Scene 1.05 - Game Plan
EST: INT. Division Command Room - 19 Hours Earlier -- Halfway Across The Globe.
CG: Division Headquarters - Base And Peak Of Crossfire Hill [Hill J-234] - South Vietnam, 02:15 04JUL69G
(MAJOR GENERAL WOODS is dressed in battle fatigues. He is giving his men their morning briefing a little early today.)
GENERAL WOODS
The Viet Cong are aggressive and adaptable. They tunnel right under our noses and can survive on eating bugs and bark and drinking rancid water. (Dumps his coffee, nobody refills it for him nor dares to offer cream. He continues while doing it himself and adding his own cream from a bronze stein with a wood-handled, custom ladle, all heated on a very old wood-stove.) Conversely, our corn-fed American boys are plagued with diarrhea, malaria and a host of other diseases intrinsic to the native vermin. It affects morale, and makes it difficult to keep Charlie at bay. Intelligence reports that Charlie's Operation Yellow Jacket has moved from its training stages and the V-C are due at our doorstep at any time. Although the magazines might say this war is unwinnable, it seems our friends next door may have found a solution for us. (Goes to door. Locks it. Creams his coffee, studying his men. Unholsters firearm. Puts .45 on table in front of him.) Now if any of you men are in doubt that when I say this is top secret and doesn't leave this room, please, speak up now, because I want it to be clear that if one word of this gets thrown around at the officer's club, I'll put the bullet in your head myself. Are we clear, gentlemen?
ALL
Yes, sir!
(Pulls down two visual aids. One is a schematic of a complex chemical construction, resembling a combination of L.S.D., vitamins and testosterone. The other is a chemical complex under construction, the Narvis-Segille factory. He sips his coffee from a field canteen cup.)
GENERAL WOODS
It's no secret that Charlie's got some, big invasion planned. Since the T-V crew showed-up and made Colonel Stone a movie star -- (Chuckles and laughs among the men) -- Good job, Mark. I got to see what them television folks call "the dailies" -- the raw footage of everything they're gonna use on T-V. I especially liked how you mentioned country music. (More happy reactions from the group -- more like a Lions' Club meeting and less like a military briefing.) And on that note; Mark, half of the command group and I saw what one of your privates had to say and I sure wasn't too happy when I learned he was one of mine and that he was going to be put on the air back at home. Mark, over breakfast, go down to public affairs and take a look at our copy of them dailies they got and tonight I want you to give that outspoken Private Ares an excuse for some extra guard duty. I want him forgotten. If he's gonna be pandering and livin' like a king on Uncle Sam's dime, he's gonna do us some good while he's at it. We'll see how much peace and quiet His Highness gets while he's in a foxhole.
(More agreeable reactions from the officers.)
SERGEANT HAMMER
I got a hole for him!
(The men laugh. HAMMER is the only enlisted man in the room, and he's got a well-known reputation for making his underlings dig holes. Deep holes. Really deep holes. The laughter continues and finally dies down.)
GENERAL WOODS
(Jovial, tongue-in-cheek:) At ease, Sergeant Major...
(HAMMER, the acting 3rd Battalion Sergeant Major and agreeably the toughest enlisted man on the line, has recently been assigned to act as the Division Command Sergeant Major and General Woods believes that, due to Hammer's exemplary service in filling both positions simultaneously, the Army will surely promote Hammer within the year. That is, if he survives. Woods gives him plenty of credit in the bush, yet his warranted concern simply comes from the legacy of the position. Specifically, the unfortunate circumstance that, by the untoward grace of kismet, HAMMER is the third man to fill the position this year. The first, Command Sergeant Major Buckley, was pegged in the skull from a sniper's bullet while riding in a Jeep and returning to headquarters in April. He died instantly. Strangely, his driver managed to complete the 47-mile trek back to division camp before noticing the blood and the horrific absence of a face on Buckley, as the corpse was turned away from the driver and simply appeared to be slumped-over and asleep while huddled under an olive-drab, wool blanket after a long, long night of detailed field briefings and a bumpy motor-jaunt across the hostile, jungle terrain. His replacement, Sergeant Major Hatfield, vacated the position under more mysterious, and to HAMMER, much more frightening circumstances. Before assuming his duties as Division Sergeant Major, Hatfield was a non-commissioned officer for second brigade, under Colonel Bricker. Hatfield was one of the "Early Risers," an unofficial name for the division's motley squad of java junkies whose members varied in rank from private to Captain and had representatives from all battalions in the division. These "Early Risers" would daily loiter around the division mess hall at 4 a.m. to get the first cup of fresh-brewed joe from the first pot of the day. The Early Risers were usually there even before the mess sergeant and certainly most other mess hall soldiers, even those unfortunate privates forced to pull K-P after a long stint of lonely and uneasy guard duty who had nothing better to do than go straight to the mess hall to report for duty to a mob of caffeine-feinding