We Were Soldiers | Canadian First Time Watching | Movie Reaction | Movie Review | Movie Commentary
Вставка
- Опубліковано 25 чер 2024
- Simone & George are reacting to We Were Soldiers for the first time! Canadians React!
For unedited full length version go to / cinebinge
Merch Store: www.cinebinge.ca
00:00 - Intro
00:59 - We Were Soldiers
29:55 - Discussion
Welcome to Cinebinge, we are watching We Were Soldiers for the first time!
Subscribe | Like | Share | Comment
Early Access & Full Reaction available on Patreon!
#moviereaction #melgibson #moviereview
Instagram: @cinebingechannel
Instagram: @simone.swan
Movie Reactions:
• CineBinge Movies
The Witcher Reactions:
• The Witcher
Squid Games Reaction:
• Squid Game
Band of Brothers:
• Band of Brothers
Blind Playthrough:
• Blind Playthrough
Also consider that the taxi driver was wearing an army jacket from the Korean War, meaning that character was a vet and had a much closer connection to the letters and the soldiers they were about than just a regular cabbie.
Not many other folks have caught that.
One of my favorite movies and never caught that
That thought had occurred to me, if either he was a ww2 vet or Korean vet.
This is based on a true battle. The first direct conflict between American combat troops and North Vietnamese regulars. The opening scene was used just as an example of the defeat of the French, which would lead to their withdrawal. The narrator is the actor portraying Joseph L. Galloway (who just died last year). Galloway was a Vietnam war correspondent and actually received the Bronze Star for his efforts to help wounded soldiers in the Battle of Ia Drang at LZ X-Ray. He is the only American civilian to ever be awarded the Bronze Star.
Damn Barry pepper died?
Or did you mean Joey Galloway
@@laflamablanca-kh4xv, Barry Pepper is still alive. Joe Galloway died in 2021.
@@laflamablanca-kh4xv underrated joke
still Joe galloway is one of the very few journalists I truly respect. Come on man the only civilian to be awarded the bronze star talk about bad ass
Broken Arrow - A code phrase indicating that a ground unit is facing imminent destruction from enemy attack and all available air forces within range are to provide air support immediately.
Also a name of a fantastic movie!
And they mean ALL aircraft. Bombs, rockets, napalm, or even bullets, if you have fuel in your tanks and armament that can be used for air to ground you turn and burn to that position
Pour all the firepower as close to us as possible. We'll hunker down and pray it doesn't hit us.
Also describes the state of an arrow that suffered structural damage
@@Kensei007 danger close
One thing I remember from when this came out, every soldier that you see on screen represents a real soldier there at the battle. The names are the names of the real soldiers. Every actor was given a biography of the soldier they were portraying. I thought that was an incredible touch
Yes. The film is not historically perfect but the adjustments to make it better flow as a film were minimized.
My friend played the radio operator with the glasses. He would call the man he played of he had a clarifying question
DUDE their reaction to 26:00 was Freaking funny, as that gnarly scene came into play😂
14:33 There is a "two-part" movie about the Battle of Iwo Jima by Clint Eastwood, one part from each side. 'Flags of our Fathers' and 'Letters from Iwo Jima'. Brilliant movies
Came here to suggest exactly this!
I actually way prefer letters from iwo jima if I remember correctly
@@zombie5505 Me too. Ken Watanabe is amazing in that film... I mean he is always amazing but the Last Samurai and Letters from Iwo Jima his performance is just so damn perfect.
Came looking for this comment to see if I needed to recommend these movies
Yes, they should react to these!
My Dad served with Hal Moore and was in the First Air Cav in Viet Nam. We lived in Fort Reilly at the same time as his family. We did not know them because they lived in Officer Quarters and we lived in NCO land but there was little difference in the way we lived. The one thing I dreaded the whole time my father was in country was seeing that government issue Ford come rolling down the street, that meant someone's father was dead. That's how we were told at that time. We lived on a different base in Kansas at that time and I will be forever grateful to the people of Salinas Kansas for the warm embrace they placed us all in. Hal Moore was exactly the man you watched in this film, The Sargent Major was actually a composite of a number of NCO's that were there that day. I knew the kids who's fathers died that day. Sorry crying so I have to stop.
Thank you for your dad’s service.
@@FannyAdamsGhost My deepest condolences. May he rest in peace.
My grandfather was in the platoon of Hal Moore and he died on the Broken Arrow.
He's names was Samuel Discis
Those black and OD green Ford LTD's ALWAYS meant bad news!..from Wyoming USA 🇺🇸 🤠
So are you saying that this whole time Hal moor’s unit from this story was from fort Riley? I was stationed there with 1ID from 2010 to 2014.
Joe Galloway gave his testimony years later, in reference to the man that was hit by a friendly fire airstrike, he stated "that boy is my nightmare". Given the scene where the man's flesh peeled off of him into Joe's hands is what really happened, I believe that wholeheartedly
The way Joe rubs his hands around in that testimony is haunting...you can feel his trauma
Really and truly Barry pepper Did a great performance
the helo pilot "Snake shit" recieived a silver star for that battle. About 40 years later it was upgraded to a Medal of Honor. The ceremony is on UA-cam.
Snake Shit and Too Tall both received MOH'S for that battle.
I guess pointing a pistol at the groin of a medical helicopter pilot after he literally pulls you sleeping from your cot does not immediately endear you to the brass. "You have the balls to face me, do you have the balls to face the enemy?!" The scene in the movie is based on a real altercation.
I met Bruce Crandall while helping host Nashville Salutes to Medal of honor recipients a few years ago. A real gentleman and very humble.
@09:30 "Who's Custer" Colonel Custer was a US Army cavalry commander who led his troops in a foolish attack against vastly superior numbers of Plains Indian Tribes in 1876 in a battle referred to as "Custer's Last Stand" and the "Battle at Little Bighorn." His troops were decimated and he was killed as well. So obviously, Mel Gibson's character isn't happy having his unit number changed to that which Custer had at that time of their destruction.
