MovieChat Forums > We Were Soldiers (2002) Discussion > Ethics of throwing a rifle at a civilian...

Ethics of throwing a rifle at a civilian? and other questions

posted 17 years ago by jgroub
48 replies | jump to latest

Sure, Joe was a good guy, he was a Texan whose family was filled with soldiers, meaning he probably knew how to fire a rifle pretty well, and he sure was dressed like a soldier in those fatigues. That's all well and good. But throwing a rifle at a civilian, no matter what his background or how he's dressed, and telling them to fight? There have gotta have army rules against such things, right?

Look, I'm not a moron - I know they needed every single person they could get to carry a rifle, or at least that's the way it was depicted in the movie. I'm not questioning the propriety of what was actually done here. I'm just asking more in a hypothetical situation, whether there are specific rules about having non-combatants fight, even in an extreme situation like this. Also, are army medics still not allowed to carry a gun? (And I know that most of them probably do, or at least did; again, I'm not stupid. My uncle was a medic and "secretly" carried one in WW II.) Were the medics fighting, or ordered to fight during this battle?

How about journalistic rules and ethics about not getting involved in the story you're covering? Did Joe get any journalistic heat for this? I know the Army eventually gave him the bronze star (or at least, so Wikipedia says), but what about UPI? By the way, the movie shows Joe mowing down a couple of PAVN soldiers; did he really do this? What was he given the bronze star for?

I asked the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

[–] joekinplaya 10 years ago

I think you are misunderstanding why they gave him a rifle. It's not primarily because they "needed help." I mean of course they did but that's not why they gave him a rifle. Sgt Maj says it best; "Men, prepare to defend yourselves."

Joey Galloway was no longer a reporter that moment. Those NVA soldiers wanted to kill, not to take prisoners or show mercy. They don't care if he's a reporter or armed forces. They only care that he's American and that they want to kill Americans. I can only quote Game of Thrones when Catelyn Stark describes the outcome of war should her side lose. "If we lose, we all die." This was that scenario. It doesn't matter if you are a civilian doing a report or if you are a noncombat medical unit. If you didn't fight, you will die here.

[–] rphinks1 10 years ago

If I were dumb enough to hop on a helicopter bound for a war zone armed with only a Nikon camera, I'd hope that someone would give me a rifle. I figure he is doing everyone a favor.

"Why the *beep* would I blow up Chick-fil-A? It's *beep* delicious."

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] Reminisce_PartOne 10 years ago

As soon as that first bullet goes past your head, politics and all that $hit goes right out the window.

[–] moonpuppy_ver1-1 10 years ago

Why not ask the same question of the civilian contractors who were trapped on Wake Island, oh yeah, you can't, they were all killed.

Better yet, why not ask how ethical it is to target and kill civilians.

[–] jgroub 10 years ago

Civilians wearing military fatigues? Wow. Thanks. What a brilliant question.

I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

[–] moonpuppy_ver1-1 10 years ago

I said nothing about fatigues.

[–] jgroub 10 years ago

No you didn't, but the reporter was wearing them. And that's what I was asking about.

I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

[–] znapper 9 years ago

Joe had is own firearm when in Vietnam, some kind of Swedish sub machine-gun.

The movie has several factual errors, probably to make a better movie/story.

[–] generationofswine 8 years ago

1) If you are in a battle like that, it doesn't matter what you wear, no one is going to stop to see if you're press or not.

2) If you are being over run like that, hell yeah, give everyone you can a weapon. It's literally fight or die. Ethics be damned, that was survival.

"Few people understand the psychology of dealing with a highway traffic cop."

[–] 8 years ago

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