Where’s tropic thunder? The most realistic war movie of all time

*"Me? I think I can survive pretty much indefinetely."* What a line.

I remember my grandfather spent countless hours with me in the woods, telling me the difference between footsteps and how heavy they are. He was in Vietnam as well, and he could pretty much hear some leaves rustle and tell exactly what animal it was. Kinda cool, I pretty much can just tell if it’s a four-legged animal or a human lmao

My father was in the 25th infantry division in Vietnam 1967-68. He also thought the ambush patrol scene in Platoon to be the most realistic, except for the ponchos as his battalion was instructed not to wear them at night as they were too shiny. Of course that doesn't mean battalion was the same, but that was his experience. In any case, once during ambush patrol my father woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of men marching. His rifle was just out of reach, just like in the movie. As it turned out the marching men were a company of either NVA or VC, around 200 guys, passing through. The ambush patrol was a 28 man platoon. My father recalled how he hoped no one would sneeze, snore or open fire, because to do so would have been suicide. My father described how he felt like his heart would pound out of his chest and seemed so loud that he feared it could be heard. As luck would have it, the company passed through without incident, none of them apparently aware of how close they came to stepping on American soldiers. Upon debriefing, the Battalion colonel was angry the men didn't engage, but the Company Captain (Kessler, I think his name was) defended the men under his command saying they shouldn't have sacrificed themselves for no real gain. As a side note regarding wounds, my father observed that generally those that got shot were calm and quiet, while those who had been injured in explosions (mines, booby traps, grenades etc. ) would scream and freak out. I've always wondered how common that is.

"gaint white bald head"😂😂😂😂

No matter how it happens, Predator is always a 10/10, well said Mason.

I was never a soldier or in a jungle, but when I was younger I backpacked in national forests in the US. One night we heard an animal be caught and consumed by something. Probably a badger. That is freaky to hear. Whatever was being eaten must have suffered enormously by the sounds it made. Just this frantic panicked terror. It was weird just lying there in the dark listening to that

I remember an overcast night in the A Shau in '69. In civilized environments, overcast works for you visionwise because you get a lot of reflective light from towns and cities. But up in the mountains near the border with Laos, when the sun went down it got "black cat in the bottom of a coal mine" dark. You not only couldn't see your hand in front of your face, you couldn't even see your own shoulder. They say dogs see with their noses...in night time jungle, you see with your ears. Wildlife noises are actually kinda comforting, because most wildlife go silent when humans enter the area. If it got quiet, you perked up cause somebody was out there. They didn't even have zippers on our camo trousers; buttons only. Cause you can button and unbutton quietly, but a zipper was a clearly human sound and you could hear it from 100 yards... once your ears learned to listen. There's a difference between hearing and listening and at night...you listen.

Next video, "Pizza delivery driver reacts pizza delivery scenes in movies" Pizza delivery guy: "If there was a real pizza in that box he'd have burned his hands holding it like that. Hey, he's supposed to deliver the pizzas, not have sex with everybody... what movie is this?!"

"I would rate this a 2/10 but a 10/10 for awesome" My man! :D

I’m glad he gave First Blood Part II and Predator a “10/10 for Awesome” 😆 Some movies are over the top but just plain fun

As a marine, who now teaches survival classes, I gotta say, this guy is on point with his info. I also know I can survive for however long it takes in survival mode. I spent three years away from society, living in a deeply wooded area with zero help from society other than my knife.

Why did you cut him off? He was still saying interesting facts...

SFC Mason: You want to be as light as you can for as long as you can Army R&D: How can we make stuff heavier and less reliable?

My grandpa was a mortarman with the British Army fighting the Japanese in Malaya and Singapore, alongside the ANZAC troops during ww2. That scene in The Pacific, the American 60mm mortar is accurate for that time. That mortar sight that Rami Malek's character is looking through, is actually the sight for it.

I've spent time in the jungles of Guadalcanal with the natives. Hunted Pigs with spears and dogs over a number of days. Conditions were brutal. Heat was almost unbearable when combined with the humidity. Found a P-38 Lightning , Stuart tank, Thompson machine guns, M1911's, bayonets' and a lot of other war memorabilia. Insects and Snakes were the main problem.

