Platoon

Sgt. Barnes:
Ya smoke this sh*t so to escape from reality? Me, I don't need this sh*t. I am reality. There's the way it ought to be, and there's the way it is.

Sgt. Barnes:
You talking about killing? Hmm? Y'all experts? Y'all know about killing? I'd like to hear about it, potheads.

Sgt. Barnes:
Are you smoking this sh*t so's to escape from reality? Me, I don't need this sh*t. I am reality. There's the way it ought to be, and there's the way it is. Elias was full of sh*t. Elias was a crusader. Now, I got no fight... with any man who does what he's told. But when he don't, the machine breaks down. And when the machine breaks down, we break down. And I ain't gonna allow that... in any of you. Not one.

Sgt. Barnes:
Y'all love Elias. Oh, you wanna kick ass. Yeah. Well, here I am, all by my lonesome. And there ain't nobody gonna know. Six of you boys against me. Kill me. Huh. I sh*t on all of you.

Bunny:
Holy sh*t, d'you see that f***in' head come apart, man?

Sgt. Elias:
I love this place at night. The stars... there's no right or wrong in them. They're just there.

Sgt. Barnes:
You all take a good look at this lump of sh*t. Remember what it looks like. You f*** up in a firefight... and I goddamn guarantee you a trip out of the bush - in a body bag! Out here, a**holes, you keep your sh*t wired tight at all times! And that goes for you, sh*t-for-brains. You don't sleep on no f***in' ambush! And the next sum'b*tch I catch coppin Z's in the bush, I'm personally gonna take an interest in seein' him suffer. I sh*t you not. Doc, tag him and bag him!

Sgt. Barnes:
Take the pain! Take it!

Francis:
It ain't D-E-R-E, it's D-E-A-R. And "Sarah" ain't got no two R's, King. Damn you're dumb.

King:
It don't make no difference, she know what I mean. She don't read too good nohow.

Chris Taylor:
Somebody once wrote: "Hell is the impossibility of reason." That's what this place feels like. Hell.

Sgt. Elias:
They don't know sh*t, Barnes, and chances are we're gonna run into something. Think about it.

Sgt. O'Neill:
That's just great Bob. Whadda you want me to do? Send one of my guys out to get zapped so some lameass just in from the world can get his beauty sleep? Nah!

Sgt. Elias:
Hey O'Neill, take a break! You don't have to be a prick every day of you life, you know.

Junior:
Simple, free your mind and the ass will follow.

Bunny:
Hey, I can dig it, man. When you smoke that sh*t everything kind of gets weird, you know what I mean? You heard that story about the gooks putting chemicals in the grass so we don't fight and become pacifists?

Junior:
Yeah, but don't you worry Bunny, 'cos you're used to kill anyway, man.

Bunny:
Yeah, but I still like a piece of p*ssy once in a while. Ain't nothing like a piece of p*ssy, except maybe the Indy 500.

Junior:
The only way you get some p*ssy man, is if a b*tch dies and wills it to you. And then, maybe!

Junior:
Free your mind, your ass will follow.

Chris Taylor:
The village, which had stood for maybe a thousand years, didn't know we were coming that day. If they had, they would've run. Barnes was the eye of our rage. And through him, our captain Ahab, we would set things right again. That day we loved him.

Sgt. Elias:
What happened today was just the beginning. We're gonna loose this war.

Chris Taylor:
Come on! You really think so? Us?

Sgt. Elias:
We've been kicking other peoples asses for so long I figured it's time we got ours kicked.

Chris Taylor:
Day by day I struggle to maintain not only my strength but also my sanity. It's all a blur. I have no energy to write. I don't know what's right or wrong anymore. The morale of the men is low, a civil war in the platoon. Half the men with Elias, half with Barnes. There's a lot of suspicion and hate. I can't believe we're fighting each other, when we should be fighting them.

Rhah:
And if there's a heaven and God I hope there is, I know he's sitting up there, drunk as a f***ing monkey and smoking sh*t. Because he left his pains down here.

King:
Somewhere out there is the beast and he's hungry tonight.

Chris Taylor:
Have you ever gotten into a mistake that you just can't get out of, King?

King:
There is a way out of everything, man. Just keep your pecker hard and your powder dry and the world will turn.