Custer was a cold blooded murderer who delighted in killing. He loved to massacre Native American women.
Gen Moore, CSM Plumley, Joe Galloway and many other 1st/7th veterans of Landing Zone X-Ray returned to Vietnam and got permission to return to LZ X-Ray with LtCol Huh An and NVA veterans of that battle. It was a very healing expedition.
Sam Elliot is so fucking cool in every movie he’s ever been in. This would have been a great movie regardless but he still steals every scene he’s in.
When he speaks in this film, I get chills everytime...
This is based on the book "We Were Soldier once, And Young" written by Joe Galloway and Col. Moore. The movie is literally the first half of the book. While it ends on a somewhat victorious note in the movie (in real life, there was no charge), their sister battalion, 2nd Battalion, was nearly wiped out while en route to LZ Albany a few miles away.
Yeah, the second half of the book is the "bad" part.
Not nearly wiped out but suffered twice a many KIA and inflicted far fewer enemy KIAs. Yeah, they truly got their ass kicked. Hal Moore describes 2nd battalion as the true heroes, and in no way glorified himself in the book. When I read the book, I was disgusted how Mel Gibson added the charge scene - it would have been better to tell it like it was, and that even though their 20:1 KDR was awesome, the fact that the Americans withdrew and the NVA maintained their position - and 20:1 was acceptable to the Vietnamese to defend their homeland while it slowly and final became unacceptable to the Americans, proved that this war was unwinnable by the USA. And that was all learned in the first focking battle. That should have been the lesson of the film. But American needed a feel-good war movie after 9/11 and to prepare it for the next 20 years of the same thing (and interestingly enough, America's tolerance for combat deaths has grown even more, with the public supported the withdrawal once the USA had lost ~4k soldiers, albiet even more wounded and traumatized.
@@wpwebtv The YT channel "The Operations Room" has 2 goodepisodes on this, one for LZ X-Ray and one for LZ Albany. I like their animations shown from an aerial POV as it helps to visualize what is happening.
After Vietnam the family notification process changed so you don't just get a letter. Now we have Casualty Assistance Officers who are trained exclusively in helping families through the notification and they travel with a team that usually includes a Chaplain (of the same religion as the family when possible). I've been part of the team before (as well as too many funeral details to count), I don't envy guys who have to do that every day.
Yeah, that was one of those colossal fuck-ups in organization that the army figured out and corrected. You always hope that they figure out and correct colossal fuck-ups. Sometimes they do that very well, other times they don't.
@@karlmortoniv2951 I wouldn't really call it a fuck-up, more of just a holdover from the way it was always done historically. In person notification was something that didn't really happen until after Vietnam.
@@MrQuaiven They sent telegrams via taxi drivers in WWII? The way it was explained to me by people who were around then was that the heavy losses caught the departments concerned, and others, completely flat footed and nothing was dealt with properly as they adjusted to circumstances. That description can cover a lot of sins, and everyone was probably trying their best, but it’s extraordinary that nobody thought about what it would have been like having a cab driver deliver a death notice. It had been a while since Korea, I guess.
@@karlmortoniv2951 If you watched Saving Private Ryan you probably remember the scene where the secretaries were all busy typing up the generic notification letters. WWII averaged almost 300 dead per day while Vietnam was around 10. At least a telegram delivered by taxi would arrive faster than a letter. I'm not trying to soften Vietnam, just pointing out that a telegram delivered by a taxi driver was actually a step up from a letter in the mail.
I’m not sure it was, but I haven’t been there myself. It is SO far from being anywhere near a cab driver’s job description to hand deliver death notices to the next of kin. That seems like the army seriously dropping the ball and not caring who picked it up. The other difference I’m seeing is that the country was aware that WWII was going on, whereas that was not the case with Vietnam so the first deaths had to have been like a bolt out of the blue. Okay, maybe we could rationalize it as a LOT of accidental sudden deaths happening all at once, I suppose? I can understand them falling down on the job in this case, but hopefully it won’t happen again.
Broken Arrow was a last ditch move, bringing in every bit of air support available and dropping every bomb they have. The reason it's last ditch is what you saw, it's incredibly easy to end up with friendly fire with Napalm. Most people don't realize napalm is like gel and sticks to whatever it gets on, burning right through most things, including people, which is why it's such a controversial weapon.
The whole deployment scene hasn't changed much over the years in the Army. In my 21 years, I deployed numerous times with various units. Some of the more traditional units with history (101st, 82nd) still follow the same deployment pattern. The deployment announcement and a field ceremony followed by a formal ball. We still get up super-early to muster and board the busses to the planes. The last night was always tough.
In the behind the scenes footage, Jack’s real life widow was present for some of the scenes and to see the pain on her face reliving everything through the filming of this movie is heartbreaking.
The bullets' you were commenting on are tracer rounds, they are usually loaded every 5th round or so. They are used to help adjust where you are aiming to hit the target. Downside is who you are shooting at can also use the tracer to have an idea of where the incoming fire is coming from.
The way they explained it when I was in Infantry Training School was succinct: "Tracers work both ways."
@@JimFinley11 They do not. You cannot see incoming tracer fire when it's pointed directly at you.
Also, the North Vietnamese tracers are green because they're using Soviet Union ammunition. Western powers have red tracers. It's simply a different chemical, but it can also help identify friend from foe.
Just going off memory here so might be wrong but this was one of the first serious big battles of the war so when the "Broken Arrow" came through what the "no hiding it now" meant was this is no longer a "peacekeeping mission" or whatever they might have called it, there's no hiding we're at war.
Less “peacekeeping”. The US were full on denying having any troops or forces in Vietnam at all - as emitting they did would mean the Soviet powers would have free will to do the same.