My father was combat infantry in Vietnam and then went to Panama to teach jungle survival. One of the few things he'd tell me about his time was that he and a buddy would sleep during the day whenever they could, then at night they would sit up all night, back to back.

SFC MASON was my jungle instructor. God bless this man. Learned so much!

"The Pacific" was fantastic. Of course there were a few inaccuracies and a little dramatics, it's a show. But, the way it was able to portray the brotherhood, intensity, the service, sacrifice, suffering, and seemingly senselessness of mechanized warfare to those on the ground was pretty amazing. The long lasting damage and human cost. For someone who has never been in combat, it is a humbling, terrifying, and respectful glimpse of what it was like for the heroes who have. It is impossible to imagine the horrors experienced by those who serve in war, but with well portrayed stories like "The Pacific", "Band of Brothers" and others like them it makes it a little easier to try.

I just wanted to let Sgt. Steven Mason know this he is by far Expert I've seen on this channel. Very entertaining but even more educational and surprising emotional take on all these scenes. At 14:50 my eyes started to get a little watery, you can feel the emotion in what he says. Well done sir, and great job on this segment Insider

My dad was in Nam, and he cried all the way through platoon. He said it was very realistic. He is still a hard ass at 70.

My father is a Captain of the Philippine Army and he also thinks that "Platoon" is the most realistic jungle warfare movie he has ever seen

Dude, thanks for your service! I was a boy scout, I learned alot. I could for sure thrive in the woods. I hunt, fish, and farm and I'm good at it! It's a skill you actively practice, like playing a sport. Love and bless!

Enjoyed this particular video . I was with the 25th Inf. Div Cambodia and Vietnam 70-71 . You soo correct about the jungle . We called it triple canopy . I think the biggest threat for me at least was the big bugs and mosquitoes. The heat was also relentless . Thank you for you service and welcome home 🇺🇸

I remember reading about the Malayan Emergency from the late 40's to late 50's. Helicopters were very new tech at that time, nowhere near as reliable as those in Vietnam. So the SAS tried something called "tree jumping", the idea being that you parachuted onto the jungle where the canopy of the chute "would" catch on the branches of the trees and you'd use ropes to abseil down to the forest floor. A number of fatalities and serious injuries quickly led to the practice being reconsidered as... unsafe.

I was in Hawaii with sfc mason before he started working at the jungle course at 2-14 cav! Glad to see he’s doing well

At the very end, talking about how the jungle is constantly screaming: My father did a stint in Vietnam as MOS 18E (because it had the longest training time/shortest time over there), and one of the locals he worked with claimed to understand what the monkeys were saying, and he was right often enough that Dad believed him. And if it ever goes completely quiet in the jungle, well, that means the animals sensed something before you did, and that deafening silence is about to become a deafening loudness.

12:02 I did the math once, and depending on the rate of fire the gun was set to, it would have been anywhere from about 98 pounds all the way up to 176 pounds for the ammo. That doesn't include the gun or the power supply, just the ammo. He burned through anywhere from about 2640 rounds on the top end, down to about 1470 rounds on the bottom end. I'm assuming it was closer to the 176 though, since it was probably configured for aircraft usage considering he stole it off the helicopter

I love that for the "jungle warfare" clip from The Pacific, they choose the assault on the Peleliu airfield, which was an island that's literally just a chunk of coral, rather than showing the jungle scenes from Guadalcanal or Cape Gloucester

The video was very interesting that I didn't realize it was 18 minutes

Old guy story: We are teenagers watching Rambo 2. Only seats were front row, left side, and people sitting in the isle. Every time Rambo kills hand to hand, my buddy yells..."Water Monster!!!"..."Mud Monster!!!"..."Bush Monster!!!" He had 100 people cracking up the entire movie. BEST TIME EVER!!!

We'll forget what that last guy said. Thank you for posting a video on jungle. Old man was Scout and I believe LRRP/LRP ('67-'69) in Vietnam. You're spot-on, minus moving in the water back then. UDTs taught them a lot and Aussies taught them how to replace those knee-to-elbow movements by replacing what they'd touched. 2 weeks, 60-80 lb. packs was the average mission. It changed in '68, so they were asked to engage, interrogate and annoy company-sized forces with booby traps and body snatches with only 4 or 5 men. So, even though you're spot-on with "predator" and "rambo", he still loved those movies >:p Thanks again, this was good.

