Original subtitles

[���]

One-6, this is 2-6.

We're about 0-2 mikes from the link up point.

Coming from your Whiskey, over.

Roger, 2-6.

We're 0-5 mikes out, coming in from the east.

Out.

Hey, McNair, wake up.

What do you think this is, a Boy Scout hike?

Wouldn't know nothing about that, Lieutenant Douglas.

Never was no Boy Scout.

Yo, you were trained to be a soldier.

Let's act like one.

Dude bucking for general, Grooms.

Yeah, General Pain in the Butt.

Get security out. It's a campfire.

Just put out this morning.

Good to see you, LT.

What do we got here?

Looks like Charlie forgot to cover his ashes.

Left some prints there too, Ho Chi Minh sandals.

DOUGLAS: Yeah, it looks like he went southeast.

I say we chase, try to catch him napping. What do you think?

Sounds good.

Hey, Binion. Hey.

Thanks. Yeah.

So how you all making it?

Need a break.

Old Hercules there is trying to run us till we drop.

Hell, you'll make it.

Remember jungle warfare school, Panama?

That 48-hour problem we had?

We were the only two that made it.

No, you made it. You pulled me along.

We were a lot younger then, Zeke.

Prettier too.

DOUGLAS: Sergeant Binion.

Move the men out. Yes, sir.

[GUNSHOTS] SOLDIER: We've been hit!

SOLDIER: Hold your fire!

SOLDIER 2: Forward, ho!

What the hell's Charlie doing?

He could have avoided this.

He's trying to get us to chase him.

Sucker us into an ambush.

You think we can flank him?

Sergeant Binion?

Yes, sir?

Take third squad, chase these guys.

Be careful. Don't get sucked in all the way.

I'll flank to the south. I got the north.

Anderson? Yeah.

[���]

[SPEAKING VIETNAMESE]

[GUNSHOT]

SOLDIER: Grenade!

Down! Down! Cassidy, down!

SOLDIER: Noooo!

Binion!

Let's go!

SOLDIER: Pick it up, pick it up!

SOLDIER 2: All right, we got one.

Nail that sucker, sir.

Get him for Binion, LT.

Kill the lowlife slope.

SOLDIER 3: Yeah, do it!

SOLDIER 4: Do it!

LT, what are you doing?

This man's a prisoner.

Well, ain't nobody gonna object to him being a dead prisoner.

Oh, damn. I'll do him myself.

I said the man's a prisoner!

And he'll be treated according to the rules

of the Geneva Convention.

Yeah, well, you tell that to Sergeant Binion!

Man, you gonna choke on those rules someday.

[���]

That's enough, Grooms.

You men guard this prisoner.

The rest of you men prepare to move out.

Yes, sir.

GOLDMAN: That new club The Blue Note's opening up tonight,

and there's supposed to be

a bona fide American jazz band there.

Well, the only jazz I'm gonna be listening to is on the radio.

I have to go back to work.

I shouldn't even be here now.

Come on, Alex. Look, we just got pulled back for a week.

It doesn't stop the flow of news.

Westmoreland's being replaced by General Abrams,

there's a bombing halt,

and Johnson's not gonna run again.

This war has brought down the president of the United States.

Doesn't that mean anything to you?

No, not when I get a week off from the field.

And that's a week I don't want to spend by myself.

I have a bureau chief who's after me about racial tension.

Plus I have to go do a big piece

on deteriorating morale.

How about doing something about my sagging morale?

Myron, I'm sorry. I have to get this done.

Tomorrow night, okay? I promise I'll be free.

Okay?

With my luck, we'll probably get mortared.

Excuse me. Oh, I'm sorry.

I didn't mean to interrupt your dinner.

Miss Devlin, I need to speak to the LT,

if you don't mind. No. She doesn't mind.

Saved by the sergeant. Just in time.

I've gotta go. I'll see you later, okay?

Mm-hmm. Bye.

Well, come on. I'll buy you a beer.

LT, uh, they want me to escort

Sergeant Binion's body back to the States.

A special request just came in from his wife.

Burial's in L.A. in two days.

I didn't know you guys were that close.

Yeah, we're old buddies, actually.

He helped me get through jungle warfare school,

few years ago.

You know, I'm honored about all this, but...United States?

