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PittPanthers47's Replies
Millsey, how old of a dude are you? I think we are just having some generational differences here. Believe me---as crazy as it sounds now the Confederate flag way back 35-40 years ago was a completely different thing.
Yeah, probably. Probably always will be one group or another looking down their noses at another group. But regarding the rebel flag----it really was not a racist thing at all back in the day. I recall getting those flags from trips Gettysburg and the Confederate hats had the flag atop them. I got a silkscreen t-shirt made of the rebel flag in 1981 at the Wildwood New Jersey boardwalk. In high school I had a rebel flag license plate on the front of my jeep.
No one ever remarked that I was racist and I certainly was not at all. I was friends with the only black kid in my school. It was a complete non-issue back in the 1980s before people made it an issue. I would never have the rebel flag displayed anywhere today as it would denote a connotation that I would not want to be associated with.
Yeah, those were different times, Millsey. The old Confederate flag at that time was more about history/heritage than hate. Even a few state flags had parts of them with the stars and bars on it. Things are way different now.
Hey Millsey, are you trying to say that Uncle Jesse was the one who painted the rebel flag atop the General Lee?
Yeah, I hear you. I always thought it really odd. Greedo got every bit of what he had coming to him when Han blasted him. The biggest problem with America today is all the far left liberal flakes (sounds like Lucas) and the downright scary far right fascists. What ever happened to the moderates who had all the common sense? This issue is proof of this.
when I first saw the movie I considered Greedo as bad and as someone who deserved what he got. After seeing the Jedi movie and seeing the element at Jabba's palace it was confirmed.
Thanks for the nice compliments, BO. I do appreciate them. This was actualy my third novel after writing one about a young federal officer at Gettysburg and one about five teen friends hunting a rouge mountain lion in Colorado. I started it in May of 2008 and worked hard at it for several years then seemed to shelf it after hundreds of pages. It was a very different type of project to say the least. But I was able to incorporate a lot of historical events into it like the Vietnam War, the Manson Family Murders, the war protest, different famous people in music or entertainment, etc. I'm not sure what I would have wrote about in Pennsylvania in the 1980s. So much more to pick from in 1969 LA.
But yeah, the nerdlinger and engineer guy probably stole the show with their crazy antics. Those two were always at each other. Another crazy story I just thought of was the time circa 1985 when me and the nerdlinger were at some old mine building on our dirt bikes and we challenged each other to a race back to his house several miles away. We took off and really had those machines screaming as we made our way over some mountain back roads. As we were nearing the big hill above where he lived I got caught in a gravel wash on a curve and had no choice but to ride it out into an embankement. I was pizzed I lost and figured he would be bragging about beating me. I pick up my bike and ride down the hill about 20 yards and he was laying in a cornfield with his bike overturned. We both got taken out that day. LOL.
That's an interesting question----how many of the Platoon guys grew up in the city and how many were country boys?
Barnes- country boy
Wolfe-townie
Taylor-small town
Junior-city King-country boy
Bunny- country redneck or small town trash
Elias-maybe both, deleted scenes say he was from Oklahoma (or somewhere like that) and then made his way to LA
O'Neill- country or small town
Crawford- beach bum
Rhah- hard to say with him, maybe city
Francis- city
Big Harold- not sure
I just never understood that debate. Greedo had Han at gunpoint and made clear of his intentions of killing him. Kind of silly the whole thing. I don't think I ever encountered anyone in the '70s who thought bad of Han for blasting Greedo. He had every right to do so.
LOL. That's crazy. Another script idea would be to have Hunter Biden boating off of Cape Cod and he gets attacked by a large great white who also happens to ingest Hunter's large cache of cocaine as well. The shark goes mad and completely out of his mind and goes on a rampage. Even Donald Trump gets eaten. I like this movie idea.
LOL. The really crazy thing some years ago I wanted to write a story about my friends and I as I have dabbled in writing a bit. I figured that it was too bland a setting just with 1980s Pennsylvania so I transfered things to 1969 LA and the premise of a surf rock band. I totally fictionalized myself and a few others to the point they were totally different characters. But the nerdlinger and engineer guy were the absolute same and anybody would absolutely laugh themselves to death at these two. I gave them the names of Drake Dallas (nerdlinger) and Fred McCorkle (engineer guy) which were plays on their actual names. The engineer guy actually was a pretty good drummer who was in bands.
They really leapt off the pages to say the least! Hard to believe that people like them actually existed. They were smart guys but really crazy as hell.
I did take out the nerdlinger but also got taken out by him as well. LOL.
I always thought that I would like to walk point as I grew up in the woods and ridges of Western PA---but when you start adding in things like booby traps, mines, snakes, and such thick jungle growth that you would never have a chance to see an enemy even a few feet away----I think that I would gladly pass.
But that is just it---some of the American GIs grew up in the cities and may have been okay at urban warfare while others grew up in the country and were likely okay at fighting in a forest. But I highly doubt that any of them grew up in full-blown jungle with snakes, tigers, and all the trimmings of that kind of warfare. Huge advantage to Charlie there!