SFC Mason my senior drill sergeant! Most humble man I’ve met

He was my Drill Sergeant and taught us how to make snare traps during FTX. Really cool DS and actually wanted privates to learn. How funny it is to see him on a KZfaq video 6 years later. He told us some of these same stories.

Outstanding presentation!! I went through JOTC in 1978 and again in 1980. Your analysis of the events in the movie scenes was informative. I hope the Army continues operation of JOTC indefinitely. Your school taught principles there applicable to every environment. And life in general!! Thank you for your service and Best Wishes. It hurt me to learn the mini-gun carried by Jesse “The Body” Ventura, and Arnold’s 950 round M203 magazines in Predator probably would not happen in real life!😮. Great presentation👍.

Great video! Thank you for your service.

I don't think anyone ever thought the Predator unit's gear was accurate to real life but no one can deny that when they all cut loose its one of the best scenes in action films mostly due to the mini gun

And imagine that there are many tribes that flourish in jungle environments today. Even walking barefoot through the forest! Mad respect to these people.

Really glad he talked about We Were Soldiers, my favourite film and is completely underrated!

I like what he is saying. Specially with regarding realism of scenarios. Specially the pacific, the mortars, they need to aim on aiming posts laid out on specific bearings that were pre determined. Awesome review. And I concur with just about all your views.

Yeah, people do not realize, some parts are just impossible to pass through. Not with a broadsword, not even with a flamethrower. At certain places, you take two steps away from the path and in 3 seconds you are being eaten alive by hundreds of bugs and even plants. It happened with me in Cambodia and Thailand as well. One day I will go to Vietnam and Amazonas too. We camped between the ocean and the wild jungle for 6 weeks and kept telling arriving 'tourist' people not to sleep in the jungle, sleep on the sandy beach but people barely listened. It is so romantic to sleep there. Less sun, etc. They had like 50 ticks next day, so tiny, almost impossible to notice. Bacteria is so strong there, one tiny cut if not taken care for, will not heal but grow and spread to other scars through the blood! One French guy almost lost his leg, started from a scratch as he was oblivious. And the sound, yes, it is just mindblowing loud level sometimes, haha yeah. Also the singing bugs, when they gather, omg, at first I thought I have found a dimensional gate to some other world, I could not even think, it was so dominant... But still, I would not call anything else as home as the south pacific jungle. So many species, variation of plants and aninals, it is pure breathing life force; so vivid, so raw, it is god in and as the physical. It can change your perception forever. You either become the jungle or will hate it. Respect to the dude, to keep going back there and even fight, takes a special type of courage.

He had me dying of laughter when he talked about the bird that sounds like a man being stabbed because I knew exactly what he was talking about

Most accurate comment in the whole vid...movies show people moving a lot faster in jungle than they ever did or could in real life. I was packing 106 pounds and that was the lightest pack in the platoon. I know this is going to sound stupid but you got so tired you almost wanted to make contact because the first thing you got to do was dump that pack and keep weapon, ammo and canteens. After climbing jungle covered hills, dropping everything but your combat load made you feel like you could fly.

I'm old lol my Jungle Training was at Ft. Sherman Panama. Great video Sgt! Hooah!

i was a 11C for 20 years. That WW2 60mm actually does have a sight on it. The sight for the WW2 era 60 is much different from the M64/ M64A1 sights that have been used since the Vietnam era. I bought a demilled 60mm WW2 Mortar from IMA-USA with all the WW2 era gear including the sight. The one on the 60 in the Pacific is spot on. Good vid BTW.

