Platoon shows the audience the darkest sides of war as well as some of the worst sides of humanity. Please consider subscribing to the channel and hit the like button. I hope you enjoy my reaction to PLATOON!
At 14:42, a common mistake everyone makes, "All these young guys who never made it home, never made it back to their girlfriend, fiancé, wives families...". They DID make it back home. Either an open casket, or a closed casket - flag draped. Free funeral, taps, 21 gun salute, and folded flag for a grieving mother or wife. This is where destroyed lives begin - the families. Not worth it. So glad your parents talked you into not joining.
I’m a disabled combat veteran. If you are considering serving I can provide some advice. Don’t go. You will be changed by military service. The next conflict will be nothing to do with defending democracy. Money is the global religion and commands all hostilities. Might I suggest non military public service. Plenty of chances for travel and advancement in foreign service. Local government, raise a family and participate in growing your community. Be at peace young man. Stay safe, be well.
I appreciate you considering serving, a lot of people don't even consider it. But they are quick to criticize! I served in SEAL team 2 during the Vietnam War and nobody takes in to account the US was not the invaders. North Vietnam was invading South Vietnam. We were just there to help the South Vietnamese Democracy. The village people get so upset over was definitely a communist village. I'm not saying that out right murder and rape of young girls was right. But please understand that we saw our brothers skinned alive by the communist, they were brutal. It took a lot of us to a very dark place. Some could handle the things we saw others just could not.
Great reaction. My father-in-law was a Vietnam veteran and had served in the infantry. He's gone now. All the Agent Orange crap they sprayed over there gave him problems with his liver. Anyway, he once told me that this movie is the closest portrayal to what it was like over there. This is a rough movie to watch at times, I can only imagine how awful it must have been to be there. Edit: Sergeant Barnes is the platoon sergeant, so he's technically second in command of the platoon. Lieutenant Wolfe is the platoon commander and should be running the platoon, but he's weak and doesn't know shit, so basically Barnes is running things. Sergeant Elias is a squad leader of one of the rifle squads, so Barnes outranks him. Sergeant O'Neil, the ass kisser, is the squad leader of a different rifle squad. Anyway, that's why there are so many sergeants in the same platoon, and why Barnes and Elias are kept together.
"These guys just keep coming" Vietnam has been invaded by China many, many times (the exact number is unknown). It has also been invaded by Japan, France, the United States, then China again in 1979. And every time, the Vietnamese people fought back and were able to ensure their own survival and independence. In my opinion, Vietnam is the sole reason that all of Southeast Asia did not already fall to China centuries ago.
You got my subscription for this review. It is absolutely the best review I’ve seen anyone do if this film. You are the first person that showed any small measure of understanding of what was going on at the village. You are the first person to realize that Taylor was not being sadistic. He was just so damn scared.m and angry his emotions were running away with him. It was common and Vietnam for patrols to be out for a month or more and spend almost the entire time over perhaps the whole time looking for anyone that was “the enemy“ yet almost daily suffer deaths and grow tests, miming from booby traps, etc., left by the Vietcong, who were in fact frequently from the local villages. The poor guy who was left in charge of the village, knew that if he told the truth and pointed out the people in the village who were VC, the VC would come back and rape and kill his children in front of him before they tortured and killed him. They had already come in and killed, the man and I’m sure his entire family who was supposed to be the “headman” of the village. The question is how long can you watch all of your friends be killed and maimed (with the terror that every step may result in your legs being blown off, or worse) because of an invisible enemy who’s never there but yet is always there, without finally coming to a mindset of “screw it, just kill them all! They are all either VC or they sure as hell know who is VC and where the VC are?” Don’t judge men who’ve been through hell unless you’ve been through hell as well.
The Vietnam era draftees were younger to withstand the jungle conditions..and that’s why Oliver Stone cast then younger up-and-coming actors .. to reflect that. The draft age for Vietnam was 18-26 with the avg being 19 years old, vs. in WW2 the draft age was 18-36 for a private, sailor, etc.. Sometime in WW2 the army looked at the health of older draftees in deserts and jungles fwiw. Also the actors were physically tired as they were run through military-style training by another veteran, Dale Dye, then kept tired to be irritable and angry while filming. Dye also plays the older captain in the film who calls in the air strike .. and his team later provided similar training for Tom Hanks, etc.. in Saving Private Ryan a little over a decade later.
