Characters In The Film Platoon

Special Forces soldiers work in foreign lands with situations which are not always completely clear from its beginning. The Special Operation Imperatives serve as the base for success by providing the framework to develop and assist the host nation in achieving their desired goals. Through this essay I will use the novel “The Ugly American” (William J. Lederer & Eugene Burdick) to provide context to the benefits of applying such imperatives and the consequences of improper application. I will bring to light the actions of the characters and depict the reasons why the application of the imperative made the character succeed or fail in his desired goal.

Plot- In the story we are presented with various characters that Carrie mental and physical elements trough their experience in the Vietnam War. The story focuses on jimmy Cross a Lieutenant that leads a group of man in war.

During his ten years of serving as a Navy SEAL, Chris Kyle killed 160 Iraqi insurgents as well as liberating Iraq from the clutches of Saddam Hussein. Chris stated, “It was my duty to shoot and I don’t regret it.”(American Sniper p. 3). He knew that every kill he made was for the right reason and that if he didn’t take out the terrorists, they would have killed the soldiers. Although during the war his relationship with his wife, Taya, was rocky, Chris came home in order to prioritize his family once again and rebuild a relationship with them.

Sergeant York starts in Tennessee in the Valley of the 3 Forks of the wolf. His family is farmers but they are poor. It starts out with his mother in church and Alvin interrupting the church service with gunshots. Alvin was not a believer at the time. Alvin got drunk a lot of the time. When York was on his way to make a bad decision he was struck by lightning. He took it as a sign and found religion. Alvin decided to live life without anger and to marry his Gracie. Alvin starts to attend church and makes peace with his “enemies.” When the US entered WW1, Alvin did not register for the draft because he believed that killing is against the bible. When Alvin gets talked into joining he goes in as a ‘C.O.’ He was denied and drafted. When at camp, his shooting skills impressed his superior officers and Alvin get promoted to corporal and made him an instructor. When Alvin’s unit gets deployed, they set off to France to fight in the Argonne offensive. Alvin was able to kill many and make 132 of the Germans soldiers to surrender. Alvin and his remaining unit brought the German prisoners back to the camp headquarters. Alvin was awarded many medals of honor. Alvin was then known as the “greatest civilian soldier.” After returning home to Texas Alvin is reunited with his family and Gracie. Alvin was not proud of what happened and did not want to receive any attention. The people in his community came together and bought land for Alvin and Gracie to build a home and life a happy married life. This film was only made with the approval of Alvin York himself. It was a great comparison because it was a biography of Alvin’s life.

The dangers frequently endured by soldiers fighting for the United States is immense. Hundreds of men and women are killed daily by terrorists. Many soldiers give up their dreams to fight for their country because they feel endangered every day by extremist groups and other terrorists. The movie American Sniper is based off of the true story of Chris Kyle and his efforts to protect his country. Throughout the movie, Chris Kyle’s struggles demonstrate that war may build courage but also leads to emotional issues.

He realizes that “both [his] conscience and [his] instincts [tells him] to make a break for it, just take off and run like hell and never stop.” Because going to a war means facing unpleasant events that could occur, such as possible death, he wants to break free from it. Similar to Tim O’Brien, Korean veteran will empathize with Tim O’Brien because he also experienced similar hesitation and desire to desert from the army. On the other hand, modern female high school student will not experience the same empathy Korean veteran felt towards Tim O’Brien because she believes there are different roles for each gender. Specifically, men’s role in her society is to serve military services and participate in the war if necessary without any hesitation. In given circumstances, it is highly likely that she will regard Tim O’Brien as a young coward who lacks responsibility, courage, and patriotism to protect the

The film Saving Private Ryan, is about a United States Army Captain (CPT) and his chosen squad that are tasked with locating and recovering Private (PVT) Ryan, after the news of his three brothers’ deaths reaches the Army. The CPT chooses a few specific men to aid him with this mission.

Both sides to Tim are bad in both ways. Finally, when Mr. Meeker did not allow Sam to take the Brown Bess to fight with, Sam stole the gun. Sam disobeyed his father and Tim tries to take it back. Tim kept on trying to persuade Sam to give the gun back to Mr. Meeker, but he keeps ignoring Tim’s request. When Tim tries to steal the gun from Sam, Sam immediately found out and chased after Tim. When Sam caught up to Tim, Tim started to blackmail and said that he would shoot the gun at Sam if he got closer. “Don’t come any closer, Sam, or I’ll shoot you” (Collier and Collier 55). This shows that even war can tear the two brothers that love each other apart. Families can still be teared apart from any type of war.