I was a Marine platoon commander in Vietnam 1968-69. I served 21 years with 3 years in combat. Vietnam was the hardest year. We operated in different environments: coastal, rice paddies, mountains, and dense jungle. I can't speak to the Army, but to me, the movie Platoon was a total joke. However, I'm sure there were realistic scenes as well. A bunch of bad ass dudes wearing bandanas and not having much in the way of discipline. However, I agree with your comments about the monsoon scene and the included emotions. By the them the monsoon season arrived in Vietnam, I was already mentally and physically exhausted. I was also emotional at that time because of all the casualties I had in my platoon. And then the monsoon came and it just rained constantly. It was impossible to keep anything dry. Already worn out uniforms began to rot and easily tear. The poncho was about as effective in keeping you dry as a bathing suit in the ocean. It's hard to explain to people who have not experienced long term combat without much rest. I only used the poncho to cover me and my advanced squad at night using a map to give patrol orders. I learned when it was my turn to sleep for an hour, I could just lay down in the mud in the driving rain and fall asleep until my radio operator woke me up for my turn on radio watch. We were so under strength that I didn't have a platoon sergeant and I needed my platoon guide on the defensive perimeter at night. That left me and my radio operator to stand radio watch all night. Because exhaustion was such an issue, my rule was one hour on watch and one hour to sleep because it was nearly impossible to stay awake much more than and hour no matter how hard you tried. The war in Vietnam difficult. During the dry season it was brutally hot with all of our combat gear on. Resupply was uncertain and so one C-Ration had to last 2-3 days. I lost 20 pounds that year and I was in great shape when I arrived in Vietnam. I went from 160 pounds to 140 pounds and I have the photograph to prove it. Two thirds of the way through my tour, I looked like starving POW. I wasn't a POW, but I was hungry most of the time. My platoon was brought back to the battalion cantonment a couple of times for 3 days of "rest". The battalion was in the middle of nowhere and while my platoon was there for "rest" we were required to stand the defensive lines on the battalion perimeter at night. Not much in terms of rest. During our 3 days at battalion , we had hot chow. My Marines ate like pigs, but I was so used to C-Rations that the greasy hot "normal" food made me sick so I ate C-Rations instead. Side Note: We joked that if we were killed, the mortuary wouldn't have to embalm us because the preservatives in the C-Rations had already done the job. BTW, all but a couple of the C-Rations were just disgusting, but it's amazing what you will eat when you are hungry. My favorite was the Turkey Loaf, followed by the "beef steak" which I would BBQ over a heat tab to crisp it up a bit. One of my favorite memories regarding food in Vietnam was the innovative ways Marines tried to make C-Rations eatable. The list is too long but included pouring Cocoa Powder into the Beans and Franks just to make it different. But one day, we found a bush with tiny peppers on it. One of my Marines bit into it and instantly became nearly incapacitated. So we chopped the peppers up into very small pieces and added them into our C-Rations. Those peppers still caused eyes to water and a serious burning, but they made the C-Rations better. I think Vietnam was a unique war. During WW II, the allied forces certainly had jungle and monsoon conditions worse than in Vietnam. The difference is that in WW II, our government had declared unconditional surrender. In Vietnam, we had no support from our government nor the people. When the WW II GI's returned home, they were welcomed as heroes with a ticker tape parade in NYC. When I arrived home on a charter flight to San Francisco, as we exited the terminal after fighting for a year in Vietnam, we were greeted with an angry anti-war mob yelling expletive's and throwing bottles and cans at us while trying to spit on those closest. Welcome home for severing this country at the direction of the civilian government. The military cannot declare war or even engage in conflict without the expressed commitment of our government--whether the congress to declare war or the President to commit us to combat for 90 days without congress. In the case of Vietnam, the congress gave the President the power to escalate the war. I'm a hard core conservative and Constitutionalist. The US should never send our military into harm's way unless both the President and Congress agree that it is our strategic interest. That in fact is the law. However, the Gulf of Tonkin incident was a fake and it took us into war in Vietnam. Let this sink in. When I was a platoon commander in 1968-69, we already knew that our government had no intention of winning the war. How did we know? Because the only way to have won that war was to have invaded North Vietnam and neither President Johnson nor congress ever allowed us to invade North Vietnam. If Johnson and ordered the 3 Marine Divisions to land and defeat North Vietnam, the war would have been over in months or even a year instead of 10 years and a humiliatingly defeat. BTW, did you know that the treaty between South Vietnam and North Vietnam included a provision that if the North ever invades the South that the US would intervene????? But in 1975, North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam and the US pretended that we had no treaty obligation to intervene. I was a Marine company commander during the evacuation of Saigon in April of 1975. My company was designated the "Sparrow Hawk" reaction force to rescue designated people from difficult locations. We were never given an execute order, but I know it was for political reasons because the people to be rescued were Vietnamese who had supported the US.. There were many calls for help coming in and we were never told to launch. It gets worse. One of the US rules of engagement was that we were not allowed to take Vietnamese who were in uniform. Let that sink in. These were the Vietnam military who fought for us and now politically we could not take anyone aboard ship who was wearing a uniform. It didn't take long for Vietnamese helicopter pilots to take off their uniforms and land on our ships. Some landed wearing only their underwear because they knew they would not be allowed aboard the ship if they wore their Vietnamese uniforms. I could tell you horror stories of the evacuation of Saigon that would make you hate our government at that time. My apologies for the long diatribe, but memories of those days are strong.

