I just got back from taking my NCOs to see a matinee of We Were Soldiers with Mel Gibson. Very good movie, better than Blackhawk Down. Scene with the wives/telegrams brought a tear to our eyes. Another intense movie that is well done and highly recommended.

FYI, one of my friends just e-mailed me the actual after action review (AAR) completed by LTC Moore soon after the end of tha battle. It's a rather large .pdf (Adobe Acrobat) file and is 23 pages long. It was originally classified as "For Official Use Only" (FOUO) but is now "Unclassified". Interesting read for those of you interested in the Ia Drang battle.

Rob,

Just had a chance the other day to see the film "We were soldiers..." You're right. Excellent movie! I am now reading the book (I usually read the book before the movie, but this time it caught me off guard) so, yes, I would like to read the report.
How would you post/send it?

Thx,

Tread.

P.S. Loved the use of the SkyRaiders, one of the few aircraft to have seven hardpoints per wing On the lighter side, I was always waiting for Sam Elliot's character to finally pick up a 16!

Speaking of 16's, .......Petoeww! Always thought they were tinkertoys. Carried and qualified with the 14. When you fired that weapon, you knew you were about to do some damage! Was also interesting to see the MOH winning Delta sniper in 'Black Hawk Down' carried one.

Tread.

P.S. Meant no offense to the present day M16. Just feels like volume of rounds are replacing accuracy of rounds, that's all.

I'm going to see it on Saturday, can't wait :-)

Well, I´ll have to wait for a long time
The Black Hawk Down gonna start this weekend
Cheers!

I just spoke with a very good friend of mine at work today. He served with the 7th Air Cav just after the incident at LZ X-Ray. He told me to see the movie as his eyes started to well-up. He did two tours with them and is very proud to have. He's now a police officer now and an outstanding man.
Needless to say, my wife and I will be seeing it tomorrow evening.

Could you do us ALL a favor then Kenc' ? The next time you see him, please thank him from all of us for his service to his country, and his comrades!
It may seem like a small thing, but as was shown in the film, none of us were ever simply 'thanked' for going there instead of Canada.

Tread.

Hey Rob, how about that AAR? I'd love to have the chance to read it.

Tread.

3+MB, I'll try to zip it and e-mail it.

Many thx Sir. If you can great, if you can't, that's OK. Just sounded like interesting reading.

Tread.

Got the Email Rob :-) Again,many thx for it. I look forward to reaading it later on.

Tread.

Just curious, what did your NCO's think about it? (how old are they?)

Oops, sorry. I meant, what did your NCO's think of ' We Were Soldiers...' ?

My NCOs all enjoyed it, gave them more respect for that big-ass yellow patch on my right shoulder too. All of my soldiers that went were older than me (I'm 38) and in their 40s except for my CSM, he's in his 50s and was in basic training during this time (Vietnam War not the operation), but never made it overseas.

Just saw it today and all I can say is....WOOOOOOW
My girlfriend was in tears for most of the second half of the movie and I was pretty damned choked up myself.

If you agree with our politics concerning certain wars or not, the soldiers who fight for this country have earned nothing but our respect.

For all of you who serve, I salute you.