Bunny:
You know Junior, some of the things we've done, man... I don't feel like we've done something wrong. Sometimes, man... I get this bad feeling. I told the padre the truth man, I like it here. Get to do what you want, nobody f***s with you. The only worry you got is dying. And if that happens you won't know about it anyway. So what the f*** man?

Junior:
Sh*t! I gotta be in this hole with you man? I just know I shouldn't come.

Sgt. Barnes:
What's the matter boy? He ain't gonna bite you. That's a good gook; good and dead.

Sgt. Barnes:
Death? What you all know about death?

Sgt. Elias:
Police up your spare rounds and frags. Don't leave nothin' for the dinks.

Tex:
It's gonna piss on us all night. Gonna put a serious case of crotch-rot on that ugly face of yours, Junior.

Junior:
Goddamn, break your ass for the white man. Ain't no justice around here.

Chris Taylor:
I think now, looking back, we did not fight the enemy, we fought ourselves. The enemy was in us. The war is over for me now, but it will always be there, the rest of my days. As I'm sure Elias will be, fighting with Barnes for what Rhah called "possession of my soul." There are times since, I've felt like a child, born of those two fathers. But be that as it may, those of us who did make it have an obligation to build again. To teach to others what we know, and to try with what's left of our lives to find a goodness and a meaning to this life.

Sgt. O'Neill:
Bob, I got a bad feeling on this one, all right? I mean I got a bad feeling! I don't think I'm gonna make it outta here! D'ya understand what I'm sayin' to you?

Sgt. Barnes:
Everybody gotta die some time, Red.

Sgt. Barnes:
Martin, get your boots on. And the next time I catch you spraying skeeter repellent on your f***in' feet, I'm gonna court martial your n*gger ass.

Junior:
Well then court-martial me, motherf***er! F*** my ass, send me to f***ing Long Binh! You do your f***ing work! You white folks have got your last klick out of Junior!

Sgt. Barnes:
O'Neil, get me that centipede.

Sgt. O'Neill:
Sarge?

Sgt. Barnes:
Yeah, that long hairy red and black bastard I found in the ammo crate. I'm gonna put it in this boy's crotch, see if he can walk.

Doc:
This is bad, man. I've got bad vibes here.

Chris Taylor:
It's the way the whole thing works, people like Elias get wasted, people like Barnes just go on making up the rules any way they want. So what do we do? Sit in the middle and suck on it. We just don't add up to dry sh*t, King.

King:
Whoever said we did, man? All you got to do is make it out of here. It's all gravy, everyday the rest of your life, gravy.

Chris Taylor:
He killed him, I know that he killed him, I saw his eyes when we came back in.

Rhah:
How do you know the dinks didn't get him? You've got no proof, man.

Chris Taylor:
The proof is in the eyes, when you know you know.

Rhah:
Elias didn't ask you to fight his battles for him. And if there's a heaven, and God I hope there is, I know he's sittin' up there drunk as a f***in' monkey and smokin' sh*t, cause he done left his pains down here.

Chris Taylor:
Anyway you cut it, Barnes is a f***ing murderer!

King:
Right on.

Rhah:
Taylor, I remember when you first came in here, telling me how much you admired the bastard.

Chris Taylor:
I was wrong.

Rhah:
Wrong? You ain't never been right, about nothing! And dig this you a**holes, and dig it good. Barnes has been shot seven times and he ain't dead, does that mean anything to you, huh? Barnes ain't meant to die! The only thing that can kill Barnes is Barnes.

King:
Hey, Taylor, how in the f*** you get here anyway? You look educated.

Chris Taylor:
I volunteered for it.

King:
You did what?

Chris Taylor:
I volunteered. I dropped out of college, told 'em I wanted the infantry, combat, Vietnam.

Crawford:
You volunteered for this sh*t, man?

Chris Taylor:
Believe that?

King:
You's a crazy f***er, giving up college?

Chris Taylor:
Didn't make much sense, I wasn't learning anything. I figured why should just the poor kids go off to war and the rich kids always get away with it.

King:
Oh, I see, what we got here is a crusader.

Crawford:
Sounds like it.

King:
Shiiit, you gotta be rich in the first place to think like that. Ever'body know, the poor are always being f***ed over by the rich. Always have, always will.