As such they denied having anyone there.
Did they have anyone there?
Yes at the time they had small groups of Instructors and small groups of elite trained special forces troops on what would be their first proper test in warfare.
Two of these groups would be the newly formed Green Berets and SOG teams - there is actually a quite tense audio recording on UA-cam that actually is proper battlefield recordings of a SOG team under fire waiting for extraction (the guys in said video would actually go into help create the SOG Prairie Fire DLC for Arma using many of their testimonies and actions to create the campaign).
This battle however was what finally forced the US to go public with what was going on as they couldn’t cover up this many casualties and deaths as well as the fact that several dozen NVA units has intact met them in combat.
If you want to see a battle told from both sides, I recommend "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima". Both are about the Battle of Iwo Jima in ww2 one is told from the US POV , the other from the Japanese . Clint Eastwood directed both and they were both filmed at the same time. Both are excellent movies.
I was going to say this. As you say both excellent movies. I think I prefer letters of the the two but best watched as companion pieces.
What's amazing and also hearwarming is that the two commanders of this battle, the american coronel and the vietnamise coronel, become good friends after the war.
Yeah, they met up in Vietnam and talked about the battle and such. Not an uncommon thing after wars. Remember reading in about the battle of Kursk and the author recounted while doing research he accidentally had an overlap between a Soviet and German veteran interview and was really worried till they started talking equally about their experiences and where each other was.
Part of the reason we have rules of war is less for the fighting and more to help move on afterwards. The view of the Vietnamese of those that fought the NVA versus the Viet Cong is a good example of this.
I recall an ANZAC Day here in Australia when I was younger. Some WWII veteran sailors of the Royal Navy's HMAS Parramatta encountered a German sailor who was on the German submarine who had sunk them. They invited him to parade alongside them and he joined marched with them.
I had the honor of meeting Colonel Crandall in 2014 when I was in the Army. In his speech he said that the scene when he pointed the gun at the other officer actually happened, albiet slightly differently, but the reason for it was the same as depicted.
"Why don't we let the politicians fight the wars they created?" Now there's a poetic thought I would whole heartedly support.
Little Big has a music video to this affect, with Obama and Putin beating the shit out of eachother on Live TV.
Well America just became China 2.0 with Biden still trying to punch his way out of wet paper bag
It's a nice sentiment that will NEVER HAPPEN. Why not? Because the same politicians that would end up fighting are the ones who would have to pass the law making it policy. These are people who vote raises for themselves. Do you honestly think they would even CONSIDER it!? PLUS, even if by some miracle it DID happen, the only thing that would change is who ended up elected. Our politicians would end up actually being soldiers in suits. And THAT is called a military dictatorship, no matter how you dress it up. And THAT is NEVER a good idea!
You can bet your last dime if politicians had to fight themselves, there would be a LOT more peace talks than dead people from war. The people that send soldiers to war almost never have to deal with the end results.
Roman Politicians agree, that’s how they won elections
So to answer some of your questions and answer some of your thoughts:
A lot of the initial family stuff isn’t actually that far off for the time period. Large families were the norm.
My grandfathers and grandmothers on both sides of my family had somewhere from 4-10 brothers and sisters (a couple adopted but the vast majority were born to the family).
The build up on training, parade and dance is very common for almost every combat unit across the world. You train, get some time to rest, go on a parade for your unit, get an couple more days to sort affairs, a balls and maybe a day or two extra but after the ball you are scheduled for deployment and your going out - the ball is a nice way for everyone to get together as friends outside of battle and for their wives to get to know one another and also just for some fun.
Yes the counting is entirely about how long it’ll take for them to land, deploy and for the helo to clear the area. During Nam due to the knowledge that landing zones could be highly contested areas and also quite easy to turn into a kill zone if everyone took their sweet time, the soldiers were taught how to quickly get off and move into defensive positions to provide a cordon around the LZ so that when others landed they were better protected.
Due to how much the NVA and VC liked to attack landing zones or learned to set up ambushes around areas that they would guess the US would deploy from using their helo’s, it became very normal for US transport helo’s to be accompanied by attack helicopters (gunships) to help flatter the area before the landing, then have all their guys laying down a massive amount of suppressive fire as they were landing.
Your question on “do bullets do that”. Yes and no. A normal bullet won’t, however these specially designed one do. They are called “tracers” - so whenever you hear someone in a war movie talking about tracers you will know what to look for.
Tracers when fired will essentially ignite a chemical in them that causes the round to glow bright. This is used to help a person direct their fire as bullets fire at such a fast rate trying to actually eyeball keep a track of them is impossible. So we have tracers that help to give you a nice big glow to plop your eye too.
These are used in both the day and night - tho are primarily more useful at night due to standing out more… but are also a double edged sword as well… you see where your bullets are going, your enemy see’s where they come from.
What’s it like fighting someone face-to-face compared to at range.
While it still contains the same feeling of “I’m killing a person” the instincts of “me or him” very much take over still.
However, you are correct, it does become much more personal and much much more brutal, as you now spike that “him or me” mentality extra high. Guns can make two exactly different sized people equals. A fight with bayonets, rifle butts and fists… if you don’t put your all into it your definitely not walking away.
“Broken Arrow” is the term given to a United States unit requesting for maximum artillery and aircraft support as its position is either overrun or completely untenable (I.e. about to be overrun).
Note this isn’t just something you call willy nilly. This is a straight up notification that you are in dire straights and if no help is deny you are dead men.
It’s also an extremely risky thing to call in as it’s very likely these pilots will be dropping this ordinance “danger close” to your position - anywhere outside 600m (for mortars) to 2000m (for naval guns of 5” or larger). Aircraft like this your likely talking Danger Close being 1000m.
