"Red O'Neil" was a real person, as were most of the others in the movie. I was a student at the University of Hawaii during the 1968-69 school year. My roommate was my best friend from Florida. He and I put up military guys on R&R (Rest and Recuperation) in our apartment on Kuhio Ave in Waikiki. In September '68 we met a guy in civies with red hair and the thousand yard stare. He stayed with us that night, and told us his story...
He was AWOL and determined to not go back to the military. He had a bag of pills, including White Lightning acid (LSD) pressed into fake Anacin tablets. He thought it was funny, because his acid would "fix your head."
He told us that he expected to get busted the next day, and that it would mean "Leavenworth" (a prison sentence) if he got picked up by the Military Police or Shore Patrol. We talked nearly all night, wanting to know about what was really going on in the 'Nam.
He had just come "out of the bush" after a horrifying experience that involved his squad shooting Vietnamese civilians. His story telling began about midnight, and continued for a couple of hours. We listened as he described shooting up a "ville". They had found evidence that the villagers had been feeding North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops, so they killed as many villagers as they could.
The last thing that he spoke of before crashing for the night was how he got out of the Nam. They set up camp, ate, and then slept. They were overrun by an enemy force, and nearly all were killed or wounded. Red pulled his dead buddies over him when their position was overrun. They bayonetted bodies, but missed him in the night.
Red went on R&R, bought his bag of drugs, and prepared to stay stoned as long as he could. He correctly predicted that he would be caught, and we never saw him again after that night.
When Oliver Stone's Platoon came out, I went to see it. When I watched "Red O'Brien" hide under his mate's bodies on the screen, I flashed back on that night in Honolulu. It had all been true. I have no idea where Red is today. His actions were dispicable, but would I have done any different? I will not judge without having walked in his boots.
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stevekaczynski
8 years ago
He is a fictional character though there were no doubt real-life examples of him. The character is quite unpleasant. (McGinley is a good actor, especially of types like that.) He is a wise-ass to subordinates, grovels to superiors and is openly afraid of combat. I pity those he commands after the film action ends because if there is any trouble he will run and leave his men to deal with it.
"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."
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haynese_98
8 years ago
If they would have given Red his overdue R&R he would have stood up and fought. I think the message from Platoon is that the whole way the "war" was fought was unfair. Incompetent leadership, the good guys get wasted for nothing, fighting amongst themselves more than against the enemy. Even inside this one small platoon it's divided and sure enough, one of their own leaders(Elias) gets shot one of his own peers..and nobody does anything about it.
What's Red supposed to do? Die in the jungle for nothing? He doesn't have support from his leaders, he doesn't have support from his peers, he doesn't even have support from his own country! His morale is completely destroyed so he just does what he can to survive and maybe he will see Betsy again.
Shall we play a game?
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