Sgt. Elias:
First time?

Chris Taylor:
Yeah.

Sgt. Elias:
Then the worm has definitely turned for you, man. Feel good?

Chris Taylor:
Yeah, it feels good. I got no pain in my neck now.

Sgt. Elias:
Feelin' good's good enough.

Bunny:
I told the padre the truth, man: I like it here. You get to do what you want. Nobody f***s with you. The only worry you got is dyin', and if that happens you won't know about it anyway. So what the f***, man?

Sgt. Elias:
Barnes believes in what he's doing.

Chris Taylor:
And you?

Sgt. Elias:
Back in '65? Yeah. Now, no. What happened today is just the beginning. We're gonna lose this war.

Sgt. Barnes:
Elias was full of sh*t. Elias was a crusader. Now I got no problem with any man does what he's told, but when he don't, the machine breaks down. And when the machine breaks down, WE break down. And I'm not gonna allow that, from any of you. Not one.

Sgt. O'Neill:
Excuses are like a**holes, Taylor. Everybody's got one!

Rhah:
What did you turn in to the underworld for, Taylor?

King:
This here ain't Taylor. Taylor's dead! This here is Chris. He's been resurrected.

Chris Taylor:
Die you motherf***ers! Die!

Sgt. Barnes:
Y'all loved Elias. And you want to kick ass. Yeah. Well, here I am, all by my lonesome. And there ain't anybody gonna know. Six of you boys against me. Kill me.

Sgt. Barnes:
Yeah. I sh*t on all of you!

Lt. Wolf:
Barnes, what's the hold up? Six says we're jamming him up back there.

Sgt. Barnes:
Tell that dipshit to get f***ed!

Sgt. Barnes:
What the hell's the matter with you, Taylor? You are one simple son of a b*tch!

Sgt. O'Neill:
Guy's in three years and thinks he's Jesus F***ing Christ or something.

Chris Taylor:
She's a f***ing human being, man.

Bunny:
What are they doing over there? They're gettin' high, that's what.

Sgt. Barnes:
Stay outta this, Elias. This ain't your show.

Sgt. Elias:
You ain't a firing squad, you PIECE OF SH*T!

Pvt. Gator Lerner:
He said he was hit in a bombing raid.

Tex:
Keep this sorry cheese dick off my ass.

Sgt. Barnes:
That Son of a B*tch Knows What I'm Saying!

Ace:
Damn Right He Does!

Morehouse:
Ya F***ing Lame F***!

Sgt. O'Neill:
What do ya say there LT?

Tony Hoyt:
I say we waste the whole f***ing village!

Tony Hoyt:
What the f***s your problem Taylor?

All right, you cheese d*cks, welcome to the Nam. Follow me.

Well I'll be dipped in sh*t! New meat!

You dudes gonna love the Nam! For f***in' ever!

Capt. Harris:
Be advised, we got zips in the wire, down here.

Pilot:
Roger your last, Bravo Six. Can't run it any closer. We're hot to trot and packin' snake and nape, but we're bingo fuel.

Capt. Harris:
For the record, it's my call. Dump everything you've got left on my POS. I say again, expend all remaining in my perimeter. It's a lovely f***ing war. Bravo Six out.

Pilot:
Roger your last, Bravo Six. For the copy, it's your call. Get 'em in their holes down there. Hang tough, Bravo Six. We are coming cocked for treetops.

Chris Taylor:
They sent us into the valley the next day about 2,000 meters from Cambodia into a battalion perimeter. It felt like we were returning to the scene of a crime. Alpha Company had hit hard the day before by a sizable force, and Charlie Company had been probed that night. There were other battalions in the valley, we weren't the only ones. But we knew we were gonna be the bait to lure them out. And somewhere out there was the entire 141st NVA regiment.

