Tour of Duty was a difficult series to present and I salute those involved. Please remember the foregoing as you read on. Whether the conflict in Viet Nam was ever officially classified as a war is a point I'll leave to others. On this point I'll say only it didn't begin with alleged fire upon Desoto patrol destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy.
Reference is made in earlier episodes to both ground and air support unavailable to the platoon because of heavy activity in "the Ashau". The Ashau valley saw a lot of combat through out the war but the tone implied Operation Apache Snow, assault on Dong Ap Bin, Hill 937, which took place May 10 - May 21, 1969. (All too similar therefore to the time setting of this episode is in that approximation.
During this episode, 4 of Season 1, the character Pvt. Ruiz speaks the phrase, later, meem, "Up Close and Personal". Not until the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo did NBC Features reporter Jack Perkins popularize the expression. Perkins filmed, yes filmed, features highlighting particular athletes, events, or occurrences anticipated in advance of the games. Pvt Ruiz could not have utilized the phrase as it was yet to become known, approximately three years later.
Doubly regrettable about the 1972 games were both the massacre at Munich and Jack Perkins never receiving credit for originating the phrase. Not to equate a reporter's meem to be with another association of Munich with antisemitic murders.
The nation was at war with itself exemplified by Emmitt Till in 1955, Little Rock in 1957, Selma in 1965, Chicago and Miami in 1968, May 1970 massacres at Kent State and Jackson State universities et al. The foregoing should indicate similar strife amongst ground troops in Viet Nam and the sanitized version portrayed for television in 1987 - 1990, another anachronism. One must agree though, the series portrayals of several real events still merit a tip of the cap.
Reference is made in earlier episodes to both ground and air support unavailable to the platoon because of heavy activity in "the Ashau". The Ashau valley saw a lot of combat through out the war but the tone implied Operation Apache Snow, assault on Dong Ap Bin, Hill 937, which took place May 10 - May 21, 1969. (All too similar therefore to the time setting of this episode is in that approximation.
During this episode, 4 of Season 1, the character Pvt. Ruiz speaks the phrase, later, meem, "Up Close and Personal". Not until the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo did NBC Features reporter Jack Perkins popularize the expression. Perkins filmed, yes filmed, features highlighting particular athletes, events, or occurrences anticipated in advance of the games. Pvt Ruiz could not have utilized the phrase as it was yet to become known, approximately three years later.
Doubly regrettable about the 1972 games were both the massacre at Munich and Jack Perkins never receiving credit for originating the phrase. Not to equate a reporter's meem to be with another association of Munich with antisemitic murders.
The nation was at war with itself exemplified by Emmitt Till in 1955, Little Rock in 1957, Selma in 1965, Chicago and Miami in 1968, May 1970 massacres at Kent State and Jackson State universities et al. The foregoing should indicate similar strife amongst ground troops in Viet Nam and the sanitized version portrayed for television in 1987 - 1990, another anachronism. One must agree though, the series portrayals of several real events still merit a tip of the cap.