You make it sound like you're going to Mars.

Two beers.

Well, in a way I am.

You think I could really leave?

I don't see why not.

We got nothing for the next week except, uh...

some perimeter guard and some scut detail.

When you supposed to go?

Well, I'm scheduled to fly outta here tomorrow afternoon.

Well, I'll steal a jeep and give you a ride to the airport.

All right.

Well, I don't know what will happen now.

We've got some difficult days ahead.

But it really doesn't matter with me now,

because I've been to the mountaintop.

Yeah. Yeah, right on.

Like anybody, I would like to live...

a long life. Longevity has its place.

But I'm not concerned about that now.

I just want to do God's will.

And he's allowed me to go up to the mountain.

And I've looked over.

And I've seen the promised land.

Yeah!

Right on, Martin!

So I'm happy tonight.

I'm not worried about anything!

I'm not fearing any man!

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!

That was the last address made by Martin Luther King, Jr.

before he was assassinated

on the balcony of his hotel in Memphis,

where he was lending support to a strike

by the local sanitation workers.

The assassin is still unknown and at large.

Repeating, Martin Luther King, Jr.,

shot down in Memphis, Tennessee,

April 4th, 1968.

We will continue to monitor the aftermath

of this horrible event.

President Johnson has assured the country

that everything will be done

to bring the perpetrator to justice.

He prays that people will remain calm

despite this terrible tragedy.

TAYLOR: Be calm? Back in the United States...

Be calm?!

They just saying that 'cause they don't want niggers rioting!

...to accept the loss

of this extremely charismatic and articulate leader.

Man, what the hell is going on?

Martin Luther King is dead?

It's over, man.

It's over.

I know, man.

No, you don't know!

It's over and done with, man!

And I'm done with it too! These damn honkies!

Man, it was probably a honky that did it.

There ain't no way around this.

I mean, white folks have been down on us,

and they gonna keep on

being down on us, no matter what we do.

I mean, Martin never did no harm to nobody,

and they shot him down like a dog in the street!

Man, this can't be true.

Well, it is.

I had it up to here, man.

I'm gonna fire on the next white bastard I see.

But even as she spoke,

word of Dr. King's assassination

was provoking an angry response as well.

There have been reports of violence

in cities all across the United States.

Leaders in those cities

are urging the people to remain calm,

but many cities have put their police on full alert,

bracing for the worst.

Once again, Martin Luther King, Jr.

has been assassinated

in Memphis, Tennessee, April 4th, 1968.

ANDERSON: It's been two years since I've been back to the world.

You know, when I first got word about going back,

I had a real good feeling about the whole thing.

I mean, it's not really a happy occasion,

but...you know, Binion gave his life

to save the lives of four other soldiers.

Then I start thinking, maybe the folks back home

might be looking at me like I'm the enemy.

Nah, not all of them.

Probably not even most of them.

Naw, I couldn't stand that, honest to God, LT.

I couldn't stand that at all

when I think of what our guys have given up--

Zeke, you just... take care of Binion.

And when you get a chance to have a good time,

well, you take it.

The rest of it's out of your hands.

SOLDIER: It ain't gonna be all right.

Yo, soldier. Soldier.

What's the matter with you?

You ain't heard?

We just got here.

Martin Luther King's been shot, man.

Killed.

Ain't nothing you can do.

I done my year.

I'm going home.

What kind of godforsaken place am I going to?

[MELLOW COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYING]

Sounds like the black soldiers are pretty upset.

What do you think they're gonna do?

I really don't know.

I'd like to think they'll behave themselves,

not bring down any unnecessary heat.

You worried?

I try not to worry about things I can't control.

But you must be kind of upset too.

I mean, I imagine it's kinda hard

to keep those feelings down.

What do you think?

You think you'll join the brothers

against the establishment?

I am the establishment.

But you're also a black man.

Don't you identify with your men?

Miss Devlin... I'm an officer in the Army.

My job is to lead these men no matter what I feel.

Now, if you'll excuse me,

I'm gonna go up, lift some weights.

Lift some weights?

Yeah. It takes my mind off things.

King's death is the most important thing

to happen to the black man in this war,

and you're gonna go lift weights?

What do you want me to do, cry?

Maybe.