Very accurately handled. Thx! Fair analysis.

*How come nobody is talking about the gun pointed at his head?* 4:47 *I thought for sure Steven Mason was going to say something about it but I was wrong 😂*

25th ID vet here. Was there between 03-06 with a year of that spent in Afghanistan. I attended a jungle tracking school while in Hawaii, but at the time, the 25th didn't have their own instructors. I was trained by instructors from the Malaysian Army. Still have my certificate and t-shirt. It's definitely a skill you have to stay on top of to remain sharp in the field.

Him saying I could survive indefinitely reminds me of the confused face of a green beret being asked how long he could survive in the field by a journalist “What? I don’t understand. I mean I would just ... live here. Rather than in my house. What do you mean how long?” 😂

Very interesting, informative and worthwhile video.

The jungle is a remarkable place...lots of stuff and RAAMBO woe...now that is exciting. Interesting review I liked this video yes!!!!👍🎄

This man was my BCT and Infantry school SDS. Badass dude right there.

“You just have to be good, at being uncomfortable.” Wise words, and applicable to any success in life. Its NEVER easy. Its always work. Much of it NOT what you wish you were doing. Every promotion, transfer, career shift or risk taken.....all filled with anxiety and fear. Every time your kid gets their heart broken......you just have to be good at being uncomfortable sometimes. If I don’t exercise like a maniac, I go insane. I become depressed, anxious, and withdraw from the world. Something about pushing my body to exhaustion, helps my mind to STFU. The discomfort of a long run, the hate I feel for leg day, being unable to put a shirt on because my arms are so tired......somehow makes my piddly mind games more tolerable.

Thank you for your service.

I love Sgt. 1st Class Mason. Great stuff.

My Dad was a Jungle Warfare expert and an instructor at the very beginning of Vietnam. He was a badass.

anyone else bummed about Predator not getting credit for the water vine Billy cuts into that he was talking about earlier in the video?

I was a green clad jungle killer in the Australian army. I felt a chill up my spine in the 'trudging through the jungle' scenes. Best portrayal of what infantry soldiers do, did in Vietnam, ever. I've felt the sapping heat and humidity, slipped in the slick orange clay up steep features and been damp from rain or sweat 24/7 for weeks at a time. 'Platoon' brings back fond memories.

Predator is the most re-watchable movie in the history of cinema. It literally never gets old!

“Hello my name is Steven Mason” me who plays CoD : *’starts getting flashbacks about Black Ops 1’* “MASOOOON”

I’m deaf and I can confirm that the sniper movie where Tom said “2 person walking down hill” Fun fact. Military actually learned how to do those signs from deaf people. Guess next one you could have deaf people rates actors who use sign language in movies.

Very knowledgeable, I enjoyed listening to this gentleman.

I was with 3rd Marines at MCBH K-bay when Tears of the sun was filming on an island near us. They allowed Marines (they could've asked other branches as well) to go to casting call for the movie and Sgt. Bourgeois (yes his name was spelled like that) who was an NCO in our motorpool went to try out and did appear in the movie for about 2.5 seconds firing a shoulder fired missile. He was African American and a PT stud! He had that movie playing in the barracks common area all the time. We were with CSSG-3 at the time.

Yo I went to jungle school in January of 2019 and can’t believe SFC Mason is still around! Such a good dude!

