History Film / WeWereSoldiers

* AdaptationalWimp: Plumley, believe it or not. Everyone who knew the man said that while Creator/SamElliott did a wonderful job of capturing the man's essence, the movie ''severely'' downplayed just how much of a hardass the man really was.

* KeepTheHomeFiresBurning: Julie as a few scenes of this trope.

* Similarily, Lt. Colonel An, though prone to WeHaveReserves, is the last to evacuate the Vietnamese bunker.

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: The opening CurbStombBattle against the French patrol ends with the Vietnamese officer ordering the execution of the wounded. {{Downplayed}} with the young Vietnamese soldier clearly being reluctant to actually carry out such execution.

* AdaptationalWimp: Plumley, believe it or not. Everyone who knew the man said that Creator/SamElliott did a wonderful job of capturing the man's essence, the movie ''severely'' downplayed just how much of a hardass the man really was.

* ArtisticLicenseLinguistics: When Joe Galloway tells Hal Moore that he's from Refugio, Texas, he pronounces it "Re-fuge-ee-oh", with a soft front-of-the-tongue G, the same way most English speakers not from Refugio do. The [[ItsPronouncedTroPay town's name is pronounced]] more like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugio,_Texas "Re-fury-oh"]]. It's a long story, involving Spanish settlements and [[UsefulNotes/TheIrishDiaspora Irish colonists]] who couldn't pronounce Spanish-style back-of-the-tongue soft-Gs.

* NotSoDifferent: US Army and North Vietnamese Army.
** Also lampshaded by Moore when he is praying to God for protection for his troops, acknowledging that the North Vietnamese troops were no doubt making similar prayers.
** Several scenes emphasize this: both Lt. Col. Moore and Lt. Col. An look up at the same moon; Moore predicts the pattern of the NVA attack because it was how he would do it, and in the climactic [[spoiler:bayonet charge]] An's radioman is killed by his American counterpart. Also Jack Geoghegan's wife reading the letter that Moore sends her is played alongside the woman whose photograph is in the journal of the Vietnamese soldier who tries to bayonet Moore as she reads his journal.
** Both factions also get plenty of shots associated with war heroism, such as the commanders of each nation motivating their troops and awe-inspiring shots of the American and Vietnamese flag.

* PrayerOfMalice: Providing some MoodWhiplash immediately after a NotSoDifferent moment:

** Also explained by Crandall, who warns the [=RTOs=] that the Air Cav troopers need to mark their positions because everyone looks the same from the air.

* NowYouTellMe: Colonel Moore's radio operator calls Crandall's helicopters to tell them they have a hot LZ. Crandall receives this message as his Hueys are being peppered with small arms fire. Crandall plucks out a bullet stuck in the cockpit wall and growls, “No shit.”

** A deleted scene has a soldier telling his buddies a story about Plumley, whom he knew from his old unit. He describes his old platoon sergeant. Big scary dude, with scars on his face. When their new platoon leader, [[EnsignNewbie a 2nd lieutenant fresh out of ROTC]], gets in his face about not wearing all his decorations, he goes back to the barracks, and comes back wearing ''only'' his boots, all of his ribbons and medals ''pinned directly to his chest'', and not one but ''two'' Medals Of Honor. (The LT then promptly salutes him per military custom.[[note]]It's a ''de facto'' rule that anyone who has been awarded the Medal of Honor is entitled to a salute from all personnel present, regardless of rank, up to and including the President.[[/note]]) The soldier telling the story then reveals this sergeant is ''not'' Sgt. Major Plumley (as the last double Medal of Honor award was in 1918), but works for Sgt. Maj. Plumley and is ''terrified'' of him.

* CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough: Moore, as noted above, is the father to his men type. Plumley is there to kick them in the ass whenever they need it. (And sometimes just because). The Colonel’s and Command Sergeant Major’s opposing styles complement eachother quite well, maximizing the advantages of both methods, and each holds the other in high regard.

** Moore's North Vietnamese counterpart, Colonel Nguyen Huu An, is also this to an extent, though unlike Moore he's a little more willing to use WeHaveReserves. It’s clear that he doesn’t take their deaths lightly, though.

* TheNeidermeyer: Sgt Savage's platoon leader, who is seen aggressively yelling at his troops while in training. Plumley isn't too pleased, muttering that he's the type of officer that ends up a GloryHound. Later he orders his men to chase after a Vietcong scout, and they end up TrappedBehindEnemyLines when they run too far away from their own forces.

* WeHaveReserves: The NVA leadership's attitude towards their soldiers. In real life, not entirely willingly so; much of the local PAVN elements' crew-served weapons were knocked out or unavailable.

* AdaptationDistillation: From book to movie, there are noted historical differences between the two, supposedly to make a more condensed product for the movie. Even the title fits the trope. The book was originally called ''We Were Soldiers Once...and Young''.