I don't know. Yeah, maybe that is what I want. I mean, I cried.

Yeah, well, whatever I feel about King,

I'm gonna keep it to myself.

You keep a lot of things to yourself, don't you?

What's that supposed to mean?

Where you from?

Chicago. Why?

Southside, I bet, huh?

Projects?

Miss Devlin, when I want a biographer,

I'll hire one.

Right now, I'm a rifle platoon leader in Vietnam.

And I can't let up no matter how tough things get,

no matter what I happen to feel.

ALL: Thirty-five, 36, 37, 38. 39. 40.

JOHNSON: Honkies probably glad it happened.

Serve 'em right if we torched this whole damn place,

then turn it over to Charlie.

ALL: Yeah.

Instead of Mr. Charlie.

I've been hearing about this new group out of Oakland,

the Black Panthers.

Uh-huh. Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah.

They saying that the power

comes out of the barrel of a gun.

Maybe Malcolm X was right, man.

Maybe the white man is the devil.

Yo, check it out.

Everything all right down here?

What if it isn't?

I don't need your lip, McNair.

Yeah, we're doing fine, sir.

We're doing just fine.

Yeah, it's just the circumstances

that ain't too cool, you dig...sir?

I dig, Taylor.

What's happened is a real tragedy.

I feel the loss of Dr. King as much as any of you.

Maybe you ought to had up.

I won't had up until I've had my say.

Now, Dr. King's death is a time for mourning.

I don't want anyone using it

as an excuse for getting out of line.

Dr. King led an exemplary life.

If there's a lesson for the black man in this,

it's that he lived with dignity and honor at all times.

How would you know?

You the white man's fool.

[SOLDIERS LAUGH]

McNair, there is nothing foolish

about playing by the rules.

A man's life is meaningless without discipline.

Nobody's gonna break the rules, sir.

Hey, look, we just need some time

away from the whites

and away from the officers.

Very well.

But things get back to normal tomorrow.

Normal hell. [SOLDIERS CHUCKLE]

Somebody ought to frag that sucker.

SOLDIER: Yeah.

[KNOCKS ON DOOR]

Yes?

Selma?

That's me.

I'm Zeke Anderson.

I brought Art's body back.

I wanted to tell you, ma'am, I'm very, very sorry.

You're Zeke Anderson?

Yes, ma'am.

You requested me as an escort.

Uh...oh!

Uh, I'm sorry. Pl-please come in.

WOMAN [OVER RADIO]: The time has come, soul brother GI,

time to put down your guns

and stop fighting the white man's war.

Now that the white man has murdered Martin Luther King,

the truth should be plain.

Capitalist government using black soldiers

to kill yellow people

to line pocketbooks of white power structure.

Think about it, soul brother.

Man, turn off this jive.

It ain't jive, Marcus.

Little lady said a mouthful.

TAYLOR: A mouthful of bull is all.

She's just trying to use us same as everybody else.

Hope you ain't fool enough to think

she gives a damn about your black ass.

I bet you give Uncle Ho half the chance,

he'd have you out there working those rice paddies

like it was a cotton patch.

[GROANS] Oh, man.

Well...afternoon, guys. How you doing?

Oh, man.

You really shouldn't be here, Miss Devlin.

Probably spying for them ofay officers.

Look, I'm here because I'm concerned.

What I write goes from me to the wire service.

Nobody in between.

[SCOFFS]

Really.

Ask these guys, they know my work.

Listen, lady, I don't care what they know.

Personally, I ain't got no reason

to believe anything a white person says to me.

You. You only here to boost your career

at the expense of the brothers!

No, that's not true.

Why don't you get outta here?

Because I wanna hear what you have to say.

Story is...

we ain't taking no more stupid orders from the man!

And we ain't gonna be used by your kind, either.

So why don't you find a brother or sister reporter,

send them on down here?

'Course, there probably ain't any of those, are there?

I got this, McNair.

SOLDIER: Take her on back where she came from.

SOLDIER 2: Get on outta here.

Sorry. I didn't mean to upset anybody.

You didn't do nothing.

People already upset.

What's gonna happen?

Line's already been drawn.

Ain't no telling if anybody's gonna

ever be able to cross over again.

Why don't you, uh...?

Why don't you let us work this out?

Yeah.

