Platoon Page #5

Walking with him is Sgt. O'NEILL as they join WOLFE, Sgts. ELIAS

and WARREN at the PLATOON PC where they're huddled over maps.

Warren is a black, thin, tall, paranoid man with untrusting eyes,

silent and bitter.

BARNES:

(to all, almost pleased about it)

We got boo-coo movement. 3rd Battalion just got hit

15 kliks north of here.

(the MEN react with wary silence)

O'NEILL

(eager to elaborate)

Yeah, they had claymores strung up in the trees, blew

a whole f***ing platoon to pieces. BAAD SH*T.

Barnes inflects his next words at Wolfe, who is worried.

BARNES:

Yeah, they got two Lieutenants and a Captain.

WOLFE:

Jesus.

Elias quiet. Barnes studying the map.

WOLFE (CONT'D)

(to Barnes)

Who do you want on ambush, Sergeant?

Barnes doesn't bother acknowledging the question, barely glancing

at the Lieutenant, to him a necessary evil. Everybody knows

who's really in charge of the Platoon. Barnes flicks his gaze to

Elias.

BARNES:

Elias - you take your squad and I'll take Tex and

Francis from your squad.

(to Warren)

We move out in two-zero mikes.

(concluding)

ELIAS:

I thought it was O'Neill's turn tonight.

They all look at each other. O'Neill spits in the dust, a

freckled, short red head with a hard worried face, a lifer, 30

going on 60.

O'NEILL

Sh*t! Morehouse and Sal are short. Fu Sheng's going

on R&R, you don't want to send their asses out on an

ambush. You got the fresh meat Elias.

ELIAS:

(to Barnes)

They don't know sh*t Barnes, and chances are we gonna

run into something.

O'NEILL

So what am I going to do! Get one of my guys zapped

so some fuckface fresh from the World can get his

beauty f***ing sleep!

ELIAS:

Hey O'Neill why don't you cool it, you don't have to

be a prick everyday of your life, you know.

O'NEILL

F*** you Elias.

BARNES:

You get your men ready Elias ...

Concluding the debate, no further argument, Barnes rises. The

meeting's closed. Lt. Wolfe hasn't said a word, looking as Elias

departs, without a word.

O'NEILL

(watching him)

F***ing guy's got 3 years in and he thinks he's

Cochise or something ...

His resentment directed partly at the way in which Elias carries

himself, the natural sense of grace - and the dignity it bestows.

CUT TO:

EXT. PLATOON PERIMETER #1 - SQUAD ASSEMBLY POINT - DUSK

Later. On the very edge of the perimeter, darkness coming down

fast, the men in the ambush patrol rustle into their packs, all

of them bitching.

Tex, carrying the M-60, looks up at the glowering sky.

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