Quotes for
Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley (Character)
from We Were Soldiers (2002)

We Were Soldiers (2002)

Sergeant Ernie Savage: Beautiful morning, Sergeant!
Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: What are you a fucking weatherman now?

[after savage is rescued]
Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: That's a nice day, Sergeant Savage.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: They attack us; no casualties. They run and hide in the mountains. Naturally we chase them, of course. Smell like an ambush to you?
Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: If they're trying to get us close enough to kill, I rekon we'll be close enough to kill them.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: I wonder what was going through Custer's mind when he realized that he'd led his men into a slaughter?
Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: Sir, Custer was a pussy. You ain't.

[Galloway is on the ground]
Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: You can't take any pictures from down there, sonny.
[Galloway gets up and is handed a rifle]
Joseph Galloway: I'm a non-combatant.
Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: Ain't no such thing today.

[Moore and Plumley are looking on at the NVA headquarters]
Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: You want to know how Custer felt? Why don't you ask him?

Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: [about to face an onslaught of attacking NVA soldiers] Gentlemen, prepare to defend yourselves!

Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: If any of you sons of bitches calls me grandpa, I'll kill you.

[after Ouellette takes a NVA prisoner just after landing in Ia Drang, the prisoner talks in Vietnamese to Moore and the rest of the solders]
Mr. Nik: [translating] He say he deserter.
Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: Bullshit, he's a lookout.
Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Ask him where his friends are.
[Mr. Nik asks the prisoner in Vietnamese and the North Vietnamese lookout responds in Vietnamese]
Mr. Nik: He say this is basecamp for whole division. 4,000 men.
Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Where?
[Mr. Nik firmly asks the prisoner in Vietnamese who responds by speaking Vietnamese and points to a nearby mountain]
Mr. Nik: [still translating] That mountain. He say, same army that destroyed French. They want to kill Americans very badly... but they have not been able to find any yet.

Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: Seen the new rifles too, the M-16.
Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: That's supposed to be a pretty good weapon.
Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: Ahh, lotsa plastic. Feels like a BB gun to me. Believe I'm gonna stick with my pistol.
Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Think we're gonna get close enough to the enemy to use that?
Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: What do you think, sir?

Sgt. Ernie Savage: Good morning, Sergeant Major.
Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: How do you know what kind of goddamn day it is?

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: I think you oughta get yourself an M-16.
Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: Sir, if the time comes I need one, there'll be plenty lying on the ground.

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