That was great how it cut off at the very end, while he was talking (hopefully you can hear sarcasm as I type)

I worked with you guys in the 90's great bunch of lads.

I could listen to experts like this for hours.

Predator is a perfect source for this where he cuts down a water Vine Billy in fact and drinks from it.

Props to this guy this is actually the best one of these I've seen. Good balance of ripping on the film and actual exp/ procedure. Jocko phoned his in like, "Yeah we do that. No we don't do that..."

Great video Sergeant Mason. I’d go to war with Oliver Stone, as a retired Scout, I have always thought that Platoon captures a lot of warfare and military lifestyle in theater fairly accurately, especially considering the era. Thin red line correctly depicts humans under stress and fear of death. We burned the poo in 2002 just like they did in ‘68.

I was doing jungle warfare training in Okinawa while in the Marine Corps back in 98 and we broke up into teams and dropped off at several locations on the training ground and only had our map and compass to navigate back to basecamp, but we were all in competition to see which team made it back the quickest and unseen. I was voted as team leader and instead of taking the easy routes, I took an almost direct approach found a fairly shallow river crossing, around 6-7 feet max depth. Being the strongest swimmer, I swam the span, tied off a rope, and we crossed one by one while those that already crossed spread out and kept watch. It took maybe 4 hours to get back to basecamp, but we beat all the other teams by an hour. We had a bunch of fun while doing it. Soaking wet, but fun.

That scene from Thin Red Line is the payoff to an earlier set up. In another scene Woody is messing with the pins on his grenades that's why it pulled out so easily.

From the pictures that my dad bought back from his 3 combat tours in Vietnam, I didn't see many with him in camo face paint, and he was white with a bald head. Maybe that's why he was shot 9 times. Great video and thank you for your service. Greetings from Fayetteville/ Ft.Bragg. RIP dad Gary Goofy Grape Gilmer 5th SFG camp A325 Duc Hue

I like this episode the best out of them all because he gives the awesomeness grade lol! Love the show!!

I like the differentiating between rating realism versus awesomeness of scenes.

Predator was the first R rated film I ever saw, and still one of my favourite films to this day. "10/10 for awesome", indeed

Fall back, pull back is definitely what they used to say. I have an old civil war strategy, and tactics manual. And 'fall back' is definitely in there. Of course that was a long time ago, at some point the military got cool, and came up with break contact I guess. Pretty sure if you were in that position you would get the idea either way.

This guy was hilarious! I hope he does more videos like this 😂

I could listen to this pretty much indefinitely.

12:41 grenade goes off while attached to him and doesn't turn him into mangled meat, or wound his squadmates within eyesight of him 7/10 for realism

12:10 Predator "I'd give it a 2 out of 10 and a 10 out of 10 for awesome" LOL, love it!

"If I had a mini gun in the jungle? Thats exactly what I'd do with it..." Guys hilarious 🤣

I was in the 1/14th, 25th Div., back in the 70's. Our command back then to retreat was "fall back and regroup." I never remember hearing "break contact." Terminologies change. Golden Dragons!