Tim says he wants to run away from the war in fear of breaking his morals. He feels that the war goes against everything that he stands for, “If you support a war, if you think its worth the price, that’s fine, but you have to put your own precious fluids on the line” (O’Brien 2). Tim does not think he should have to fight in a war that he is against. Even though Tim seems to live by his morals, some of his actions are ironic. Tim is a pacifist, yet he watches pigs get killed everyday. He works in a slaughterhouse, taking out the blot clots from dead pigs by shooting the carcass with a water gun. For someone who doesn’t believe in fighting or killing, his job is pretty gruesome. Tim has an internal struggle deciding whether or not to go to the war, “My conscience told me to run, but some irrational and powerful force was resisting, like a weight pushing me toward the war. What it came down to, stupidly, was a sense of shame. Hot, stupid shame.” (6). Tim knows that if he does not go to the war he will feel guilty. He will not be able to handle the amount of “shame” he would feel if he ran away. The “shame” he talks about comes from, “All those eyes on me---the town, the whole universe---and I couldn’t risk the embarrassment. It was as if there were an audience to my life” (10). Tim thinks that other people will judge him for not going to the war. The pressure of having his family and friends disapprove of his actions is what

In the novel, The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien there is an ambiguity assigned to the life of a soldier in the Vietnam war, an ambiguity that represents no clear moral victor, no clear heroes, and seemingly no end. In the movie, Platoon, written and directed by Oliver Stone, the same ambiguity is depicted, with no clear moral direction, no clear heroes, and no clear resolution. In the short story, “How to Tell a True War Story,” O’Brien talks in great detail about how a true war story, and not some reimagining, “is never moral” (O’Brien) and “cannot be believed” (O’Brien). According to O’Brien, the movie Platoon will qualify as a true war story because it is not moral, hard to believe, and has no clear resolution.

As the Radio Telephone Operator of the platoon, Mitchell Sanders plays an important role. His role in the platoon is further demonstrated through the emotional and mental support and relief he provides his fellow soldiers. This is displayed through his many defining moments and actions, his personality, and his overall character and role as an individual and a member of the platoon.

In most of the films, the troopers inside the unit became nearer as time passes. The only real antagonist to the cluster is typically the unit leader once he is yelling or arduous the disobedient unit. However, Platoon takes the problems among the unit to a special level. Not exclusively is there disputes between the leader and conjointly the troopers, but there was collectively constant

Teamwork, what is it? This is the question that has puzzled mankind for a millennium. Essentially it is where more than one person works together to achieve a common goal. We as people use teamwork every minute of the day, but it is especially important to the job of the Infantryman, it is the backbone of our jobs. We as soldiers have to recognize that in order to do our job we must rely on the man on our left and the man on our right. This is the basics of the infantryman 's job trust the guy to each side of you and you will make it through whatever evil hell may send your way. What happened last Thursday night was a total lack of teamwork, trust and most importantly brotherhood. Three soldiers from 1st Platoon decided to take things into

The main character of this story is Desmond Doss. Desmond Doss is a Conscientious Objector and he decided to join the Army to serve his country. But since he was a Conscientious Objector he promised to himself that he would never touch a gun. While in boot camp he was mistreated by his sergeant and fellow soldiers for his belief. He later trained to become a Combat medic to help his fellow soldiers because he did not want to carry a gun. Before he got deployed he met Dorthy were he got married to her before going to Japan. While over there they attacked the ridge of Okinawa known as Hacksaw Ridge. Most men that were deployed of there were killed trying to take the ridge to gain a foothold in Okinawa, Japan. He was most well known for his action upon the ridge. He saved over 75 lives while not touching a single gun. After he saved another man he would say “Please lord let me get one more.” He ended up gaining the respect and adoration of the men he served alongside. At the end of the movie he was awarded the first purple heart for a Consensus Objector. Also because of his work inspiring the other soldiers they were able to take the ridge.

War changes people, it transforms them and let's out deep emotions and actions that they never thought they had. These transformations of the human soul are best shown with in the film Platoon with the character Chris Taylor and the chapter Sweetheart of The Song Tra Bong in the book The Things They Carried written by Tim O’Brien revolving around the character Mary Ann Bell. The two stories both similar in the way of a character changing from the experience of war; Chris Taylor a man who arrives at Vietnam pale faces and innocent, joining the war thinking he's doing it for the greater good, quickly realizes that he's not in his element. Just as Chris Taylor, Mary Bell comes to Vietnam pale faced and innocent but she comes to the war to