The Siege of Firebase Gloria (1988)

R. Lee Ermey: Bill Hafner

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Quotes 

• Hafner : [Sgt. Hafner carries two severed American heads]  Anyone know who these belong to? This is Corporal Miller. He's dead. Hell, the whole gun crew's dead. And to add insult to injury, Charlie took the fifty-fucking caliber machine gun with him. I don't have any respect for Corporal Miller anymore, because he allowed his troops to relax. They let their guard down for five fucking minutes, and Charlie took advantage of it. Look at 'em, Goddammit! Pay attention. Stay alert! Stay alive! It's as simple as that!

• Hafner : A little religious communication might not be a bad idea at this stage of the game. Now myself, I don't take any chances, I talk to Mohammed, Buddha, Mr. Jesus H. Christ Himself and any other religious honchos I can come up with.

• Hafner : [Speaking to the men under his command as they are busy reinforcing the firebase]  There is no doubt in my military mind that we are in a deep-shit situation, people. Now, if any of you dog-faced dope smokers DON'T feel like pulling your share of the load around here, you can pack your shit and get your young asses off of my firebase right now!

• DiNardo : What's going on here Murphy?

  [Murphy points to two teenage Vietnamese girls standing and waving to them at the edge of the barbed wire perimeter] 

  Pvt. Murphy : There's two girls out there who want to come up here. What do you think?

  DiNardo : Bullshit! I smell sappers. Cut 'em down.

  [Murphy does not respond] 

  DiNardo : God dammit Murphy, I said take your weapon and...

  Pvt. Murphy : Fuck you man! I'm not shooting unarmed women who...

  [DiNardo suddenly grabs Murphy's M-16 rifle from his hands and shoots at the two girls, both hitting them in the chest... and their bodies explode!] 

  DiNardo : [grabs Murphy by the collar]  Now listen up! This is Vietnam, you understand? Even the women have got balls! Instead of them communist armies putting books in their hands and sending them to school, they wrap 'em up in dynamite and they send them off to kill G.I.'s. You got that? That's the enemy, Murphy. That's the enemy! Get it together!

  [DiNardo walks off and approaches Hafner standing nearby who has observed the whole thing] 

  DiNardo : What do you think that was all about, Sergeant Major?

  Hafner : I think Charlie just reminded us that he has nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

• Hafner : [Upon seeing Jones attaching an American flag atop the bunker]  I didn't know that you were a flag-waver, Jones.

  Jones : I care... I don't care for a lot of it, but what I care for, I care for a lot. You know what I mean? I been a dedicated soldier for twenty three years. Does that tell you something? Hmm?

  Hafner : Yeah, I came in the Marine Corps when I was 17 years old. It's all I know. And I wouldn't change a goddamned thing, either.

• Hafner : I'd like to know where these needle-dick dinks are getting new AK forty-fucking 7's at.

• Hafner : DiNardo, do you think you can get into their camp, make a lot of trouble and ruckus?

  DiNardo : Sergeant Major, it's Friday night and you're in Bangkok. You've got a fistfull of dollars. You think you can get laid?

• Hafner : [Jones has just told Hafner about the presence of female medical staff located elsewhere on Firebase Gloria]  The shit's gettin' pretty goddamned deep around here. Is there any nuns or Girl Scouts that I should know about on the firebase?

  Jones : That's what happens when you inherit wealth.

• Hafner : Shortwave, get your dumb black John Wayne ass down! Get down!

• DiNardo : [Upon seeing pile of massacred children at An Lap village]  This is insanity.

  Hafner : This is effective. Charley's got this valley by the balls. Won't nobody step outta' line around here.

• Hafner : [narrating]  Headquarters *still* didn't buy MY analysis of the situation. Hell, they had "experts" sitting in air-conditioned offices in Saigon who understood the war better than any one in the front line. We had asked for ammunition and reinforcements. What we got was the mail run, a few cases of beer, and a VD film... There were times when we all wondered whether Headquarters was fighting the same war.