Yeah, it was probably a grenade stuffed down below the documents thing and when Sandy lifted it up it went off.
Booby traps are bad as I can tell you first hand. You can be vigilant all you want but you can never see everything. I think we all hit them when I was growing up like I told you. Thank goodness they were not lethal.
They would take their toll and be extremely bad for morale I am guessing. It would make everyone hesitant about every step they took.
LMAO. It would have been a laugh riot having the nerdlinger in Platoon. He had an older green dirt bike that must have been bored out to the max. That thing would fly! It was called the road toad IIRC. He could move on it.
Barnes would have a field day with the nerdlinger and in turn the nerdlinger would not back down from him in any way shape or form. Probably if me and my old friends were in Platoon we would be riding our dirt bikes out in on jungle paths to scout for the enemy and goof off. I doubt we would survive more than a few hours at best.
O'Neill would see us and say "What do you think there, Bob, can some idiots like that survive over here?" Barnes would give a dreadful glare. "Uh-huh. That's what I thought, too. Sometimes I just look at some people and I know, there just ain't no f-ing way!"
Good thoughts. Yeah, Sandy and Sal did not strike me as bad people. I would have been very concerned about booby traps. I wonder what kind of explosive device the enemy used? Was it a grenade? Some sort of charge?
Oddly, Sal seems to be killed instantly while Sandy emerges alive from the bunker with his arms blown off. Sandy seemed to be the one who picked up the cache of documents and maps and you would think he would have been killed instantly and Sal would have made it out briefly. Sandy of course died within seconds of coming out. Bad explosion. The other men standing around outside were probably quite fortunate that they were not badly injured.
I think I may have seen some of the Bright Shining Lie, not sure.
I would suggest anyone get the Hal Moore/Joe Galloway work.
Actually, the US does not do that great a job of taking care of its veterans. Maybe a little. But if you look at the conditions of the slum-like VA hospitals that many wounded Vietnam vets had to endure upon their return it is a complete disgrace to say the least. Too cold, too hot. Rats. Lousy care. It is sad.
I think the govt only pays for the headstone. Which is perfect for the purpose of this thread! LOL.
If the spirit or living being of Barnes encountered the nerdlinger I know what he would say----"Nerdlinger, you are one simple and sorry sonofabitch! You f-word up on this bridge popping a wheelie and I guarantee you a way off this bridge. In a body bag!"
Yup, William Katt was in house.
Agree the movies were good and fun. They also focused on the actual family dynamic of the early 1970s Brady family of Mike, Carol, Alice, and the kids.
The biggest problem with the spinoffs was that the kids now had spouses and kids of their own. Everything we knew about the Bradys had changed and it added a bunch of people who we didn't know and quite frankly really didn't have any interest in.
i just saw this thread. Interesting. The Chickenhawk book sounds really good. I believe that 10% of the names on the Wall are chopper pilots. It was a bad business---as was just about all the other MOS of troops heavily involved in the fighting.
A few that I may put out there for the purpose of having a working bibliography for one's library---
We Were Soldiers Once And Young- Hal Moore and Joe Galloway. One of the very best battlefield accounts that I have ever read.
In Retrospect: We Were Wrong- Robert McNamara. The former Sec. of Defense under JFK and LBJ comes clean after many decades and admits that they blew it.
The Best and the Brightest- David Halberstam. Gives a account of how the war happened. A bit dry but it does offer some thoughts on how it all happened and how the so-called brighest of their generation really stepped in it.
Fire in the Lake- Frances Fitzgerald. Another dry academic work but it does do a good job of showing what a major difference there was between cultures here in the US to South Vietnam. Same as what we later saw in Afghanistan. Such relationships were not sustainable.
A Bright and Shining Lie- Neil Sheenan. Another book that offers a good look at what was Vietnam.
I recall reading a good one in high school called Charlie Company but I can't recall the author. Probably most of the things I read were compilation books. Many good works out there.
It's probably getting to the point where it won't be long before guys won't even wish to talk to girls for fear of being accused of something politically incorrect.
Regarding the Greedo thing---that whole debate is bunk. If someone pulls a gun on you---you have every right to kill them!
Barnes went out of his way to die in that war. Rhah said he was shot seven different times and eight if you count the final battle (shot in legs by NVA). When Taylor capped him and finally put him out of his misery that was number nine there.
At least Barnes would be the beneficiary of some benefits coming his way: -option to be buried in Arlington. -free headstone paid for by Uncle Sam. -Monetary death benefits to any loved ones in the event that anyone was still on speaking terms with him. -the possibility of having something in his hometown area of Tennessee being named after him. Bob Barnes Bridge has a certain ring to it!
But the best thing about it was that the world was rid of him once and for all unless he somehow came back as a Poltergeist. That reminds me of the that movie from circa 1986 "House" where the Vietnam vet is haunted by his old comrade named Big Ben played by none other than Richard Moll of Night Court.
BO---I began a thread on Sandy and Sal. Check it out.