A great film of a small unit patrol going deep into the jungle without anyone but itself to rely on. The scene where their ambush is poorly executed from both sides of the trail resulting in a friendly casualty shows how indeed the "small things" do matter. Its interesting that it shows the dilemma of a deep patrol in regards to its wounded---leave them to their own end or carry them and slow the whole patrol down and risk its survival? A tough question and one yet to be addressed in our military by employing simple mobility devices like backpacks that convert to carts, using all-terrain bikes etc. In contrast today we just want sensors to do it, but as the film shows they can't see through overhead jungle vegetation, so bombing-from-the-air-is-not-the-answer-to-everything.
The ending where the 2 men criss-cross running across and open field shows how marksmanship and weapons ranges are important, what's troubling is the base camp didn't have a reaction force ready to maneuver back in to extract the patrol survivors out, choosing to just support-by-fire at a safe distance. GOOD leadership will risk itself to save the men.
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