The Men First: Difference between revisions

* In ''[[We Were Soldiers]]'', two officers are contrasted. One wants to [[Glory Hound|win medals]]. The other is both obsessive about both detail and his men; during a forced march, he has his men take off their boots to check for injuries. On finding that the soldier he is examining has a truly squick-inducing burst blister, he tells him to report to the quartermaster for new boots. Hal Moore, the Unit C.O., approves this approach, clearly putting him in this class even before he delivers a speech that assures his men that "when we go into battle, I will be the first one to set foot on the field, and I will be the last to step off. And I will leave no one behind. Dead or alive, we will all come home together." Interview footage of the real Hal Moore shows that this was based on reality; while asking the American public to appreciate the strength of the ordinary fighting man, he becomes so audibly choked up that he can barely get the words out.

** And of course, when they do go into battle, [[Not Hyperbole|he is in fact the first troop off the choppers, and the last one to leave the battlefield at the end.]]

 

== Literature ==