A Bright Shining Lie Page #3

on the target side now. Over.

(Gl) Roger that, Colonel Bogie.

(John) No signs of movement below. Over.

(Burnett) Ap Bac, January 2nd, 1963.

For a year the Vietcong had studied the

Americans and their tanks and helicopters,

studied and learned.

Now they were ready to stand and fight.

Vietnam's exotic little war

was about to turn into a quagmire.

(Pilot over radio) Foxtrot-alpha

banking right 45 degrees.

- Heading one-five-two-four south. Over.

- (John) Roger that.

Thumper, this is Colonel Bogie.

What's your ETA? Over.

Roger, Colonel Bogie, this is Thumper.

We're about 30 seconds away. Over.

Roger that. There's a big tree line

east of the LZ.

Tell your boss to stay at least

300 yards away from that.

- Roger.

- OK. Over.

OK, reposition, come back around.

Hawkeye, get those tracks ready to move fast

when I give the order. Over.

Roger that. OK, you're headed for the tree line.

(John) Take your three birds

out to the west behind the tree cover.

(Gl) Colonel Bogie,

this is Chopper-four-alpha.

We're swinging west

of the target zone. Over.

(John) Thumper, put your two birds

down to the east.

(Gl) We're coming in from the east

toward the LZ now.

(Pilot) 400 yards, 100 feet,

dropping down to 50.

Thumper, you're too close.

You're too close, get back.

You're over-shooting the LZ. Go around.

Ah!

God damn it.

Hawkeye, what the hell's keeping you?

Get in there, we got two birds down.

(Frank) We're taking heavy fire here, John.

Sh*t. Tiger Centre, Tiger Centre,

we got two birds down,

move on the objective now.

- Move up to the tree line now.

- (Speaks Vietnamese)

(John) Sh*t. Damn it.

Come on, come on. Get out.

(John) Come on, Frank, move.

He doesn't understand English now, John. Go.

(Screams)

Sh*t.

God damn it.

Hawkeye, come in. Thumper, come in.

God damn it. Take her down now.

Give me a hand with this guy. Hold his neck.

(Screaming)

What the hell's going on here?

This isn't a game.

- We have lost helicopter.

- Yes, you lost helicopter.

- Now get your infantry out there.

- No, we must withdraw.

You will not withdraw. We have men down

out there. You will hold the line.

(Gl) Second chopper coming in.

Let's move it. Move it.

(John) Get that Jeep over here.

Sh*t, come on, soldier, don't go to sleep.

It's OK, you're gonna be all right,

hang in there. Hang in there.

No, stay awake, stay awake.

Come on. How you doing there?

- What the hell happened, John?

- Let's get him loaded up.

Almost there. Let's get him on the Jeep.

Charlie kicked our ass.

They knew they wouldn't fight

so they stood their ground.

- Moving out. Moving out.

- Come here.

(Agonised cry)

Ah, jeez.

What a waste.

Goddamn stupid waste.

That's six-five-nine.

- Ten hut.

- Carry on.

- Gentlemen, you wanted to see me?

- Yes, sir.

Well, sir, given the setbacks,

I thought you'd be interested to know...

Just what in the hell is this?

Sir, the red areas indicate

current Vietcong concentration.

We control these areas.

Sir, I'd have to argue that.

- Who've you talked to about this?

- No one, sir.

Get this straight, Ap Bac was a victory.

We took the objective.

We drove off the enemy.

Everybody knows that ours beat theirs.

- We lost 88 men, sir, 1500...

- Don't lecture me.

If you spread defeatist nonsense,

I will have you court-martialled.

And the charges, this time, will stick.

I want that overlay.

(Whistling sigh)

- Steve.

- Hey, John.

- Thanks for meeting me.

- My pleasure.

D'you see this?

An important victory.

101 VC dead. (Scoffs)

So what's the truth?

The most miserable damn

performance I've ever seen.

- Would you talk about this?

- Somebody has to.

John, you have a military career

and if we do this thing,

a lot of people are gonna read it.

I understand. Start writing.

South Vietnamese Command has no interest

in fighting the Communists.

The ordinary soldiers are willing but their

officers' priority is to protect Diem's regime,

rather than to stop Communist insurgency.

What about all those things that we get,

the casualty figures,

battle reports, the briefings?

The numbers are all phoney,

they make 'em up. These battles are a joke.

They attack areas that the VC

have already vacated

or they attack from one side and leave the

enemy a wide-open back-door escape route.

Surely American assistance

has made a difference.

Oh, yeah, that's helped.

It's helped the Communist.

We supply guns to the peasants and they turn

straight around and give them to the VC.

At Ap Bac we were being

shot down by our own weapons.

The US Army advisory programme

is a complete sham,

totally ineffective.

(Chanting)

What's going on?

Er, two days ago in Hue, Diem's forces

opened fire on a Buddhist protest.

Killed nine of them.

Can't get this guy to fight the Communists

but he's willing to kill his own people.

I should cover this.

(Chanting continues)

(Chanting stops)

(Man chants)

- No.

- It's OK. It's OK.

(Woman screams)

(Women cry out)

(Monks chant)

- No.

- It's... Yes. Yes. Yes.

(Men) No!

- Can you believe that?

- Come on.

You have no idea what the hell

is going on around here.

"Miserable damned performance."

Heh. That's Vann, I can just hear him say it.

I want him busted now.

- Get him out.

- General, he's got a month to go.

Let's not stir up the press. Let him finish out,

- then we'll take care of him.

- Sh*t.

I gotta go.

Give me your hand.

What is it?

It's for good luck.

I'll be back.

Mm.

(Woman makes announcement over PA)

(John) Thanks a lot.

- Hey, hey, John.

- Where's the story, boys?

The story's the sh*t-storm

you caused back at home.

We got cables from the Pentagon,

Washington.

- We picked up some new friends.

- (John) Who are those guys?

Diem put his boys on us for reporting Ap Bac.

- Well, the truth hurts.

- We got something for you here.

"To Lt Colonel John Paul Vann,

"from his good friends and admirers,

the American Press Corps."

- I don't smoke.

- But you can use it to light a fire

under the brass back at home.

You can depend on that.

Bobby, thank you. Nick.

John.

John, I hope nothing I've written hurts you.

- Nothing can hurt me.

- OK.

(John) Gentlemen.

Give 'em hell, John.

(Burnett) He was our hero, an officer willing to

risk his career to tell the truth about Vietnam.

He set out to spread the word

to everyone and anyone who would listen.

(Horn hoots)

- Dad. Dad.

- Ah.

Oh!

- Hey, Daddy.

- Oh, God, Katy.

Oh. Good to see you.

Man, you have grown.

- Honey, you look great.

- It's good to be home.

Boy, have I got work to do.

I'm gonna give them the clearest,

most concise, kick-ass report

in the history of the US Army.

Southeast Asia.

Rubber, timber

and manpower.

Southeast Asia,

the Communists want it

and we wanna stop 'em.

The Communists want it,

we wanna stop 'em.

And in my hand,

I hold the secret weapon

to win the war in South Asia.

Secret weapon to win the war in South Asia.

In my hand, I hold the secret weapon

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