So yes calling this in is extremely risky and as the movie showed, even small miscalculation from the pilot or stress of the Aircraft Controller can cause serious and fatal consequences.
The fire which you guys are so interested in and how it moves is called Napalm. You’ve likely heard the phrase before in life as it’s quite common for people to use it in Pop-Culture.
Essentially Napalm is boiled oil. Once boiled it’s held in a container and is highly reactive and flammable and extremely hot and sticky.
If you hit with this stuff, your essentially going to be charcoal if your at the centre of it, extra crispy on the outside and even if your outside the flame, extremely burned and properly dying of lack of oxygen.
“Can’t keep this hidden” refers to the fact that at this time in the war, the US were in complete denial of having combat troops deployed to Vietnam - as Soviet and Communist states were declaring they did and if so they should be allowed to deploy their own armies into Vietnam like them.
As such the US denied it however continued to deploy over small numbers of newly raised and formed Special Force Teams (such as the Newly founded Green Berets and SOG team). These guys would be deployed into Nam to go behind the lines or help to train and reinforce the South Vietnamese forces (known as ARVN).
As such this battle was essentially the turning point in “keeping it quiet” as they very much expected this to be a small “in and out” engagement that could easily be saw as a test for their new Air Cavalry idea and also shoved off as a win for the ARVN even if they didn’t participate.
However with NVA forces drawing the US forces into a full on pitched battle that saw an extreme amount of casualties on both sides, the US could no longer deny involvement.
- interesting note. The engagement we see at the start of the movie you’ll haven’t noticed wasn’t against the Americans and that the men there were likely speaking French. This was because Vietnam and several countries around it like Camboya and Laos were actually all colonies of the French known as Indochina.
The people of the region would actually form together and fight the French off their soil which would lead to the fracturing of each of these countries into their independent states - it would also be the reason to why North Vietnam and South Vietnam were separate states. As when the French began losing bad they called upon their American and British allies to help intervene as such those under Ho Chi Minh found supply and backing by the Soviets and Chinese. As such when the US and British refused to aid in war but would in peace settlements, they managed to broker a peace that saw both the North and Soutj states split. As such that’s why you have a American/Western backed south and a Soviet/Eastern backed North.
Thank you. I have no (zero) connection to the channel, but I am sure your concise comments were appreciated.
At this time America's military commitment in South Vietnam was common knowledge. No attempt had been made to hide the presence of large American conventional forces in Vietnam since the first Marines arrived in March 1965 to protect an air base (I don't remember if that was Ben Hoa or Na Trang). The numbers grew from there: first more Marines were needed to pacify the local area around the base, then the army arrived to take the fight to the enemy throughout the country. “Can’t keep this hidden” refers to keeping knowledge of American difficulties, especially a defeat with major casualties, away from the American public who were raised to believe in American superiority and were told that they were winning as always.
Immediately after this battle the Americans took another beating. The troops that relieved Moore stayed there for a couple of days and then, instead of leaving by helicopter, they were told to hike a few kilometres to another landing zone as a show of force. They were ambushed en route with similar casualties to Moore.
Ahh, thank you for doing all the legwork! I wanted to post something as long-winded as this but I KNEW someone else already had, ty!
One movie that does a great job showing both perspectives is Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970). It is about the Pearl Harbor attack and actually had multiple crews and directors creating it, a Japanese and an American shooting their parts respectively.
And of course as others have mentioned already, Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima (both 2006) are showing the battle of Iwo Jima from both perspectives.
My cousin has worn his dog tags for 23 years he has never once took them off when you get them he explained it that it’s one of the first things they issue you and it is vital to keep on you bc if something was to happen where we aren’t identifiable the dog tags are all they have to do so. They ingrain it into you that you have to wear them.
Pretty much correct, but there is more to it reference dog tags.
Spent 26+ years in Special Forces, airborne infantry, and armored cavalry. 1970-1996. Wore my dog tags on duty, but did not have to wear them off duty. They can be irritating. Through infantry officer basic, airborne school, Ranger School, and Special Forces qualification, no one ever "ingrained" it into us that we had to wear the tags other than on duty. Of course, "on-duty" depends; in a combat zone, such as Vietnam or Korea or Afghanistan or Saudi, even if you are off-shift or have a day off, you still might wear the tags all of the time--any moment a 122mm rocket or a mortar round from an inflitrator might hit.
I always chuckle when watching military-themed movies and see the actors wearing dog tags at crazy times: In the original Top Gun, they wore the tags while playing volleyball off-duty (with the tags slapping them in the face!). In this film, which is a really great depiction and faithful to the book, Moore wears the tags at night in his quarters. I never, ever saw this sort of thing. Bottom line: You wear the tags when enemy action id possible.
Note: Some units or individuals would wear another dog tag through the laces of one of their jungle boots. If you were hit by a mortar or artillery, and the tags around your neck were lost, then the tag on the boot could be used to identify the body. Seriously.
I believe movie directors require the dog tags (when real soldiers would not be wearing them) for the sake of making the scenes "dramatic" and "military" or to make the actors look super-tough.
@@4325air Everybody's a little different. For about half my career I was on jump status and it was required to wear dog tags 24/7/365. Most of the regular units I was in didn't really care much about it though. I also wore them on my boots but not many others did. Been a long time since I have thought about that kind of thing. 1987-2009.
@@4325air my cousin has been in since 98 he was a rifleman from 98-01 went to recon in 01-07 and is now a warrant in MARSOC. Different last name than me but dudes been in every major conflict of the GWOT since it started almost I thank you for being the forefather to him granted was a different branch but much of what he did was ttaight by you guys in SF with a mix of the force recon element I’m sure you know more about it than I do.
