhead. The men look up. PRETTY BOY Get some. EASY (listening on radio) Fuck me, Alice. OP Ladybird's been hit again. Texas Hat's on the horn going apeshit. OD Then we make it the ville. Hammer? HAMMER The village. Got it, OD. There are muffled explosions. Hammer looks back. HAMMER The jets are putting the damn damn on the dinks. EASY Oh, Jesus. They're getting overrun. DREWRY I should call in my situation report. OD looks at Drewry and nods to Easy. Easy gives Drewry the handset and changes the frequency. DREWRY (into radio) Stone Hombre, this is Outrider Six. How do you hear me? (beat) Same here, Hombre. Sit Rep, mission completed. Enemy sighted, now under fire, arty, HE and fly boys. CRACKER I just hate it when we don't shoot. EASY Not me. Kind of like a personal risk avoidance policy. HAMMER It's like a fucking dry hump. Gives me the blue balls. CRACKER Not that. Just... every one of those gooks we cut slack on might dust some GI. PRETTY BOY I can dig that. OD Move 'em out. The team moves out. There is another muffled boom. Cracker grins at Drewry and flips his hat into the air. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. The team waits and catches their breath. Drewry reaches into Pretty Boy's pack and gets salt tablets. Hammer is still hyper. They all whisper. PRETTY BOY You get hungry, just chew on your lurp rations. Eat it dry and suck up some water. Not too much, you'll swell your belly. HAMMER We won't be stopping long enough to chow down 'til we hit the ville. A click in the jungle. Cracker responds with a toy cricket. Click, click. OD appears. OD Gooks ahead, across our trail. Six of 'em. DREWRY Ambush? OD Breakfast. CRACKER We go around 'em or through 'em? HAMMER Through 'em. Time to waste a few. DREWRY Can we go around? OD It won't be easy, and it'll be slow. HAMMER Let's hit 'em. It's our last gig, let's take back some heads. OD looks at the others. CRACKER What the fuck, can't dance. HAMMER You want to live forever? EASY You know me, Breeze, anything for a joke. Pretty Boy just smiles. OD looks at Drewry. DREWRY I can handle it. OD sketches a diagram in the dirt. OD Okay. They're by the stream, about 50 meters up. We do an "L", me here, Easy, Pretty Boy, and Hammer. Cracker at the elbow, the El Tee. PRETTY BOY What about MoPic? OD He waits back here. I start, a grenade, then we hit 'em. Hammer, one carries an RPG, you waste that motherfucker. Careful of the crossfire. EASY Let's do it to it. They move out. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. The packs are on the ground. OD and Cracker lay their rifles on the packs. Easy tapes two magazines back to back. Pretty Boy arranges his grenades. OD We get split up, rally on the ville. The men are stripped down and ready to move. OD looks them over and nods. They start to move out. DREWRY (to Cameraman) Stay here, just hang loose. The men disappear into the jungle. The Cameraman waits for a moment, then follows them into the brush. He catches a few glimpses of Cracker's back. Nothing but brush. The Cameraman moves slowly. Suddenly, he is upon OD, Easy and Hammer. OD forces him down fiercely. Vietnamese voices can be heard. OD, Easy and Hammer crawl toward the voices. The men wait. Easy looks scared. Hammer winks at him. OD pulls out a grenade, then pulls the pin. He waits, pops the spoon, silently counts to two and throws the grenade. An explosion, a scream, and the team is up at the same instant, charging and firing. They burst into the clearing. Two VC are prone. One kneels to fire, three are running away. The team pours a rain of gunshots into the area. Mass confusion. The three running VC fall. The kneeling soldier is blown down. Quiet. Easy and Pretty Boy go on guard. OD and Cracker check bodies and take papers. Hammer, pumped up, starts picking up the enemy weapons. OD Hammer, guard 12 o'clock. HAMMER War souveniers, OD. First come, first... This one's alive. Hammer aims his machine gun at the VC's head. Drewry, a little dazed by the shooting, wakes up and bumps Hammer aside. DREWRY Wait a second. The