From my experiences: @6:43 - On company S&D with montagnards, it was zero visability. The yards were in perimeter, me and another American were near each other toward the center. We both awoke to footsteps slowly approaching. They stopped 1-2 feet from us. My M16 was on full auto pointing at crotch height. Any disturbing noise or action, the intruder would have a full mag recoiling up. Nothing happened. Me and the other American reached out and felt the guy all over. Decided he was a scared kid and encouraged him to go back on the perimeter. None of us could see anything. Only sound and touch. @6:53 They also had centipedes that had 2 glands per segment that sprayed acid, in defense. I tested it. @7:25 In a montagnard company we had set down for the night. Very dark. We knew there was supposed to be a VC unit a little way further. Our CO at base told us to move up to it. We didn't think moving a company through the jungle silently at night could be possible. Our CO disagreed. Somehow we lost radio contact with our base ;-) and stayed put for the night. @9:11 I've been a proponent of learning sign language, especially small recon units. And practicing. Just a bit more than the standard, rally, look that way, hold, etc. @10:27 I was in the hammer part of a hammer/ anvil mission. Things were quiet and we had a spotter plane fly over us. Eventually we even put out a panel, and the spotter couldn't see us. It can be HARD to spot someone from the air. @11:01 Company(yards) was getting extracted and the company leader and his senior NCO got the company moving to the extraction point(good so far). Then they both came back to my squad, the last in line, and told me they would cover our withdrawal. (not good - imho - for the leaders being tail gunners.) (I later realized why. The NCO, I'm pretty sure was Bob Howard, who had spike team background, and getting out of Dodge in small units could have encouraged that action. And the officer was a young LT, that would defer to Howard.) @11:56 A friend who served in Korea had a buddy (by his terms, a giant) whose personal weapon of choice was a 57 Recoiless. My friends description of him was he handled it like a big shotgun. Everyone seemed to carry at least one round for him. He was very good. @12:52 We had one montagnard blow himself up just like that, in camp. Pin snagged on something, and the spoon kept it on his web gear. (Later the other yards thought he had been a VC, so they didn't miss him. @13:45 MAKE a clearing for small unit infil/exfil. They/we started using daisy cutter bombs after I left Vietnam. Designed to blow several feet above the ground and clear a small LZ, I never ran into one. @14:59 We did have 60mm mortars that "could" be fired, freehand, no sights, no tripod, no T&E. But I believe its range was significantly less than the M79 grenade launcher. Though the mortar did have much more explosive.

"He probably should of have some camouflage on there. Not just a white bald head" lol

I was in the 25th ID (L) for many years and had some fun adventures. I do miss the Loco moco and shaved ice from North shore.

0:05 the opening was best..🤣🤣😂😂

Can confirm from being down in the Amazon jungle a number of times, the insects at night are insanely loud! On top of that, they almost sound digital/technological in the noises they make. Hear a jaguar once or twice at night. Thing is, is that sounds can travel far in the jungle, so it was really hard to tell (at least for me) how near or far that jaguar might've been. Most likely far, as I was never more then a couple hours from a river town. Still.

3:40 is that the Russian jocko willink

I remember watching that scene from Forest Gump with a Vietnam spec ops guy and he would go on a lot about how much rain there was

I remember having guard duty and as soon as I started, it started raining exaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaactly like that for the entire time like on Platoon and he is absolutely correct. I spent that whole night saying it's gotta be something better than this. Took me through to retirement though! And just like on Forrest Gump when he was referring to the radio when we got attacked, you will see people's nerves are shot, they are tired, but it's still detrimental to maintain discipline!

All I know about jungle survival I learned from my dad and his buddies, my mentors. And growing up on on Western Pacific Islands and the mangrove, sawgrass, jungles, and forests of Southeast Asia. Leftovers from WWII, formed up in 1950, trained the next generation, splitting up and reforming in 1957. Dear old dad is a legend. He and Mom are now together in "Arlington". For me, circa early 1950'' through the 1970's. It was one big magical adventure.

"you have to be good at being uncomfortable" - amen bro. Someone famous, I can't remember who, said words to the effect: "a good soldier is not defined by what they can do, but what they can endure".

I like this guy alot he has the vibes of a strong nco whose out there doing good stuff with the army in todays army. Good to see a fellow nco representing well. Super knowledgeable and professional

Awesome gradings in this video. So true, not being able to see your hand at night, the jungle floor comes alive at night between the decomposing deadfall, to the noise of insects and animals. Our biggest problem were the Whitetail Rats, they would eat straight through your pack to get to your rations.

Sfc Mason was my senior drill sergeant during basic training. Good to see him !!

One thing i hadnt considered about the jungle until i heard an interview with a lepidopterist who spent some time in the jungles of South America. At night i would imagine one of the biggest fears being wildlife such as jaguars, but what scared him the most at night was during heavy winds and rain that knocked down big branches that are often burdened with vines and epiphytes. Some large enough to seriously hurt you or even kill you if they land on your head. During those nights he would hear heavy branches fall in his vicinity making his way to some clearing for sheltering and sleep. That felt much more like an immediate danger than Jaguars who exist in the area.

The way he described the bird sound remembered me of when I heard howler monkeys in the jungle for the first time(in central Brazil). Man, that was super scary

My favorite war movie that I thought was almost realistic was Platoon. I am glad you gave it a 10/10.