I wore my dog tags in garrison 24/7 because they were an inspectable item and my ass would get smoked if I forgot them in the barracks lol
I got a 0300 contract I’m on so I’ll confirm in the new corps what it’s like😂
The French battle of Dien Bien Phu is depicted like a small-ish skirmish in this movie. In reality it was a massive battle, taking several weeks, thousands of soldiers on both sides, artillery barrages, several paradrops.
Complete disaster for the French. There was a great history Channel special on it a number of years ago :)
Paradrops in Vietnam? That seems awfully brave
The ambush scene at the beginning of the film was not a part of the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu. It did happen, but after the French were defeated at DBP. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mang_Yang_Pass
It was not Dien Bien Phu, it was an ambush in the Ia Drang valley.
@@SirHenryMaximo en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mang_Yang_Pass
If you thought Sam Elliott was difficult to recognize without his mustache, you need to see a pic of him from his Mission: Impossible days!
War films are never easy to watch, but I feel they are necessary to help understand what it is that soldiers fight for, and to help garner the respect for those willing to die for the lives of others.
Yeah but they are always made by the wrong side
I felt that because the man with the glasses died like the others on his side shows that each of the enemy soldiers had a life and family as well and that he was just one of many that were real people. It humanized the "enemy" for the audience.
the slomo bayonet charge where Hal shot the guy in the head was to bring back the same scene in the beginning when the french officer was stabbed, so the scene was to make you think Hal was going to be stabbed the same way.
And for Simone's benefit: the soldier with the glasses gets a call-back in a deleted scene where Hal Moore meets with General Westmoreland (commander of all US forces in Vietnam) after the battle, who is pleased with the 'victory' and sees it as boding well for US involvement in the war. Moore recognises the PAVN man's courage and sacrifice, and suggests Westmoreland's confidence is misplaced. You can find it on UA-cam.
You need to react to "good morning Vietnam" it stars Robin Williams as a radio broadcaster during the Nam war.
My father was in the Platoon that went in after them. He was the only survivor. He died a few years ago after battling cancer, one of the many ailments he suffered from Agent Orange chemicals sprayed on them. He told me about some things, but in the end, the only conclusion he came to about any of it was, "War is Hell".
@@wpwebtv Thank you. I'll look for them. Never knew there were documentaries. He told me the story of what happened. I'll have to see if one matches his description. He was shot and stabbed. I don't recall him saying anyone else survived.
If you want a perspective of a battle through the eyes of 'the other side' I'd highly recommend watching both 'Flags Of Our Fathers' and 'Letters From Iwo Jima'.
Best recommendations
These two are WW2 movies. I think they meant the Vietnamese point of view.
Custer was infamous for leading the 7th US Cavalry into a slaughter known as Custer’s Last Stand, at a place called Little Bighorn. My great great uncle was a major in a different cavalry regiment, but they were the first to receive word about the catastrophe.
Custer was also warned not to go in especially without his infantry support. He chose to ride in blind and without backup. He was not anywhere near a hero but an arrogant moron.
They were filming this as I was attending Airborne School at Fort Benning, GA. It's a 3 week training course. The night scene where the Soldiers were boarding the busses was filmed the same morning I started the second week, also known as "Tower Week". You don't show it here but there is a wide shot with those towers in the background.
If you look in the background when they get on the busses, you can see the modern blue strobe lights of the m.p.s blocking traffic.
Sam Elliot’s character was a real life person. His name is Sargent Major Plummley who served in WWII, KOREA and Vietnam. He was the best friend a Soldier could have when in battle!
Mel Gibson always delivers. Great actor, and increbile director as well.
BrokenArrow was code to call in all available combat aircraft. IT was called to try and prevent the whole unit from being overrun and destroyed. Basically any aircraft that could provide support to them cam in and dropped their payloads at the direction of the commander on the ground (ie the radio operator). The "We can't hide it now" is in reference to the fact up until that point of BrokenArrow being called all that really knew how bad it was, was the Unit and their command that sent them in. Once BrokenArrow was called every branch and every group knew. Sargent Major Plumbly's comment about "now its a beautiful day" was his way of commenting on the fact that he was glad the guy survived and it was a Beautiful day because he was still there (at least that is my take).
To George's earlier question, Clint Eastwood made a 2-part film in 2006 about the Battle of Iwo Jima (Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima). One from the American side and one from the Japanese side. While Flags of Our Fathers is more of a typical American viewpoint of a significant battle, Letters From Iwo Jima is a powerful hard-hitting drama, entirely in Japanese, that illustrates the different pressures and cultural perspectives of Japanese conscripted men pretty much forced to fight for their country.
Another film I'd recommend (though not for Patreon or UA-cam since it's a minimal film) is called The Messenger (2009). It follows two Casualty Notification Officers during the Iraq war. It's an emotional rollercoaster of a film but really focuses on an aspect I had no understanding of or just the notion of such a job. It's one of Woody Harrelson's best performances and while is a small film in scope and narrative, it's a fantastic viewpoint of war from the viewpoint of servicemen tasked with one of the worst jobs imaginable. Just something to watch on your own, as it probably wouldn't make for a good UA-cam video.
"There's no hiding it now." They were keeping these "training exercises" on the downlow, but with a basic, "All call" for help with the broken arrow, it was going to get out in the press.
If you're interested in a movie from a Vietnamese perspective; "The Scent of Burning Grass" (often seen translated as "The Smell of Grass Burning" is the first that comes to mind. It's in Vietnamese, but you can find it with English subtitles
The "No hiding it now" line has direct parallels to the current War in Ukraine. During the Vietnam War, the US were in South Vietnam as "advisors" to the South Vietnamese govt. and it's army. US military personnel were involved in smaller skirmishes but nothing in the level of the battle depicted in the film. This event was the Battle of Ia Drang with special emphasis on LZ X-Ray where the fighting was at it's heaviest.