• Hafner : [narrating]  We learned we were up against the Dong Nai regiment, under the command of Colonel Cao Van. He wasn't exactly one of my favorite people. He had overrun the 9th Motor Transport last year, and that had really pissed me off. So I thought I'd let him know we weren't going to lay down and die that easy. It was time to sprinkle some shit in Charlie's rice.

• Hafner : [narrating]  The nights are always beautiful that time of year. But you were no safer at night. And the long hours of stillness worked on your fears. Night was the time you wondered what the *hell* you were doing here... and whether or not you'd get your balls blown off tomorrow. You could do some pretty ugly thinking at night. For some of us, the nights were getting far too long.

• Capt. A.J. 'Bugs' Moran : [Hafner has run up to the pilot-side window of Moran's chopper]  Hi! Can I take your order?

  Hafner : Yeah, we need C-rations, ammunition, a radio - and above all, bring back the Air Cav.

  Capt. A.J. 'Bugs' Moran : You want French fries with that?

  Hafner : No, but I'll tell you what, you can have a clean shave next time you come back. You look like a goddamned hippie.

  Capt. A.J. 'Bugs' Moran : [nonchalantly]  All right, General. Back at noon.

• Hafner : Crap's gonna hit the fan Jones, and this place ain't prepared for shit!

  Jones : This firebase can't be defended.

  Hafner : How many men you got out there that ain't brain dead?

  Jones : I've got nobody willing to trip over his own guts for the Vietnamese way of life.

  Hafner : I got no delusions about you or your men's democracy Jones. We are gonna refortify this shit hole and protect it like it was your daughter's cherry. I ain't gonna die here.

• Captain Flanagan : Alright Mr. Commanding Officer, where's the medevac? I've got eight people that are gonna die within the hour, we're running out of morphine, and where are the supplies I ordered?

  Hafner : Now you listen to me Flanagan and you listen good! The communications bunker is history! We are on our own. There will be no re-supply. So you tighten up and make do with what you've got. You're a captain? Be a goddamn captain!

• DiNardo : Can you stand any more gossip?

  Hafner : What have you got?

  DiNardo : They're digging.

  Hafner : Where?

  DiNardo : At the edge of the treeline and they're headed right this way. My little Cong friend tells me that two big guns are arriving in their camp the first thing in the morning.

  Hafner : Where's your little Cong friend now?

  DiNardo : He probally shaking hands with Buddha right now.

• Hafner : I want that chopper in here right now!

  Shortwave, radio man : I'm doing my best, Sgt. Major.

  Hafner : Yeah, well, that's not quite good enough. Try harder!

• Hafner : There ain't no cease-fire around here, that's for damn sure. Somethin's comin' down. Somethin' heavy. We gotta' fnd out what it s.

• Hafner : [narrating, as they enter a village that's been massacred]  DiNardo was my right hand. The kind of Gung-ho fighting machine the Marines are famous for. We'd been to this village before - and done a lot of smiling, and shaking hands, and bowing, to show that we were the good guys. The people were friendly: we liked them, and they liked us. DiNardo knew enough Vietnamese to be a big hit. So it really hurt us to see their heads on stakes. This rotten war was gettin' to us: we'd stayed too long, and seen too much.

• Hafner : [narrating, as they enter the village that's been massacred, dead bodies and carnage everywhere about them]  No amount of training can prepare you for an experience like this. Shortwave said he'd seen worse on the streets of Detroit. But that's the kind of bullshit you use to keep from going crazy. Murphy was the one it hit the hardest. He was a green college kid from Indiana. The closest he'd been to death was his granddad's funeral.

• Hafner : There ain't no cease fire around here, that's for damn sure. Something's coming down. Something heavy. We have to find out what it is.

  Pvt. Murphy : Are we gonna' leave the village like this?

  Hafner : [without hesitation]  Torch it.

• Pvt. Murphy : Two clicks back. Abandoned campsite. Looked about Company size.

  Hafner : [mulls it over briefly]  Where there's a Company, there's a Battalion.