Cameraman moves closer to catch the VC. The VC is coming to. Blood comes from his nose and ears. His left leg is wasted. HAMMER Let me waste him, sir. Sin Loi motherfucker. Hammer aims at the VC again, but Drewry blocks him. DREWRY He's a prisoner. We take him with us. HAMMER Bullshit. No way. OD Can it, Hammer. DREWRY We don't murder. OD We kill. We just did a mess of it. DREWRY It's not the same, you know it. OD looks at the VC, then at Drewry. OD Bring him back to the rear. We'll decide there. Drewry ties the VC's hands and he and Easy drag the prisoner into the jungle. DREWRY We've decided. OD Move it, move it. The team leaves the area. BLACK. Sound off. Sound on. PRETTY BOY (O.S.) Bac se. Doctor, Medic. Bac se. CAMERA ON. The men shoulder their gear. Pretty Boy bandages the VC's leg. The prisoner's mouth is now taped shut. DREWRY We take him back to S-2 for interrogation. Intelligence, that's what we're out here for. Pretty Boy is very gentle with the VC. HAMMER Are we bad motherfuckers, or what. See that shit? We cleaned up. I ain't shitting you. Zap! EASY Let's have a hymn for the Major. EASY/HAMMER/PRETTY BOY Hymmmn, hymmmn, fuck... himmmm. OD looks at the VC. HAMMER Shit, sir, who's gonna carry the fucker. It'll slow us down like... He resists and it's a bitch and a half. If you cold cock the sucker he's dead weight. He can't walk. We've done this before. DREWRY I'll carry him. PRETTY BOY I'll help. Drewry and Pretty Boy strap two rifle slings to the VC's shoulders and legs. OD He goes with us. EASY El Tee... "Big D", we're gonna get you a medal. First time out. CRACKER Most grunts spend a whole year getting shot at and shit on and never see Chuck. You got one to take home. OD Let's go. Drewry and Pretty Boy grab the VC. The team moves out. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. The team is stopped. Drewry cuts a thick bamboo stalk. HAMMER (looking at VC guns) Bet I get me a hundred bucks apiece for these from some raggedy assed chairborne commando. EASY How about you souvenier me one, Hammer? HAMMER How about you kiss my hairy ass? PRETTY BOY For a little shit, ol' Luke the Gook is fucking heavy. CRACKER Don't let him fool you. They stand small, but fight tall. He's probably playing possum. OD C'mon, we're losing time. You know they're looking for us. DREWRY Done. Drewry finishes trimming the bamboo and he and Pretty Boy slip it through the VC's bindings. They lift the pole onto their shoulders. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. The team moves quietly and quickly through the jungle. OD is on point, Hammer, Easy, then Drewry and Pretty Boy carrying the NVA between them. Drewry no longer carries the Nagra, the Cameraman does. There is a small break in the trees. Easy spins in place and falls to the ground. A shot cracks the air. Pretty Boy's right leg collapses under him and he falls. There is another crack. The Cameraman runs. Cracker passes the Cameraman and grabs Easy by the harness and drags him to cover with OD and Hammer. Drewry pulls the NVA behind some cover with him. OD and Hammer are already looking down their guns, searching for the sniper. Hammer fires his machine gun. OD Enough! Wait 'til you get a target! Hammer stops. OD looks at Easy. There is a big ragged hole in the radio. EASY I'm okay! I'm okay! He says it to reassure himself. CRACKER (O.S.) OD! Pretty Boy! They look down the trail. Pretty Boy is about ten feet away, trying to get up on his good leg. The other one is bloody at the knee. He gets partly up and his other leg is shot out from under him. There is a brief delay and another crack. Pretty Boy screams. HAMMER Jesus, that guy is good. Did you hear that delay? Must be 500 meters. EASY OD, you gotta help Pretty Boy! HAMMER Cover me, Cracker. Hammer tosses his machine gun to Cracker. Cracker fires into the jungle. Hammer ducks down like a runner in the starting blocks and jumps into the clearing. A bullet tears into Hammer's shoulder and stops him dead. OD and Easy grab his feet and pull him back. Crack! Cracker