We Were Soldiers' purports to tell the story of the bloody battle in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam's Central Highlands in November 1965. Despite its pretensions to honour the suffering and service of the combatants, the film profoundly misrepresents the nature of this battle and of the war in Vietnam in general. In doing so, it glorifies the military establishment and bolsters the current propaganda drive for US military action on foreign shores.

In the Ia Drang Valley, paratroopers of the 7th cavalry of the 1st US Airborn division, led by Col Harold Moore (played by Mel Gibson), engaged in ferocious combat with North Vietnamese army regulars over three days and nights. Though initially outnumbered, the US troops defeated the Vietnamese thanks to massive air-born firepower. In the end, there were 300 US and nearly 2000 Vietnamese dead.

The film recreates the fighting in gory but selective detail. It says nothing of its context or consequences.

General William......

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Title: We Were Soldiers
Approximate Word Count: 1750
Approximate Pages: 7 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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