Chris Taylor:
Somebody once wrote, "Hell is the impossibility of reason." That's what this place feels like - Hell. I hate it already, and it's only been a week. Some God damned week, Grandma. The hardest thing I think I've ever done is go on point; three times this week. I don't even know what I'm doing. A gook could be standing three feet in front of me, and I wouldn't know it. I'm so tired. We get up at 5 a.m., hump all day, camp around 4 or 5, dig a foxhole, eat, and put out an all-night ambush or a three-man listening post in the jungle. It's scary 'cause nobody tells me how to do anything 'cause I'm new, and nobody cares about the new guys. They don't even wanna know your name. The unwritten rule is a new guy's life isn't worth as much 'cause he hasn't put his time in, yet. And they say, if you're gonna get killed in the Nam, it's better to get it in the first few weeks. The logic being: you don't suffer that much.....I don't think I can keep this up for a year, Grandma. I think I've made a big mistake coming here.

Chris Taylor:
'Course Mom and Dad didn't want me coming here. They wanted me to be just like them - respectable, hard-working, a little house, a family. They drove me crazy with their God damned world, Grandma; you know Mom. I guess I've always been sheltered and special; I just wanna be anonymous like everybody else - do my share for my country. Live up to what Grandpa did in the first world war, and Dad did in the second. Well, here I am; anonymous, all right. With guys nobody really cares about. They come from the end of the line, most of them, small towns you've never heard of; Pulaski, Tenessee; Brandon, Missippi; Pork Bend, Utah; Wampum, Pennsylvania. Two years high school's about it. Maybe if they're lucky, a job waiting for them back at a factory, but most of them got nothin'. They're poor, they're the unwanted, yet they're fighting for our society and our freedom. It's weird, isn't it? They're the bottom of the barrel, and they know it. Maybe that's why they call themselves "grunts" 'cause a grunt can take it - can take anything. They're the best I've ever seen, Grandma; the heart and soul. But maybe I've finally found it, way down here in the mud. Maybe from down here I can start up again - be something I can be proud of without having to fake it; be a fake human being. Maybe I can see something I don't yet see or learn something I don't yet know. I miss you. I miss you very much. Tell mom I miss her, too. - Chris

King:
Oh sh*t, super lifer.

Sgt. O'Neill:
Hey, King! Collect up your sh*t; your orders just come through.

King:
Oh look, man; don't f*** with me.

Sgt. O'Neill:
Oh what, you need a written invitation for Chist sake?!

King:
COCKSUCKER!! Oh, wow!! The lifer's done made a mistake! They cut me some slack, Taylor!

Sgt. O'Neill:
You got 10 minutes to get the last f***in' chopper outta here, man, 'cause if you're not on it, I'm gonna be.

Sgt. Barnes:
You ignorant a**hole! What the f*** coordinates you givin'?! You wasted a lot of people up there with your f***ed up fire mission! You know that?! You know that?! Ah, SH*T! Redleg, Redleg...Ripper Bravo Two. CHECK YOUR FIRE; CHECK YOUR FIRE!

Rhah:
You wanted to see me, sir.

Lt. Wolfe:
Yeah, Ramucci...looks like you've got Elias' squad, now.

Rhah:
Squad, sir? I didn't know we were still referring to this platoon in terms of squads.

Lt. Wolfe:
All right, look...I want you to take those two holes - right there and there. You're tyin' it off with Barnes up here; King down there.

Rhah:
Yeah...beggin' your pardon, sir. My two holes are far enough apart you could run a regiment through 'em and never see 'em. I got five live bodies left, sir.

Lt. Wolfe:
Look, I don't wanna hear your problems, Ramucci. You get new men any day. Meantime you make due like everybody else, k?

Rhah:
I didn't ask for this job.

Lt. Wolfe:
I don't wanna hear it.

Rhah:
Oh, you don't wanna hear it?

Lt. Wolfe:
Yeah, that's right! I don't wanna hear it 'cause to tell you the truth, I don't give a sh*t, OK?! I just don't give a flying f*** anymore.

Rhah:
Right...

Chris Taylor:
DANCE, YOU ONE-LEGGED MOTHERF***ER!! DANCE!!!

We're gonna get high high high.

Chris Taylor:
New Year's Day, 1968. Just another day, stayin' alive. There's been a lot of movement near the Cambodian border, regiments of NVA moving across. A lot of little firefights and ambushes. We drop a lot of bombs and then we walk through the jungle like ghosts in a landscape.

Staff Sergeant Bob Barnes:
[to a wounded soldier] Shut up! Shut up, and take the pain! TAKE THE PAIN!

SSGT Barnes:
"Ain't no need or time time for a courtroom out here."