He got those buck sergeant stripes

Fort Benning, 1962.

It was a happy day for all of us.

Jimmy'd just been born,

and we were looking forward to

better housing and more money.

Yeah, well, he was always talking about

providing for you and the kids.

And I tell you one thing,

that man never wasted a dime.

Yeah. He...always worked nights at the EM club so, uh...

Go on. Go on out.

So...we'd have something extra.

Sometimes I wouldn't even see him before midnight.

[���]

But there was always a lot of love in this house.

Art was a good man.

And he was a brave man.

[DOOR OPENS] You know, he, uh...

He got killed saving the lives of four other men.

I think you should be very proud of him, so should the children.

What he did was in the finest tradition of the military.

That the speech they give all you clowns?

Ben, please!

This is Sergeant Anderson--

I don't care who it is.

He's just another honky they send down here

to tell black folks where their people gone.

Ma'am, I am sorry as I can be.

Sorry about this! You're sorry about that!

Sorry about the whole damn thing!

Man, well, you just better get outta here.

You're gonna be real sorry. Ben!

Now, I don't want this to happen.

Hey, man, it's gonna happen. Get out!

Stop it! Stop it!

Don't you have any respect for the dead?

WOMAN [OVER TV]: ...predominantly black audience.

Kennedy then proceeded to speak,

without notes, to the crowd.

For those of you who are...black

and are tempted to fill with--

Be filled with hatred and mistrust,

I had a member of my family killed.

But he was killed by a white man.

Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote

so many years ago:

"To tame the savageness of man

and make gentle the life of this world."

Let us dedicate ourselves to that

and say a prayer for our country

and for our people.

Thank you very much.

[CROWD CHEERS]

Look here, Miss Binion.

I'm sorry if I've caused you more trouble or grief.

That was not my intention. I did not mean to do that.

Art Binion meant a lot to me.

And I'm sorry you had to lose him.

And I'm sorry about Dr. King too.

Now, I'll stay away from the funeral

if that will make y'all more comfortable.

You be there.

You were Art's friend.

That's what he would have wanted.

[���]

Yes, ma'am.

SOLDIER: So far, things have been pretty quiet.

A little name calling, a couple of fights,

Some good ol' boys flying the Confederate flag.

But the flag's down,

and we've managed to avoid any bloody incidents.

I think most the guys have done quite well, sir.

Maybe so. But we've got too many of them

sitting around with nothing to do.

One thing a soldier doesn't need

is to have his brain overloaded with thinking.

So we're going back out tomorrow.

Sir?

Going where?

Where? We're in a war, lieutenant.

We can find any number of places.

You'll be going back out to these infiltration routes

where you and lieutenant Douglas

got a pretty impressive body count a few days ago.

Sir-- It's important, Goldman.

Sir, what is important here is--

Is that the men have a chance to...absorb what's happened.

They are soldiers. We are trained to be ready.

And they're also human beings.

Now, this racial stuff is way outta hand.

These guys need their heads together

when they go out into the bush.

Well, perhaps they need to be in the bush

where they have to depend on each other

so they can get their heads clear.

I still think we're taking a big chance here.

Let's drop it, Goldman.

Not only have Lieutenant Douglas and I discussed this mission,

we've agreed that it's in everyone's best interest

if the lieutenant leads the operation.

Well, with all due respect, sir,

I think we're picking the wrong time.

And I also think this sounds like a PR stunt.

Well, you may be right.

But in a situation like this, PR can be pretty important.

The press will be watching us,

and I am counting on you and Lieutenant Douglas

to inspire some harmony in the field.

That's all, gentlemen.

You'll report to S-3 at 0630, skids up at 700.

How you doin'?

I'm sneaking by.

Getting ready for tomorrow.

Yeah.

Look...

Marvin, all I can say is I-- I didn't kill King,

and I don't want to take the heat for it.

Nobody's asking you to, man.

I also...tried putting myself in your place.

Maybe I'd hate every white guy too.

I mean, I, uh--

I used to laugh when this ol' boy

back home on the rodeo circuit

called Martin Luther King, "Martin Lucifer Coon."

I admit that.

And I'm sorry.

That ain't the point, Danny.

I mean, I laughed at jokes about white people too.