Until this battle the military has been able to hide casualty numbers since it was in smaller sizes from smaller unit engagements. This battle opened the eyes of the country and the government that the US wasn't there anymore as "advisors" but becoming the main force that kept North Vietnam from steamrolling down south. This battle was also the first time US forces and North Vietnamese forces fought against each other as large units. The Viet Cong guerillas were the usual opponents that the US military had to deal with.
But the casualty ratio at Ia Drang was so heavily in America's favor that the battle was instrumental in convincing the American leaders that they could win in Vietnam by doing 'more of the same' - ie, by sheer attrition.
@@GK-yi4xv Pretty much what Putin is thinking when it comes to Ukraine. He has a much bigger military and bringing up 300k more soldiers will win him the war.
The US govt. made the mistake (same one they made in Afghanistan) of trying to prop up the S. Vietnamese govt (corrupt and inept) and the ARVN (useless) piecemeal in the early 60's instead of going all in or just not going in, at all.
We see the same happening with Ukraine. Putin had a better chance of capturing all of Ukraine in 2014 once he annexed Crimea, but instead settled to just "advising" and "assisting" the Donetsk and Luhanks separatists.
US govt. followed the Truman Doctrine and the threat of Soviet communism spreading throughout Southeast Asia if even just one SE Asian country fell to communism.
“No hiding it now” means that it would no longer be possible to tell the political tale back in the U.S. that this wasn’t a full on war in which the U.S. was directly engaged against the regular North Vietnamese Army, that it wasn’t just a limited counterinsurgency action against irregular Viet Cong guerillas being fought by the South Vietnamese with limited assistance from American advisors.
Served with the 1st Cav in Vietnam. Referring to the Vietnamese soldiers as Charlie is from the letter C in phonetic alphabet. Charlie was shortened from VC, Viet Cong, Victor Charlie.
Always love watching your reaction videos. I would also recommend Hacksaw Ridge which Mel Gibson directed.
I really hope they do Hacksaw Ridge eventually.
Yeah, this was just a battle, based on a book written by the participants. Nothing terribly special. It was released after 9/11, so it was well received as America was at war again, and would ironically make the same mistakes again. Hacksaw is one of those movies (a true story as well), that is like 'Holy Crap, why haven't historians been preaching this from the mountaintops?' An incredible story based on the bravest RL character I've ever seen on film. Truly a diamond in the rough.
@@dansiegel995 Yeah this was a very good movie and depiction into the events that happened. Always affects me more when they are based on true stories.
Makes me appreciate the residents in my nursing home (and others I've worked in) all the more, as many of them lived through WWII. Some the stories I've listened to, still gives me nightmares.
yeah, i was gonna say, Hacksaw Ridge is another great Mel Gibson film.
I was a kid in this time period... they really aren't hamming up the family aspect... it was pretty much like this. There were certainly more big families at the time... 6 kids in my family, 4 to 6 kids was the average. Moms had jobs but lots stayed home and dad brought home the bacon... certainly not ideal and probably hid lots of problems for certain families... but it looked like that on the outside for all families.
i dont have irl friends, so i just wanted to thank you both for being there and doing what you do, it makes me feel like having a good time with 2 friends, watching and enjoying a movie together - thank you very much
"Helicopters are weird"
As a helicopter pilot, yes they are.
Also, the swirling of the explosion is because of the vortices coming off the wings of the airplane that dropped them.
I've heard it said that helicopters don't actually 'fly', they batter the air into submission. 🙂
This is actually the second movie you guys watched where Custer was referenced with the first being Last Samurai.
Also, the "Charlie" nickname is a shortened version of Victor Charlie, a nickname for the VC or Viet Cong, like in WWII, calling the Germans, Gerry.
Last I checked there was something like 80 NVA killed for every American service member killed and that's not counting non uniformed combatants like the Viet Cong.
By the time the US pulled out the NVA barely existed and had only 8 months of supplies left as their relationship with their main supplier China worsened.
In 1979 China would try to invade Vietnam but would be repelled.
Fun fact the main reason the US actually got involved in Vietnam was to help the French as it was a French colony and France is an ally to the US the "Stop the spread of communism" bullshit was just to get everyday people on board. The US was willing to try to negotiate with Ho Chi Minh as the US has worked with him before but the French denied it. What makes the matters worse is that after the French denied allowing negotiations with Ho Chi Minh and deciding to go to war the French proceeded to decide they didn't want the colony anymore... So now the US was stuck in a war they didn't want to be in against a country they didn't want to fight just because Americas enemies were supplying them when originally the US wanted to negotiate and even support ho Chi Minh.
Agents of the OSS, the Office of Strategic Services - the precursor to the CIA - were parachuted into the jungles of North Vietnam in early 1945 to make contact with him; in fact, a US medic helped nurse him back to health from dysentery and malaria.
The initial US intelligence assessment of Ho Chi Minh was that he was more nationalist than communist and was an acceptable partner. So, the US provided him with weapons and training teams to help teach his Viet Minh guerrillas how to fight.
Meanwhile the US gets all the blame for how Vietnam went down and France gets none of the blame.
To me the enemy soldier with the glasses with the picture of his wife, the fact he was killed like that was what was impactful. A lot of times war movies show the other side as nameless faceless enemies like a video game. The fact he did have some backstory only to be killed so fast highlighted the fact each and every one of the other enemy soldiers that are getting mowed down were people with wives or families and stories too just like him.
Every third or fifth round; depending how your unit does it, is a tracer round and it lights up kinda helping you keep count of your own rounds and it shows you where you are shooting at if you don't have night vision googles; the tracer round has a pyrotechnic composite, that ignites when fired.
I saw this film in Basic Training at Fort Benning. Many of the scenes were filmed there and I actually did training across from the Officer's homes shown in the film.
This is the hardest war film for me. I went on a binge of them as a teen cause my step dad had them. This is the one that really cemented what war meant though. Your shock in the beginning of Saving Private Ryan will fade as the movie goes on (very slightly, but it will) this movie doesn't let up at all.
