by Harry Purvis

This dialogue will seem strangely familiar, but you won’t quite be able to put your finger on where you’ve heard it before.

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War Movie Clichés

“Before this training period is over, you guys are gonna hate my guts! But if you live through it…someday you’ll thank me for it.”

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“We’re not running this war for your personal pleasure, Bradshaw! Tonight, by disobeying orders, you’ve endangered the life of every man in this company! Maybe back in civilian life you could pull things like that, being Senator Bradshaw’s son, but here in this boot camp you’re just plain private Bradshaw!”

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“Any of you guys got letters to write, you got exactly two minutes! Because we’re shipping out!

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“Don’t let him get your goat, kid. She’ll wait. Not all dames are like that. Simpson’s just sore ’cause he ain’t got no one to come back to.

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“I’ll go crazy if I don’t see some action soon!”

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“Men, we’re up against an enemy who’ll stop at nothing to hold this island! So good luck! And…give ’em hell!”

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“Okay, I need some volunteers for this mission…Anderson, Brown, Cowznofski, DeGrazzo, Hanlon, MacNutt, O’Reilly and Silverstein! Now, let’s see…what have I missed? Oh yeah – you too, Sun Luck Chow!”

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“I know you didn’t ask to come out here Johnson, but by God, now that you ARE here, you’ll fight! Now I’ll tell you something…first time out, I was afraid too! Yeah, ME! Does that surprise you Johnson?”

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“You can’t ask them to do it Colonel! They’ve been looking forward to this leave for months! It’s all that’s kept them going! Now, to tell them they’ve been ordered back into action … it…it just isn’t fair!”

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“I wish Arkansas would learn a new tune! That one is driving me nuts!”

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“Boy, what I wouldn’t give to be back on Flatbush Avenue, watchin’ all the blondes go by! How about you Bradshaw? Any real stacked blondes up on Snob Hill? Hey…where you goin’?”

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“The last thing he said was – ‘Tell the Sarge this one’s for Benny!’ ”

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“He wiped out that machine gun nest single-handed! And to think I once called him yellow!”

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“When I see those fresh green kids coning up, eager to fight, it makes me want to cry. I was like that once. It seems like so many years ago. It’s hard to believe we’ve only been on this island 5 days!”

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“Think it’ll do any good, Padre? All this killing and dying I mean?”

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“…and the generations to come will remember what it was like, and what it was all for! Have no fear of that, my son!”

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