See, laughing ain't too evil, long as it ain't meant to be.

Well, we're gonna be in the boonies tomorrow.

Can we count on each other there?

Hey, that'll never change, man.

I just hope they still feel the same way.

DOUGLAS: I tell you, Myron,

I am sick and tired of the insubordination.

Ruiz and McNair are mouthing off to me all the time,

the rest of them moving slow as molasses.

I tell you, they screw up this mission tomorrow,

I will have them all up for company punishment.

How your guys doing?

Well, they're still a little tense,

but they'll be all right.

I was thinking maybe we should take it easy on them tomorrow.

You can't go into it with that kind of attitude, man.

Well, why not?

Some days you gotta adjust for things.

Wrong, buddy. You gotta treat it like you would any other...

[���]

...mission.

Grenade pin.

So this is the warning, huh?

Yeah, that's the warning.

You don't back off a little bit,

somebody's gonna throw a grenade in your hooch.

Yeah, well, nobody's gonna frag this officer, man.

I'm getting to the bottom of this.

Don't be-- You're not gonna get to the bottom of this, huh?

Maybe it's time you start thinking about

backing off a little bit.

Is that your answer for everything, man?

L-listen, look, all I am asking you to do here

is think a little bit, Sherman.

You--

Your methods are turning your men against you.

Now, there's discipline, and there's discipline.

But if you keep pushing these guys,

one of them is gonna kill you.

[SIGHS]

You know the nasty things they say about the ghetto?

Yeah. Well, that was my life.

For some reason, I don't know,

maybe my mother, maybe a teacher I had in the second grade...

but I decided to get out.

And I worked.

And I worked, and I worked...

so I wouldn't have to live like that again.

And you've done a terrific job.

In high school, when it was clear I was gonna go to college,

bunch of guys got together

to teach me a lesson about not knowing my place.

Five of them laid for me, man.

Well-- I could have gone home some other way,

I could've given them some jive so they'd leave me alone.

But I didn't, I went at them.

And I kicked every one of their butts that day.

A bunch of lowlife niggers is what they were.

As low as the white trash that tried to keep me down.

Look, I'm-- I'm not asking you to bow down to anybody.

I'm asking you to think here, use your head.

Use some judgment.

I know what you're saying.

And I appreciate your point.

But I've got to deal with problems head-on.

I don't know any other way.

Well, maybe it's time

you started to find another way.

That it?

Yeah, that's it.

It's, uh, about time to go, Ben.

That's a nice car.

[CHUCKLES]

Yeah. Me and Art...

pulled it out of a junkyard at Benning,

restored it ourselves.

Thinking about going into it after the war.

Yeah, he told me about all that.

Y-you know,

you-- You could still do that.

I mean, it'd still be a good business.

Hey, man, look. Don't push bein' buddies, all right?

You might be all right with Selma,

but I want you out of my face.

I'm not in your face.

I'm here because I served alongside Art Binion.

Big deal, McNeal!

He's dead. You alive.

How come you didn't cover the grenade, chum?

How come it's always gotta be one of us?

It isn't always one of you.

In case you haven't noticed,

corpses come in all kinds of colors.

Noticed? [PATS LEG]

Where do you think I policed up this limp?

Walking on the beach?

Ia Drang, '65.

Custer's good ol' Seventh Cav.

I've seen enough corpses to last me forever.

And I'm real sorry about that,

but there were a lot of white corpses

in Seventh Cav too.

Bullets don't discriminate.

Yeah, well, maybe I do!

Maybe I just can't get past the idea of a white man...

speaking over my brother-in-law's grave.

Well, I'll tell you what.

It was right after Tet. Bihn Ca it was.

Art lost four of his men. He lost four white men.

Spare me the sob story, all right?

No, it ain't all right.

All right's what it ain't.

Because at the memorial service for these four men,

these four white men,

Art got up, and he said a few words.

He had something individual and something personal

to say about each one of them,

like they were humans, like they were people.

He got beyond the color.

Let's move. Ground's waiting.

[���]

How's it going, soldier?

This mission's jive, and you know it.

Thought there's supposed to be

a lot of enemy activity around here.

Yeah, well, they gone now.

This is just the brass putting on a dog-and-pony show.

How is it between the black and white soldiers?

Well, can't you see?

