Courage Under Fire Page #4

No.

No. Never.

She just made 'em.

Just like that?

Just like that.

Karen,... the captain... she had this quality.

The heavier the pressure,

the calmer she got.

We knew they were out there,...

..sneaking up on us.

But we also knew

at first light they were going to attack.

I don't know why people think only

good things happen when the sun rises.

Incoming!

How many?

Any good at hand-to-hand?

Wait till they get closer.

Make every round count!

- Sh*t!

- Quiet!

What in Christ for?

They know we're here!

Quiet! I hear something!

(helicopter)

Choppers!

Hey!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Go! Go!

Yeah! (laughs)

Let's get out of here!

llario, get the captain!

There's the rescue!

Help Rady!

Pick him up!

Go! Let's go! Let go! Let's go!

Come on! Let's move! Move it!

Gotta go! We gotta go!

Come back for me with a stretcher!

Go!

llario, let's get the f*** outta here!

Get the f*** outta here!

Aah!

Aah!

Medic!

Come on! Get him up!

Move! Come on! Let's go!

Where's Walden?

Captain Walden is dead.

Strike leader, this is Dustoff-6.

We have all the friends.

You're clear and hot.

Roger, Dustoff-6. Going on down.

So...

Is she gonna get it?

Is she gonna get the medal?

Well, I sincerely hope so.

I just... I don't want to tell that story again.

Not one more time.

Yeah, I understand.

May I be excused?

Yes, you can.

Oh, one more thing I'm confused about.

This M-16...

What?

Did it run out of ammo?

Uh, what did I say?

I don't remember. That's why I'm asking.

I guess, uh...

I guess it ran out of ammo

sometime during the morning.

Um...

Or, no, sometime during the night...

I don't know.

See, the Blackhawk crew

said they heard M-16 fire...

..during the rescue that morning.

Did they?

That's right.

Must've been wrong, then.

Them or you?

Who, them or you?

Oh, them. Them, yeah.

No, they must have been wrong.

OK.

OK.

What about the letter?

A what?

You and Walden traded letters to send home

in case anything happened to you.

Oh, yeah. Yes, sir.

So, who was hers to?

Her folks.

- So you sent it?

- Yeah.

Her folks, they're good people.

They got a farm out in Abllene.

They'd come to Hood, look after her kid

while we went out on exercises.

Yeah... Yeah.

OK.

Thank you, Specialist.

Thank you very much, sir.

I read somewhere...

..that if a child doesn't see a person die,...

..or dead, like in a casket,...

..that the person isn't really dead for them.

That'd be nice, wouldn't it?

Yes, ma'am.

It was, uh... unusual, wasn't it,...

..for Karen to want to be a helicopter pilot?

I guess that's my fault.

I took her to the fair when she was 11.

Anyway, there was a helicopter there.

Small one with a bubble up front.

The fella... the pilot was selling rides.

I bought Karen a ticket.

It was a short ride.

But when she came down...

Well, I don't think

she ever came down, actually.

She showed up

at the dinner table one day,...

..just after she finished TCU.

She's joined the Army.

She wants to fly helicopters.

She's real stubborn about it, too.

That's our Karen, you know, stubborn.

So's Anne Marie here.

Come here, honey.

Excuse me.

Uh, the young men,...

..the ones that came to tell us about Karen...

..they were dressed just like you.

Oh, I see.

Major Teegarden,...

..her commanding officer, he came, too,

when he came back from the Gulf.

Brought this photo back for Anne Marie.

Meant a lot to us...

..him coming to see us,...

..telling us in person how Karen died.

I lost men over there, too.

I spoke to the major.

Everybody thought the world

of your daughter. So did Specialist llario.

It would sure help if I could see her letter.

I mean, if it's not too private.

Letter?

From llario?

Ill check my notes. Must be my mistake.

This her husband here?

No. That's Karen's older brother Billy.

Her husband's up in Michigan.

He and Karen divorced

after only a year or so.

He never... well,... it was no picnic.

Karen raised Anne Marie on her own.

We'd have been thrilled

to have Anne Marie with us all the time,...

..what with the Army and all.

But Karen was a real good mom.

Never asked for help

unless she really needed it.

You can't imagine how hard it was for her...

..to go off and leave that Little girl

to fight in a war,...

..but it was important to Karen

to do her duty.

So she went.

(children's voices)

You've been out here 20 minutes

since I spotted you.

- How much longer before that?

- 15.

I see you, uh...

..got the new refrigerator.

Do you think the kids will understand

why their daddy is out here in a Chevy...

..instead of playing with them

in the front yard?

Or at Fort Hood,

like you told me you were?

Are you back?

I'm in transit.

You know, Nat, it took me a long time...

..to figure out how to be an Army wife

without obliterating myself.

It wasn't easy, but I did it.

I know you did, Mer.

So it wouldn't be a hardship for me...

..to learn how not to be an Army wife...

..if my husband wasn't in the Army any more.

The Army's my life, Mer.

And so are we.

You don't have to figure it all out, Nat.

You just have to admit that you can't.

You have to want to be here with us,...

..that's all.

Well be here.

For a while.

Now go away.

If you're not going to stay,

I don't want the kids to see you.

- (tape) This M-16, did it run out of ammo?

- (buzzer)

(woman) Yes, sir?

- Colonel Serling, you can go in now.

- l don',t remember...

Hey, Nat, what's up?

General.

It's the Walden file, sir.

One or two discrepancies.

Discrepancies?

Yes, sir.

I knew those White House clowns

were up to something.

- If she doesn't deserve it, she won't get it.

- It's not Captain Walden, sir.

It's some of the details of the stories

I'm getting from her crew.

- I don't know how significant...

- I'm drowning in paper here.

They're crawling all over my ass

for combat assessments,...

Sir, I just wanted to let you know this is

not a rubber-stamp situation, that's all.

Now, this specialist, uh, llario,

there's something funny about his story.

We're not giving the medal to llario.

We're giving it to Walden.

Roger.

Splendid. Move forward.

OK. The discrepancies specifically

relate to... use of an M-16 rifle...

Come on, Nat! No two eyewitnesses

ever agree on every detail.

You know that as well as I do.

When do we get that report?

I want the White House off my back.

A few days, sir.

You agree that this report should be

as detailed and accurate as possible?

Which means exactly what, Colonel?

Which means exactly what I said, sir.

(knock on door)

Sorry, sir. This is the second copy

of Colonel Serling's AI Bathra deposition.

The investigator seemed to have

misplaced the last one.

Rise above.

This will all be over soon.

Will there be

a public statement of the facts...

..when the investigation is over, sir?

There's been a decision not to release

any findings until every case...

..has been thoroughly reviewed.

Well, how long do you imagine

that will be, sir?

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