stops firing. They all look at Pretty Boy. He raises himself up by his elbows and tries to drag himself over to the others, inch by painful inch. EASY C'mon, Pretty Boy. OD You can do it, Baldwin. Another shot tears Pretty Boy's right elbow to meat and slivers of bone. He screams again. Crack! EASY Leave him alone! Goddammit! Leave him alone! Easy is about to cry. Smack! Another bullet hits Pretty Boy in the thigh. Crack! Hs body jerks with the impact and he screams again, a high piercing wail that fades into a guttural moan. CRACKER Lord have mercy. EASY I'm giving it another try. Easy gets up, but OD grabs him by the shoulder and pulls him back. OD No. OD Get me FDC. Maybe we can get some fire support. EASY Radio ain't working. DREWRY Look. Pretty Boy is still alive. He reaches slowly behind him with his left hand and gets a grenade from his canteen cover. He tries to loosen the pin with one hand. EASY Pretty Boy, no! OD, do something! OD Cracker, give me your harness. EASY Pretty Boy, wait! OD Hold on, Baldwin. Pretty Boy stops. OD links his belt with Cracker's, then Drewry's. He creeps toward the edge of the clearing. OD tosses the lengths of belt toward Pretty Boy. The end lands about a foot from his head. Pretty Boy reaches for the belt and a bullet tears through his palm, throwing his arm in an arc. Crack! Pretty Boy whimpers. EASY (crying) Oh, goddamn. Fuck. Shit. Cocksucker. COCKSUCKER! Pretty Boy's face lies in the dirt. He painfully turns his head so he can see the team. He wets his lips. PRETTY BOY (whispering) OD, please. Smack! A bullet hits him in the hip. He screams again. DREWRY (watching OD) What are you doing? EASY OD, no, don't. OD. OD takes Drewry's .45 from his holster and pulls back the slide and makes sure it is loaded. Easy watches through his tears. The slide snaps forward with an ominous click. OD aims at Pretty Boy's head. Pretty Boy looks at the gun and OD and smiles. CRACKER (softly) OD, not in the head. BOOM! Pretty Boy's body jerks with the impact of OD's bullet. He is dead. Silence. Then the sound of Easy crying softly. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. Pretty Boy's body is on a poncho. Cracker takes the dog tag from around his neck, untapes them and puts one in Pretty Boy's mouth and tapes it shut. He does it gently, as if it were a ceremony. Cracker pulls the poncho over Pretty Boy's face. Easy cries off screen. He snaps the poncho shut, one at a time. The sound of the snaps is very loud. OD bandages Hammer's shoulder while Hammer remains on guard. Easy shivers uncontrollably a couple of times and looks at his dead radio. Drewry looks at the NVA. OD finishes with Hammer and walks over to Drewry. OD Gut shot. Looks like your gook's broke, El Tee. DREWRY Will he make it to Brigade? OD No. We ain't taking him. DREWRY What? OD We got a choice. We carry your gook or Pretty Boy. We can't take both. DREWRY But... he's dead. Silence. The team looks coldly at Drewry. HAMMER Americans never leave their dead behind. Drewry looks at the team, the NVA, Pretty Boy, the NVA again. DREWRY You're not going to kill him. OD No, you are, El Tee. Everyone looks at OD. His face is filled with anger. DREWRY You can't make me. OD We're leaving Luke the Gook. If his people get to him before he dies he can tell them all about us. We're almost out of ammo, one of us is hurt, everything. Intelligence, El Tee, intelligence. Drewry reaches reluctantly for his gun. OD No gun, El Tee. Noise discipline. Your knife makes it personal. OD takes Drewry's bayonet and slaps it into his hand. The NVA stares up at Drewry, his eyes wide with fear and pain. OD It's time you were blooded, El Tee. Your own private KIA. Drewry looks down at the NVA. DREWRY He's going to die anyway. OD Maybe. C'mon, El Tee. No, wait a second. OD reaches into Drewry's shirt and pulls out the NVA's papers. OD's eyes burn with cold, hard fury. Cracker reaches out to stop him, but OD jerks away. OD You might want to know who you're killing. (reading) His name's Truong, Nguyen Truong. He's 19. Got