Early Risers. On one particular morning in June, several Early Risers noted the strange absence of Sergeant Major Hatfield, Specialist Five Warrick, and Private First Class Ramey. All three were known to be among the "Earliest Of The Earlies" and a morning might have passed when one might have not shown until 5 a.m., but certainly not all three would ever be completely absent on the same day. A division-wide search yielded nothing. The men had simply disappeared in the night without a trace or clue to where they might have gone or what may have happened. Cigarette butts of their respective brands had been recovered in a sand-filled coffee can outside the mess tent and suggested that the three had been waiting outside the mess hall that morning, yet nothing beyond that fact was ever discovered. Most uneasy to WOODS and HAMMER about the missing "Earlies" is that they had simply disappeared in the middle of camp with no apparent enemy activity in the sector. It is speculated that perhaps they had seen something and went to investigate or was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time during some criminal activity and were disposed of by soldiers within the division's ranks. Black Market trading was not unknown to the division, and the mess hall's adjacent supply tents had been raided in the past -- though nothing had been found missing or out of place that morning other than the fact that three soldiers had simlpy vanished. The worst thing about an unknown is that there is never any certainty, never any closure. After the Army had determined that the men had not willingly deserted their post, they were listed as "Missing In Action" and no further sign of the missing "Early Risers" was ever found. HAMMER keeps to his tent in the nighttime hours, and has coffee with his colonel and his general at five a.m. sharp every morning. Of course, this particular meeting was pushed-up by three hours, and although the caffeine from the coffee hasn't completely roused the bleary-eyed first sergeant, he can't help but wonder exactly what has the general up so early this morning that makes him keep refilling his coffee as if he was supplying fuel to an unquenchable motor -- some insatiable daemon of the basest form.)
COLONEL STONE
(Comfortable:) General, I've also seen them dailies. Rest assured, Private Ares is first on point tonight, sir.
GENERAL WOODS
Good. Now, to the real reason for this meeting. The folks at Narvis-Segille have been working-with our special-ops guys and are sure they've developed some new kind of vitamin-supplement that can make our troops more effective on the battlefield. They call it Phallophene-D. It's a hybrid mix of vitamins, psychotropics, amphetamines and testosterone. Why, there's so many chemicals in it that I can't pronounce even half of it; you'll just have to take my word for it that it is some high-grade stuff. Until last week, the pill was only being tested on controlled subjects -- the lights, please.
(The man who gets the lights also mans the slide projector and is busy packing it in the dark when the order to bring lights back on is given; ergo, the delay we note later, no officer in his right mind would pull rank and ask the only enlisted man, First Sergeant Armando Louis Hammer, Jr., to turn on the lights -- why, even the nuggets aren't that new to the game. Nobody but General Woods [and maybe Colonel Stone, his old C-O] asks the Division Command Sergeant Major to do squat. Now, the point of mentioning the second lieutenant getting the lights at all is so I may illustrate and graph all this confusion and chaos in a methodical and scientific way. We must understand that just because the 2nd Luey was the man who turned out the lights doesn't mean he's the one who needs to turn them back on. This somehow ties into the "big picture"... Understand that he’s busy packing the slide equipment and stowing the top-secret slides when it's all over. This is all considering that he's got other, more important things on his mind than whether anyone else can see or not. Anyway, on the screen that formerly held the chemical composition chart [now rolled away and stowed] we see Slide A -- four skinny, sleep-deprived soldiers in medical gowns.)
GENRAL WOODS (Cont'd)
(Reading from notes:) Volunteers from Alpha Company, 1st Brigade. Next slide. These men took one dose of Phallophene and our researchers found that their mental acuity had sharply-increased along with their reaction-time and their manual-dexterity. Next slide. Subjects produced five-times the normal amount of adrenaline and were able to lift at least twice their weight. Next slide. Subjects reported being nearly impervious to pain or extreme temperature and were able-to keep functionally-alert for nearly seventy-two hours, the normal duration of the drug's effect. Next slide. In addition, their combat-readiness skills were off the charts. (Reactions.) Last slide. Side-effects were mild nausea, an aggressive disposition and erogenous arousal. Lights.
OFFICER IN BACK
Excuse me, sir, what does that mean?
GENERAL WOODS
Major Ironside, I didn't have a clue what ‘erogenous arousal’ meant either; Dr. Sing tells me that it means that them boys were randy as rabbits and hard as telephone poles.
(The men laugh.)
COLONEL STONE
Now if we can just keep them out of the cathouses-
(More laughs. The lights finally come back on.)
GENERAL WOODS
Hey, Dean Martin, don't be stealing all my thunder.
(Even more laughs.)
COLONEL STONE
(Jovial:) Sorry, sir.
