Movie Question: "The Green Berets"

November 03, 2019 18:55

Yes, it's a movie, but there is a line in it that makes no sense.

Captain Nim states to Mr. Beckworth: "I have VC on my own strike force."

How can that be?

Comments

7 comments

Grasshopper

November 03, 2019 19:07
Double knot spies I would think.
0
David Nunn

November 03, 2019 19:58
I don't know. Twice Captain Nim identified VC operatives within his ranks, and he eliminated them quickly.
0
BobJudy

November 03, 2019 20:01
They all look alike I guess. Oops, I guess that wasn't very PC. Bob
3
mark christian

November 03, 2019 20:45
"Keep your fiends close...and your enemies closer." If you have enemy agents among your team, use them to your advantage by giving them false information which they will pass on. Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher from the Zhou Dynasty summed it up as "All warfare is based on deception."
9
buddyb

March 08, 2021 02:31
Green Beret to the SeaBee=Can you walk?
SeaBee to Geen Beret=Stand me up and I can run.
6
navc130

March 11, 2021 02:58
I would think that quote means that the VC has infiltrated every level of the South Vietnam government, which they had. Speaking of the movie, at nineteen minutes into the film that is me taxiing the C130 into Danang (really Pope AFB, NC). I was stationed at Charleston AFB, SC and they sent an aircraft up there for the film. I was surprised how old the major actors were. The crew was given Zippo lighters inscribed "The Green Berets" and "Stolen from John Wayne."
9
Wild Turkey

May 07, 2021 03:51
@...: https://forums.gunbroker.com/discussion/1886684/movie-question-quot-the-green-berets-quot
Yes, it's a movie, but there is a line in it that makes no sense.

Captain Nim states to Mr. Beckworth: "I have VC on my own strike force."

How can that be?

That line illustrates the problem with the whole "Vietnam War" idea -- we went in with the Western idea of building a government for the good of the people but their whole culture was based on what was best for themselves/their family at the immediate time. With little commitment to the "national government" the local people would "go with the flow" and cooperate with whoever had the big stick at the moment.
This was further exacerbated by the "Fire base" strategy (defending strong points and patrolling around them) instead of a "fixed front" strategy like we used in Korea/WWII/etc when we pushed a line into the enemy territory and sanitized it.
Yeah, even my ROTC instructors knew it was a stupid strategy.
3