a family, looks like, wife, cute kid. OD throws the papers onto the NVA's chest as he reads them. The last is a black and white photograph of a woman and child. OD C'mon, El Tee, what're you waiting for? OD's voice has an edge of hysteria. CRACKER OD. HAMMER Kill the fucker, El Tee. Drewry raises the bayonet and stabs the NVA clumsily in the chest. He pulls it back out quickly and turns away. OD Damn, El Tee, can't you even kill a man right? The NVA's chest rises with shallow breaths and blood pumps from the wound. OD bends over the NVA with his Gerber knife and shoves it up under his ribcage and slices the heart. The NVA dies. OD wipes the blade on the NVA's sleeve. He cuts the ropes from his hands and feet and slices the tape off his mouth. Blood gushes out. OD drapes the NVA flag over the dead man's face and kneels there for a moment, almost like he is praying. Cracker puts a gentle hand on OD's shoulder. CRACKER OD, we better move out. I'm going to destroy the long rifles, Pretty Boy's gear. (to Hammer) Give me a Willy Peter. (beat) OD? OD nods and gets up slowly. OD Better melt down the radio, too. Easy takes off the radio and gets a white phosphorous grenade from his pack. Drewry sits on the ground looking at his bayonet. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. The team is stopped, all out of breath, facing outward on guard. Easy and Drewry have been carrying Pretty Boy's body between them, the pole through the poncho. OD's jaw muscles flex as he stares into the jungle. HAMMER How much farther to the ville? OD Three, four klicks. Seven-niner degrees. Remember that, Hammer, seven- niner. HAMMER I got it, OD, no sweat. Anyhow, I just follow you. (beat) Damn, I'd like a cold brew. EASY I could use some dew. No, no, hash. Quick toke of hash, dreamland. Grass makes me paranoid. Easy laughs. It is forced. OD looks at him and almost smiles. OD You're one dinky dau ditty bopper. EASY And I'm short. 25 and a wake-up. I'm so short I could parachute off a dime. HAMMER I wish I had a cold brew. CRACKER Wish in one hand, shit in the other, see which hand's full first. (beat) What kind of job you gonna get us in the rear, OD? OD looks at Drewry, who is self-absorbed and quiet. OD I don't know, some ghost job. One thing I do know, it'll be air- conditioned. Their conversation is strained. CRACKER With my own little refrigerator. HAMMER For cold brew. OD There's a slot open at the rec room. We'll sent Easy to Thailand on R&R so he don't get into trouble before he takes that freedom bird back to the Real World. EASY Can you do that for me, OD? I'd dig it. Love that Thai pussy, cheap, too. Me and Pretty Boy... What about Hammer? CRACKER Hammer's too tough for the rear. HAMMER Got muscles in my shit. EASY Bites the heads off animal crackers. CRACKER Last time I was in the rear I called home on the MARS line. Got the wife on the horn, she didn't believe it was me calling from the Nam. After we talked about that we didn't have shit to say to each other. Dead silence. Not word one. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. The Camera looks over OD's shoulder as he consults his compass. OD The tree, the big pine. OD pockets the compass and Hammer hands him his CAR-15. OD starts walking. The Cameraman stands to one side and lets OD and Hammer walk by him. Drewry and Easy follow with the body. Suddenly, out of the trees, walk three NVA. The NVA freeze, as startled as the Americans. Drewry and Easy drop Pretty Boy. It's like a signal. The team fires. The NVA fire back, but it's too late. The Cameraman hits the ground as the team charges the NVA. Drewry hits the ground, too, but he faces the rear, gun ready. BLACK. Gunfire. The Cameraman lifts the Camera. OD and Easy come out of the brush. Hammer stays behind and fires a slug or two into each of the NVA bodies. OD is furious. He heads over to Drewry, who is getting off the ground. OD is holding his stomach and blood leaks through his fingers. OD What the fuck are you doing?! Don't they teach you shit in fucking OCS?! You