GENERAL WOODS
Quite all right. Colonel Stone has touched-upon what I was gettin' to. Since these four boys were so fired-up and ready to take a bite out of Charlie, we've moved-up the time-line for our counter-operation. We're sure this will stop all rumors of an “Operation Yellow Jacket” dead in its tracks. Brass and I decided to expand the testing of this drug to include two brigades of this task-force. Colonel Stone's third brigade will test the drug tonight, and Colonel Bricker's brigade will conduct the follow-up tomorrow, so for now, you’re ordered to garrison division H-Q. Sorry, David, I know it’s short notice, but we need to pull-you-in anyway, your kill count is making all the other brigades look sloppy. (Agreement, and low chuckles. It's obvious that Bricker’s Brigade must be the hard-hitters of the division.) The remaining brigades and support battalions will all be given a placebo to furthur ensure a scientific analysis and to better determine the extent of any actual side effects.
OFFICER IN BACK
A what, sir?
GENERAL WOODS
A placebo. Sugar capsules. We've got to know if the stuff really works and what it's limitations are on the battlefield. Charlie's been closing-in, and we simply can't afford any more losses. When I’m reading our casualty reports and brass says we’re well within acceptable losses, my stomach turns. No loss is acceptable, gentlemen. Dismissed.
(A few moments later, STONE sides up to WOODS, who is alone at the woodstove, refilling his cup of coffee.)
COLONEL STONE
(Aside:) How is the drug to be administered, sir?
GENERAL WOODS
Colonel Stone, I am holding you personally responsible for the inventory of the real McCoy. This drug will be useless to our forces if Charlie gets ahold of even one pill and starts making it themselves. I want you to personally supervise each soldier in the battalion taking their pill this afternoon before mid-day chow. I want no lapses in the inventory and no soldier in third brigade outside of you, your driver outside, your adjutant there at the door and your senior-enlisted man -- that's you, Armando (HAMMER looks over to them and nods even if he has no idea what the heck they're talking about) -- none except the ones who were present at this briefing are to be excluded from this experiment. No exceptions; clear?
COLONEL STONE
Yessir.
GENERAL WOODS
Tell your troops it is a mandatory vitamin suppliment. If they balk, inform them it's a preventive vaccination to protect them from a local outbreak of venereal disease. (Tips ladle over coffee.) Call it Ho-Chi-Minh Ball-Rot. If that don’t perk their ears and get them asking for a double-dose, nothing will. I'm sure you'll have no problem getting compliance, even from your butter-bars.
COLONEL STONE
Yessir. (Woods refills STONE'S coffee from his personal stein.) Thank you, sir. My driver and X-O are always first-in-line at chow. They'll hold them off, we'll get everyone to comply. Consider it done. (Beat.) I have another question, sir.
GENERAL WOODS
(Offers ladle:) Yes, Colonel?
COLONEL STONE
(Accepts the ladle of warm buttermilk:) Doesn't it seem odd? The timing?
GENERAL WOODS
(Pulls him aside, within easier reach of his side arm, holsters it, slowly.) What do you mean, Colonel?
COLONEL STONE
A month ago, they were barely ready to put it into humans, now they want half of our division on the stuff, or something like it. Think they know something we don't?
GENERAL WOODS
Who?
COLONEL STONE
You know...
GENERAL WOODS
No, I don't know. Who?
COLONEL STONE
Who else? Other Government Agencies. (Pause. Close, whispered:) C-I-A.
GENERAL WOODS
(Amused at his passion:) Their presence is no secret here. They've always been on the up and up with us. It's easy to get paranoid out here, but we can't spook the spooks -- remember: They're supposed to be our friends. With the factory just down the road, I know we all see them a lot more than we all would like to, sure, and I know they're up to some nefarious dealings now and then, but that doesn't mean they're in bed with the V-C. Remember: They're working on our side. (Smirks, not so callous, genuinely interested in the conspiracy theory of the young colonel:) So what makes you think they're involved in all this, Mark?
COLONEL STONE
(Smacks the buttermilk-mustache away. Factual:) General, I got clues.
GENERAL WOODS
Clues? Clues from who?
COLONEL STONE
Narvis-Segille. When the N-V-A is short of cash, they kidnap a worker. Eventually some covert agent comes along and pays the ransom demand under the table, and some information gets exchanged in the process. (Pulls out a map, doesn’t get a chance to show it:) I play ball on all levels; sometimes even I get wind of things from the front lines. I'm just thinking aloud sir, but... Maybe them company men ain't as friendly as they seem to be. Maybe them company men are more involved in all this than they'd like us to think. (Sips coffee, WOODS is still attentive and listening.) Maybe them company men know more about this Operation Yellow Jacket than they're telling us. (Quickly glances at map:) Maybe them company men have been yanking our chain all along. (Pause.) Sir.
GENERAL WOODS
Hmmm. So what’s in the wind that you think that they're not telling us, Mark?
COLONEL STONE
Nothing that proves anything. (Measured:) If you knew something was up, I’m confident you would tell me, sir.
GENERAL WOODS
(Leans in:) I'll tell you this. Have your men take those pills. Keep a tight head count, Mark. Charlie's comin'. Maybe tonight. It might not be a full-scale invasion, and we're not sure what they're after, but one thing is sure: it isn't going to be a party.
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