One big happy family.

I don't think your soldiers

are too into this mission, lieutenant.

Not all soldiers have the big picture, either.

Well, it looks like we found that trail

we've been shooting for.

I'd say we're done for the day, lieutenant.

Now all we gotta do is get out of here.

Red Dog 6, this is Red Dog 1-6.

Completed sweep of Alpha Oscar.

No evidence of Victor Charles at this time, over.

MAN [OVER RADIO]: Roger, 6.

Proceed one klick to your November

for extraction in 20 mikes, over.

He's crazy. That's right at the trail.

Yeah, I know.

Uh, say again, 6?

That leaves us pretty open.

No need to say again, 1-6.

You proceed straight up that trail to the Lima Zulu.

Look.

6, this is 2-6. Th-- That's nuts!

We can't do that. Over.

You're not running this mission, 2-6.

1-6, you've got your orders. And no racial bunching.

I want the men staggered: black, white, black, white.

Do you read me, 1-6?

Read your Lima Charlie, 6.

You heard the man.

Let's get your men and move out.

His men probably ain't going. I know yours ain't.

That is my decision, Grooms.

No, that's my butt.

And I ain't about to put it on the line

so some honky desk jockey

can lie about racial harmony within the company.

Make sure you remember this, Miss Devlin.

We have orders. Move out.

Hey, look, we don't walk up trails,

even if we don't think Charlie's around.

Because Charlie's always around.

We'd be sitting ducks.

Lieutenant, you better get control of your men.

Come here.

[SOLDIERS MUTTERING]

I'm not taking my men up that trail.

Even if I wanted to go up it, which I don't,

I probably couldn't get them to go with me, black or white.

So you're refusing an order.

Well, you call it what you want.

All right, you men listen up.

I'm only gonna say this once.

In two minutes,

I'm heading up that trail to the LZ.

I am ordering all of you to follow me.

And what if we don't?

Then I recommend every last one of you

for court-martial for mutiny.

Let's move out.

Douglas...

you don't want to do this.

Now, you know this is a bum order.

Are you sure you know what you're doing?

Well, if you don't think so, why don't you just follow him.

That's not what I mean.

Can you get court-martialed?

Well, we're about to find out

because I'm not taking my guys down that trail.

MAN [OVER RADIO]: Red Dog 1-6, this is Red Dog 6. Over.

Roger, 6. Over.

Just got word from the recon ship, 1-6.

Got another Lima Zulu

half a klick to your Whiskey. Over.

Roger, 6.

What about the trail? Over.

This is straight from command, 1-6.

Save you some humping time. Out.

Well, there it is.

[SIGHS]

Let's move out.

See you in Fort Leavenworth, LT.

You may end up being my cellmate, Taylor.

You heard?

Yeah, I heard.

Let's didi.

It's for the best, Douglas.

It doesn't change anything, Myron.

We get back, I go to command.

You could forget it.

Yeah, I could forget it.

Then someone else will ask me to forget something else

and then something else.

Once it starts, it doesn't stop.

It was your choice. I can't let it slide.

What the hell's the matter with you, man?

Oh, come on.

You can't just go around court-martialing

everybody that questions an order.

Sure as hell can't do it in this war,

and you sure as hell can't do it

with those kind of orders.

You're making it sound like I'm Heinrich Himmler.

Maybe it wasn't the smartest order in the world,

but you can't stop and debate

every order that's not Phi Beta Kappa.

Don't you think you're missing the point, Lieutenant Douglas?

I mean, the face of this war is changing.

These guys live like animals in the bush.

They've got no support from the people back home

or even from their own government.

And you can't ask them to die

under those kind of circumstances,

not without giving them some sort of say-so.

I don't buy that, Myron.

The Army cannot survive with that kind of attitude.

Oh, bull-- I'm having serious questions

about your ability to command.

Yeah? And I'm having serious questions a--

[GRENADE HISSING]

You all right?

You all right?

Yeah. My God.

That was a grenade.

Somebody tried to kill me.

I can't believe they'd do that.

What's it all been for?

Take it easy.

I mean...

I try to lead these men, man, and somebody tried to kill me.

There's no physical evidence to connect this to anyone.

Not a shred.

Gentlemen, I don't know what more to do,

short of put everyone on a lie detector.