attack, fucker! Attack! DREWRY I was guarding our rear! That's what I was taught. In an ambush... Fuck it! OD That was Pretty Boy's job. The fire in OD is suddenly gone. He looks off screen and runs. The Camera follows. Cracker is laying on the ground, three bloody holes in his chest. CRACKER It hurts, Godalmighty, it hurts. Hurts like nothing ever did, OD. OD Pretty Boy! Morphine! Cracker grabs OD's sleeve and pulls him closer. CRACKER OD, Pretty Boy's dead. Cracker's words are soft and gentle. OD chokes up. OD Cracker, don't you dare die on me, motherfucker. I need you, you're my friend. Frye? Easy and Hammer join OD. There is blood pouring down Hammer's leg. CRACKER No sweat, GI. Three slugs ain't nothing. Guys catch worse and live, I seen it. Funny, I counted them when they hit. One, two, three. I just fell back real slow, thinking, "Shit, I been hit three fucking times". AK? OD I guess. Cracker lifts his head and looks at the foaming blood pumping from his chest. CRACKER Jesus, looks like a sucking chest wound, OD. Get something to plug it. Easy rips the plastic cover from a bandage and OD places it over the wound. HAMMER I got a morphine vial. Hammer hands the morphine to OD. OD prepares it. HAMMER We gotta move it, OD. The gunfire, the gooks must have heard it. OD You're gonna be okay, Cracker. We been through some shit together, huh, Frye? We'll get through this one. CRACKER Three slugs ain't nothing, I seen guys a lot worse. OD pulls up Cracker's sleeve to inject the morphine. CRACKER Save it, OD, don't hurt no more. Can't feel a fucking thing. Cracker dies. OD bends over Cracker's body, tears dripping onto Cracker's face. OD tips his head back to scream, but all that comes out is a tortured rasp. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. The bodies of Cracker and Pretty Boy lay next to each other under a tree. OD marks the spot on his map. OD We'll send a chopper back. DREWRY Americans never abandon their dead. No one pays any attention to Drewry. The team moves out. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. Drewry is cleaning his M-16 carefully, methodically. Easy is bandaging OD's stomach wound, wrapping duct tape around his middle. He watches OD's face, trying not to hurt him. Easy finishes and hands the tape to Hammer. Hammer tapes his thigh while he remains on guard. HAMMER Gonna be a beaut of a scar. (beat) I been thinking, I think I got Pretty Boy's luck. You figure that happens? You know, that luck just visits someone and then up and jumps onto someone else? He grins and looks at everyone. There is a bloody patch near his ear. The smile fades as he looks into the jungle. He thinks something over, chewing his cheek. He looks into the Camera. HAMMER In case... if I don't... If my luck jumps, you know... (beat) I want my folks, especially my old man, my dad, to know I did a damn good job. Maybe I wasn't any hero, but I did the best job I could. Hammer turns away, embarrassed. He looks back into the jungle. HAMMER But I got Pretty Boy's luck, I won't worry none. You know, I could almost feel it come onto me when Pretty Boy got... There is silence. OD gets up, wincing with pain. Easy watches him, feeling the same pain. Drewry watches them all, deep in thought. EASY Best I can do. OD It'll work. EASY OD, I'm scared. We're in deep shit. OD Stevie Wonder could see that, Easy. Easy restlessly, unconsciously, works the bolt of his carbine, jacking the rounds out of the magazine. EASY No, I mean, really, my shit's gotten all flaky. I'm not cut out for this shit no more. You gotta cut me some slack, OD, I can't hack it no more. Easy is intently serious, but on the verge of tears, trying to express his sincerity through his panic. EASY I don't wanna die. I didn't give a rat fuck before, but I do now. Maybe I'm too short. OD, you gotta cover my ass. Tears fall from Easy's eyes. He sniffs and wipes his nose with the back of his hand. He looks like a little kid. OD You out of pills? EASY (smiling) Can't get nothing by you, OD. Easy sees Hammer looking at him. EASY