I realize this is an older video but the Ken Burns documentary The Vietnam War spends close to half the time interviewing former NVA and Viet Cong soldiers and explaining the N Vietnamese POV. Also the reporter from this movie, Joe Galloway, is interviewed many times in the documentary.
True story: In 2006, after Hurricane Katrina, I worked a three-week rotation at Knight-Ridder Newspapers national office in Washington D.C., serving as an editor for stories coming in from dozens of reporters covering the disaster in Louisiana.
Joe Galloway worked in that office, the reporter who was with the Calvary during this battle. At one point during my time there Gen. Hal Moore (played here by Mel Gibson) came in to visit with his old friend Joe and we all got the chance to sit with the two of them and listen to them talk about this battle, the book and movie, and more contemporary military issues. It was a really special couple of hours in my life. Great men.
My uncle Ralph Brown was killed in this battle. He was a paratrooper killed before he touched the ground.
This battle was not meant to be publicized. This was the very beginning of the US involvement in the war. Broken Arrow can refer to many things (the Travolta/Slater movie refers to a lost nuke). Here they are referencing the fact that now the world will know we were in it. Cats out of the bag.
There are more murders committed with knives today than any other weapon. Stabbings are the worlds preferred method.
At the beginning, the French bugler was one of Mel Gibson’s sons.
Another great military movie about the home life is The Great Santini.
Never heard that before. Thank you.
I had watched a documentary on a soldier who took the photo from a dead Vietnamese soldier who then returned it to the family in Vietnam years later. It was a heartbreaking documentary. It feels to me that this movie only referenced the event than give any real detail.
Tracer rounds have a compound in the base of the bullet, that ignites when the bullet leaves the barrel. Ammo used in belt-feed weapons, every 5th projectile is a tracer.
You guys keep on nailing these reacts…I never liked watching react videos until I came across you, your chemistry is the best
The moment when the NVA soldier tried to bayonet Col. Moore wasn’t supposed to show how badass He was ,but how close the enemy got to him. And also to show that everyone is human and have a life waiting for them
"Broken Arrow" is a code that means "we're fucked... use all force available"
My father was an enlisted sailor before and during Vietnam. He was honorably discharged in 1968. When he went to his 10yr Highschool reunion in 1972, there was only a third of the graduating class left.
Great movie, and fairly accurate as to the actual events and historical context.
White kepi of french foreign legion military uniform is worn only by enlisted men , never by officers and not in combat missions in Indochina , French foreign legion had no units there and on red beret , bugle player , its French foreign legion commando insignia , thats worn on the right side .
Americans did not like , when they encountered French foreign legion units on bases wearing their white kepi , when that headgear shines .
@@pete_lind nice! Now do Braveheart...
@@mpotter9944 Easy , but outfits errors were made so audience would know who were Scottish . Most likely all had pants on , when those kilts they have in the movie came 500 years later in 18th century , in 13th century it would have been all the way to ankles , a proper skirt , but that would look a bit silly in battle scenes .
Please watch the STAR TREK movies! 🖖
One of the things I like about this is the similarity of the tactical knowledge of both leaders and the fact that victory was down to technicalogical superiority rather than the men
I think this is one of the first war movies I saw that did not portray either side as evil. Just two militaries fighting.
American soldiers referred to the Viet Cong as Victor Charlie or V-C. "Victor" and "Charlie" are both letters in the NATO phonetic alphabet. "Charlie" referred to communist forces in general, both Viet Cong and North Vietnamese.
Also, the VC were at various times referred to as Chuck or Charles to avoid confusion when communicating with any C (Charlie) Company within a given Battalion.
Thanks for another great reaction. I have seen this movie many times, but it has been a while. I believe these stories need to be told, and like George, I wish that there was another way to solve conflict between nations. The war in Vietnam was really long and really sad.
General Custer went into battle against several native Americans nations and was severely outnumbered in a battle and got slaughtered. His whole platoon wiped out.
Cast members who became famous later-
Barry Pepper who portrayed Joe Galloway (61*, Saving Private Ryan)
Ryan Hurst -Sgt Ernie Savage (Sons of Anarchy, Walking Dead)
Taylor Momsen played 8 year old daughter of Moore is now a Rock & Roll singer
Jon Hamm played one of the Lieutenants (Mad Men, Top Gun:Maverick)
I'd definitely recommend Apocalypto. I'd say it's up there as one Mel's best non warfare based movies
Please react to Flags of Our Fathers (2006) or Letters from Iwo Jima (2006).
Between LTG Moore and his wife is why Fort Benning is now named Fort Moore.
I liked how you reacted when you saw the photographer and recognized him as Jackson from Saving Private Ryan, he is the kind of actor you see everywhere and never take time to learn his name. Well his name is Barry Pepper just like you two, is also a Canadian from BC.
25:59 This was based on an actual incident: the burned soldier's name was Jimmy Nakayama, and his skin did in fact come off when Joe Galloway tried to pick him up. He died a few days later in a military hospital, shortly after his wife gave birth to a daughter back home in the U.S. The movie changed some details but it was mostly accurate.
I'd love to see you react to Tears of the Sun
I second that!
That is an amazing movie! I third the notion.
Those lit up bullets you see at night are called tracer rounds. Its so the person shooting can see where they are firing at. They load one tracer round with every five or so regular rounds of ammo.
In my time on active duty, I was instructed to never remove my dogtags. One never knows when something would happen that would make Graves Registration need a way to identify my corpse.