That's inadmissible evidence, sir.

We should let it drop, sir.

Whoever did this tried to murder you.

an officer in the greatest army in the world.

We can't afford to lose a man like you,

let alone ignore the threat this poses the entire officer corps.

I think the investigation's gone far enough, sir.

What happened to the Sherman Douglas of yesterday?

A man who went by the book,

goes by the rules, no matter what?

He got a new perspective, sir.

You put him up to this?

I-if I could find the guy that did this, sir,

he'd be up on charges right now. Sir,

if the investigation goes any further,

it's gonna bring down nothing but trouble.

What we've gotta do is find out why it happened

so it won't happen again.

I don't know. DOUGLAS: Nobody knows, sir.

If there's one thing I learned, it's that...

things have to change.

And if not, fragging's gonna become an everyday occurrence.

[SIGHS]

You're a pretty funny guy, Sherman.

Yeah, I've been a real barrel of laughs.

No. I mean, somebody or some bunch of guys try and kill you,

and you're downright relieved.

You ever worry about being perfect?

Are you kidding me?

My father's a general and a Medal of Honor winner.

What do you think?

Yeah, but I bet these grunts

or whatever group of grunts were here when you arrived

quickly relieved you of that, didn't they?

You're pretty smart for a college guy.

Yeah, but maybe my head was a little harder than yours.

I don't know.

These guys really took a load off my chest last night.

I think I'm ready to relearn the alphabet.

Well, you're a pretty fast learner.

You can get past this black and white stuff.

Let's not set any impossible goals, okay?

[INHALES, EXHALES DEEPLY]

Let's just try to lead by example.

DOUGLAS: Hey, guys...

let's shoot around.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

SOLDIER: They don't even know the game.

No work detail today, LT?

Is that all you think about, is work, man?

[CHUCKLES]

All right.

Yo! Come on! Pass the ball, man.

Let's play some roundball.

Come on, man. Nah, man.

Shoot it!

Johnson.

Yeah. Come on, man.

SOLDIER: Watch the bomb. There it is.

SOLDIER 2: I got it. GOLDMAN: Drop it! Johnson!

Time out.

Shoot it, Gomez! Shoot it! Shoot it!

SOLDIER 3: Aah! GOLDMAN: Shoot it, LT!

I got it!

Now, watch out, man.

MAN: Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord,

or who shall stand in his holy place?

He that hath clean hands and a pure heart,

who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,

nor sworn deceitfully,

he shall receive the blessing from the Lord

and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Sergeant Anderson.

[CLEARS THROAT]

This trip home here wasn't easy for me...

for a lot of reasons.

It's hard to lose a friend like Art Binion

when he gives his life,

but somehow it's easier

when you have to go back to duty.

To come home here and to share the loss and the grief

with his friends and his family...it...

It gives a whole other way of looking...

at the effects of this war, and when I--

When I think of this happening to 200 and 300 families

across the country every week,

it makes me doubt what I'm doing in Vietnam.

And to have come home and find this country,

this country that I love, all turned upside-down with...

With hatred and political and racial turmoil

doesn't make it any easier.

But then, maybe it's not supposed to be easier.

I don't know.

I don't know about the politics anymore.

And maybe we've gone too far to ever think that...

"My country, right or wrong, no matter what."

I don't know, but what I do know is,

Art Binion was a good man,

he was a good soldier and he was a friend of mine.

And he died just like he lived his life,

believing in truth and friendship and sacrifice...

and duty.

It reminds me of what Martin Luther King, Jr.

said one time.

"I hope that a man can be judged by the content of his character

and not the color of his skin."

And Art Binion did that. That's who he was.

And maybe if we could all do that...

even just one time,

maybe some of this hatred and misunderstanding

would just-- Would just fade away.

I don't know.

But four men are alive because Art Binion gave his life.

[VOICE BREAKING] And...

And that pretty much says it all.

And right face.

And ready.

Aim.

Fire.

[GUNSHOTS]

Aim.

Fire.

Aim.

Fire.

And left face.

Present arms.

Present horn.

[PLAYING "TAPS"]

On behalf of a grateful nation,

please accept this flag as a token of our gratitude

for your husband's supreme sacrifice.

[SOBBING]

[���]

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