Don't look at me like that, motherfucker. I'll kill you. HAMMER (softly) It's okay, Easy. OD hugs Easy, but gingerly because of his wound. OD I'll take care of you, Easy, I will. I ever lie to you? EASY No sweat. I'm just a little fucked 'cause of Pretty Boy and Cracker, you know. Easy takes a deep breath and pulls back from OD. EASY Hey, OD, what's the difference between fish and meat? OD What? EASY If you beat your fish it'll die. OD smiles and playfully slaps Easy on the cheek. OD Dinky dau motherfucker. Now pick up that brass. Easy looks down and sees the cartridges and he's surprised. He picks them up. DREWRY Easy, here. Maybe this'll make you feel more secure. OD and Easy look at Drewry. Drewry has taken off his flak vest. He offers it to Easy. Easy takes it and shrugs off his LBE to put it on. Drewry and OD look at each other. DREWRY I think I should take over now, you're incapacitated. OD Like shit. DREWRY I don't want to argue. You'll hardly be able to walk with that wound. OD is angry. He takes a step toward Drewry, refusing to show the pain. Easy tries to help, but OD pushes him away with Cracker's shotgun. DREWRY See. I'll take point. OD And get us all greased. No way, GI. OD looks at Easy and Hammer for their reaction. Easy's fear is evident. Hammer gives him an "I don't give a shit" look. OD Hammer'll walk point. And we move now and fast. We got a pickup to meet. HAMMER Out-fucking-standing. You're one hard corps dude, OD. EASY And you're one silly, gung-ho fucker, Hammer. HAMMER Yeah, no shit. Like Cracker says... said... if you're gonna be a bear, be a grizzly. Hammer moves out first. The Cameraman waits for OD, who is leaning on Easy. OD motions the Cameraman ahead of him. DREWRY I'll bring up the rear. They follow Hammer. OD Watch out for booby traps, stay off the trails. Stop every few meters just to listen. HAMMER I can handle it, OD, cut me some slack. Hammer talks without stopping his progress through the jungle. HAMMER I ain't no cherry. I... Oh, shit. BOOM! Hammer is blown backward by the blast from a mine. The Cameraman dives for the ground. BLACK. The Cameraman starts to get up. Hammer's body is close to the lens, face and chest torn by shrapnel. His mouth is open and his wide, dead eyes stare at the Camera. The Cameraman scuttles away from the body. Easy bends over Hammer. EASY Oh, Hammer, I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry. Drewry is suddenly standing over Hammer's body. He picks up the M-60. DREWRY He's dead. C'mon. Drewry leads the way. OD and Easy walk past the Cameraman, looking at Hammer's body. Easy drops his rifle. OD picks it up. The Cameraman gets up and hurries after the others. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. Drewry, OD and Easy are crouched at the base of a tree on the edge of a small, burned village. There is nothing moving, just smoke curling into the sky from the burned huts. OD Let's check it out. Choppers'll be here soon. OD gets up to lead the way, but Easy has to help him stand. Drewry leads the way, his M-16 slung, carrying Hammer's M-60 at the ready. They enter the village slowly and cautiously. Easy drags his carbine behind him. There are bodies of old men and women here and there, a few children. There is a dead chicken, a dog. Drewry bends over one of the bodies. Mortar craters pock the ground. OD Careful, El Tee, booby traps. Drewry backs away from the body. The three men stick close together, carefully checking each body. DREWRY I wonder who did this, us or them. OD Does it make a difference? (beat) We wouldn't leave this much standing. Must be Chuck's work. OD tries to walk forward by himself as Drewry and Easy continue checking bodies. OD Keep an eye out. Chuck's crowding our ass. OD collapses. Easy and Drewry run over to him. DREWRY (to Camera) Put that thing down and give me a hand. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. A lean-to made from a poncho has been propped over OD. Easy watches him. Easy's tears have dried, but he is on the edge. Maybe over. OD I'm not saying all gooks look the same. (coughing laugh) It's just... I go to Sin City, all the gook faces look like some gook I shot. You know, spooky like. Ghosts. OD is silent a long moment. Easy turns away. Drewry looks at Easy with concern. EASY How about that morphine, El Tee? DREWRY No, we have to keep him conscious for the chopper. EASY (joking feebly) How about for me? Drewry smiles. OD That ain't counting the other dead men. GI's. The ones I didn't kill. OD jerks his head up, suddenly alert, and looks at Drewry. OD I'll be okay, El Tee. Don't worry about me, just keep an ear out for the chopper. EASY OD? Am I gonna die? OD Who'd want to kill a doofus ditty bopper like you? Drewry looks at his watch. DREWRY Half hour to pickup. The NVA will try something. EASY Chuck ain't shot his wad yet. OD We better prepare, set some fire lanes. You got a red smoke, El Tee? DREWRY No. OD You pop a red smoke for a hot LZ. We gotta let the choppers know Chuck's waiting, too. Here. OD hands Drewry one of his smoke grenades. Drewry looks at the grenade. EASY Don't sweat it, El Tee. Hell, what you want to do, live forever? OD tries to get up. A spasm of pain runs through him and he falls back down. The Cameraman runs over to help OD. BLACK. Sound off. CAMERA ON. Sound on. Easy and the Cameraman are inside a hut. OD sits in the doorway with the M-60, his back to the Camera. Across the village, Drewry is getting into position with the M-16 and CAR-15. EASY How you doing, OD? OD Can't feel my legs, but it don't hurt much if I don't move too quick. Should be hearing the choppers soon. EASY One good thing about the Nam. You hear a chopper, you know it's ours. There is a moment of silence. OD Here they come. Drewry starts firing. OD fires. Bullets rip through the hut. Easy and the Cameraman hit the ground. There is another sound that breaks through the gunfire. EASY Choppers! Pop smoke, El Tee! Pop smoke! Drewry readies the smoke grenade, but before he can throw it another one lands in the middle of the village. Green smoke. EASY Oh, shit! Drewry looks up at the sky and runs into the clearing toward the green smoke grenade. OD increases his fire to cover him. Bullets tear up the earth around him, but Drewry manages to kick the green smoke grenade away. Drewry dodges for cover and throws the red smoke grenade. The sound of helicopters increases and the firing of mini- guns is heard. The helicopters fire rockets. There are sounds of battle all around the village. Easy crouches down, his hands over his head. The ground fire ceases. There is the sound of helicopters and the mini-guns firing in spurts. The sound of helicopters is very loud. Easy is crying and hugging the ground. Drewry runs across the village and into the hut. DREWRY C'mon, move it! Move it! The choppers! Drewry manhandles Easy out the door and toward a helicopter hovering above the ground. The Cameraman pauses next to OD, who fires sporadically into the jungle. OD looks up. OD Move it, troop. The Cameraman follows Drewry and Easy. More gunfire sounds. The door gunner fires into the jungle. The door gunner is hit and he slumps in his retaining sling. The pilot waves Drewry and the others on. They get to the chopper and Drewry pushes Easy aboard. Drewry looks back and sees OD sprawled in front of the hut, trying to get up. OD falls. EASY OD! Drewry runs back for OD. The Cameraman puts down his Camera inside the chopper and runs after Drewry. Easy mans the chopper machine guns and fires into the jungle. Drewry and the Cameraman lift OD and drag him toward the chopper. OD screams in pain. The Cameraman is hit and falls, but he gets up and continues toward the chopper. Easy is screaming as he fires. They reach the chopper and manhandle OD inside. The Cameraman is hit again and he screams. Drewry steps onto the skid. The Cameraman is hit again and falls back, dead. The chopper lifts as Drewry, hanging onto the skid, reaches hopelessly for the Cameraman. He finally climbs inside. The helicopter lifts out of sight of earth. Only sky. BLACK. Sound off. THE END