Hi, first off I’d just like to say I really enjoy your channel, thank you for all your work in producing it. Secondary George you mentioned a couple of times of wanting something more from another perspective. Allow me to offer you a couple of suggestions. The first would be The Vietnam War (2017) by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. It’s a 10 episode documentary series that covers the Vietnam conflict thoroughly from 1858 to present day. It features interviews with US, North and South Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers. Episode 3 specifically goes into the battle from this movie. The series is a time investment but is well worth it. Incredibly eye opening. My other suggestion would be the film Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) a joint film making venture between American and Japanese directors about the bombing of Pearl Harbour. Also excellent and very very accurate historically. So accurate it almost feels a little text book and can be a little dry at times but just an excellent film that truly shows both perspectives. Wish you both continued success.
Gotta say George ruined this one
How?
I think the thing about Moore, for me, is that it seems the reason he managed a no win situation so well, is because he understood and respected his enemy.
When A Machine Gun Is Firing Every 5th Round Is A Tracer!! So For Every Tracer You See, There's 4 UNSEEN Rounds Between!!
I never looked at it that Hal Moore is badass with the Vietnamese soldier. I looked at it that we connected with the man and then immediately he was cut down unceremoniously. It wasn’t heroic because we see many on both sides just cut down. It reminds me of a saying “there are no heroes in war, only victims.”
"No hiding it now"
The war was very unpopular in the United States, so they did a lot to keep bad news away, so when they say "no hiding it now" they mean that the news will preferably reach the United States, and to lose a general and several hundred men is a very bad news that will only add fuel to the anti war effort back home in the US.
Custer was a US general who died in a big battle vs. the Indians.... so i'm guessing getting the same regiment number as him was seen as bad luck by Mel Gibson.
Also "broken arrow" as a code means different things in different branches and at different times, but generally it always means a unit is no longer combat effective.
At this point in 1965, the war wasn’t really recognized yet in the U.S. as a fully fledged war. Many of the Vietnamese thought they had already been fighting a war for years trying to rid their country of foreign powers, but most Americans still thought of the Vietnam conflict, to the extent that they thought of it at all, as a limited effort by U.S. military advisors to assist the South Vietnamese counterinsurgency effort against communist guerrillas who had little combat capability. The war wouldn’t become very unpopular in the United States for a few more years, after the U.S. role had greatly expanded, there were many more young men called up in the draft, many more casualties, etc. At this point in 1965, there was still a lot of support back home for the U.S. involvement in Vietnam and for increasing that effort against communist expansion.
If you want to see an American war film that really takes a deep look at the enemy's POV, I can think of none better than Clint Eastwood's 2006 double feature: Flags of Our Fathers & Letters From Iwo Jima. Both films are are companions to each other, from the same production and same director - the first (Flags) is from the American POV, and the second (Letters) is from the Japanese. By splitting the production into two films about the same battle from two different perspectives, it is able to dig much deeper into the Japanese POV than any single film about American soldiers could.
I didn’t recommend
Flags because it’s based on deceit and politics more than war whereas “Letters”
Is a true story based on a Japanese commander’s letters and journal and the war scenes are pretty intense
That Night scene where Savage and hus platoon were going hand to hand, that's like living hell incarnate.
The bullets that look like Lazers are tracer rounds, so you can see where you're shooting, usually like every 4th bullet is a tracer so when you see 2 tracer rounds lighting up coming towards you there is likely 8 rounds coming at you.
In regards to your question on if rounds actually look like that when fired, they do if they're tracer rounds. Tracers are little bits of pyrotechnic charges in a round that make them very visible and can be colored differently. Military will use specific colored tracers so units can tell friendly fire from enemy fire.
As far as the yellow cabs, they were contracted by the war department to deliver KIA notifications during Vietnam. That's why the cab driver was delivering the notice.
" Custer, who's Custer?" Neither one of you have ever heard of The Battle at Little Big Horn? Custer was also a Lt. Colonel in the 7th Cavalry, who died on the Little Big Horn. Along with all his men, in 1876.
The term there is no hiding it now. Comes from the fact this is the very beginning of the Vietnam War. As a nation the Vietnam War wasn't fully known to the public. This was the first reported battle of this 10 year long war. America's second war against communism. Vietnam was a territory of France. This was Vietnam's independence fight for a free Vietnam. France was an ally to America and since America was a super power. We fought in their position for 10 LONG years.
17:33 they were firing tracer rounds, usually loaded every 3rd round, to see what they are shooting at. Yes they really look like that at night, they are coated in phosphorus. It looks like Star Wars laser bolts.
The guns use tracer rounds mixed in with the regular ammunition. The tracers can easily be seen. This allows the shooter to "walk" his stream of fire onto the target.
A few years after this came out, I had the privilege of getting to see Joe Galloway's photographs from the Vietnam War in an exhibit at the George Eastman House, which included a large chunk of the photos he took during this battle. He was truly in the middle of it many times. And he made no attempt to sugar coat anything His work really showed the suffering and the hardship, of all involved on both sides. You look at those photos of what is our parent's generation, and you can just see the horror of it all in their eyes. Seeing those pictures was a humbling experience.
The reason that’s often said a taxi company sent out the telegrams was because the US Army wasn’t prepared for the number of casualties so they resorted to taxis.
The journal taken from the VC soldier was given to HMoore who made sure it was sent back to that soldier's wife. Also, well after the end of the Vietnam war, HMoore and the VC commander met each other in person. This is how the movie was able to show what strategies each side was doing to win the battle.
Believe me, shooting someone and killing someone up close are two radically different experiences. You can separate yourself from the shooting. But up close haunts you for the rest of your life.
Colonel Hal Moore was my uncles neighbor in Auburn Alabama he passed away in 2017 he was an amazing individual. When I was a child we used to sit and listen to his stories there will never be another like this man he is greatly missed!!!
"That guy" who was also Jackson the sniper in 'Saving Private Ryan' is Barry Pepper, who is from BC, Canada! The highlight of my social media life was that THE Joe Galloway, the journalist that Barry Pepper played here, and who wrote the book that this film was based on, liked a Facebook comment I made once.