* FantasticRacism: When Julie Moore's meeting with all the other army wives to discuss the new posting, Catherine tries to joke about the off-base laundromat's sign that says "Whites Only." Alma, who is African-American, politely points out what it really means. Catherine is appalled, but Alma calms her by saying that her husband and their family won't ask for respect, and they won't give it to any man who hasn't earned it.
** Discussed at Moore's speech to his platoon before they deploy, where he notes the diversity of the integrated army, and that there are many who would experience discrimination back home. He makes it clear that he will have ''none of that'' in the field.

** A deleted scene has a soldier telling his buddies a story about Plumley, whom he knew from his old unit. He describes his old platoon sergeant. Big scary dude, with scars on his face. When their new platoon leader, [[EnsignNewbie a 2nd lieutenant fresh out of ROTC]], gets in his face about not wearing all his decorations, he goes back to the barracks, and comes back wearing ''only'' his boots, all of his ribbons and medals ''pinned directly to his chest'', and not one but ''two'' Medals Of Honor. (The LT then promptly salutes him per military custom.[[note]]It's a ''de facto'' rule that anyone who has been awarded the Medal of Honor is entitled to a salute from all personnel present, regardless of rank.[[/note]]) The soldier telling the story then reveals this sergeant is ''not'' Sgt. Major Plumley (as the last double Medal of Honor award was in 1918), but works for Sgt. Maj. Plumley and is ''terrified'' of him.

* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkey: A notable subversion, the French patrol at the start of the movie fight as best as they can but are wiped out to the last men due to [[ZergRush being caught by surprised by overwhelming numbers]], not as a failure of courage.

* BadassGrandpa: Sergeant Major Plumley. [[BerserkButton Don't you dare tell him that.]]
--> '''Sgt. Major Plumley''': ''If any of you sons of bitches calls me grandpa, I'll kill you.''
** Best part? While the people who knew Plumley agreed Sam Elliott did an excellent job portraying him, he actually ''underplayed'' how badass the real man was. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_Plumley Wikipiedia Page on Sgt Major Plumley]]

* RealityIsUnrealistic: Everyone who saw the film and had met the real Sergeant Major Plumbley said that while Sam Elliott's performance was excellent, it severely ''understated'' just how much of a stone cold hardass Plumbley actually was.

** A {{DeletedScene}} also has Moore meet up with Robert McNamara and General Westmoreland after the battle, and outright tell them that an enemy who would charge through napalm, air strikes, artillery, M60-and-M16-fire, and ''still'' be willing to fight is not an enemy they are currently equipped to beat. He also notes that ''they'' are the invaders here, and a people galvanized to liberate their homeland will always fight harder than the foreign army invading it, no matter what the intentions of the latter are.

* TheCavalry: Strictly speaking, when the Lost Platoon is rescued by the troopers late in the film, they were being rescued by TheCavalry (even if it was their own unit, and even if everybody was on foot and moving slowly to avoid ambushes).
** The RevisedEnding plays it more straight [[spoiler: with a helicopter gunship [[CurbStompBattle curb stomping]] a large portion of the NVA defenses just before Moore's bayonet charge is about to get slaughtered.]]

* RevisedEnding: [[spoiler: The bayonet charge in the finale never happened in RealLife. Moore's troops were reinforced by two other battalions and then evacuated before a B-52 carpet bombing strike moved in to finish off the enemy headquarters]]

* CallToAgriculture: [[TagalongReporter Galloway]] ends up having to take a rifle and help defend the wounded troops when the battalion's HQ is overrun. As soon as the crisis has passed and [[spoiler: a critically burned Jimmy Nakayama has been gotten onto a medevac chopper]], he hangs up the rifle [[WarIsHell in disgust]] and picks up his camera to photograph the troops and chronicle their struggle. In RealLife, Galloway landed in Vietnam with a rifle.

* CallToAgriculture: [[TagalongReporter Galloway]] ends up having to take a rifle and help defend the wounded troops when the battalion's HQ is overrun. As soon as the crisis has passed, he hangs up the rifle [[WarIsHell in disgust]] and picks up his camera to photograph the troops and chronicle their struggle. In RealLife, Galloway landed in Vietnam with a rifle.

* CoolGuns: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] and [[SubvertedTrope subverted]]. Colonel Moore seems to like the new M16 rifle. Sergeant Major Plumley thinks it feels too much like a toy compared to the weapons he's accustomed to. So instead he decides to play the trope straight with his Colt Model 1911A1 (he uses an M14 for a rifle, as a lot of older soldiers did at the beginning of the war, as well as those not yet equipped with the M16). He picks up an M16 only once in the entire movie [[spoiler: to hand to the photojournalist to defend himself with during a fierce NVA attack.]]

* CombatBreakdown: One engagement between the Lost Platoon and a group of North Vietnamese soldiers devolves to a desperate brawl, with one American soldier beating a Vietnamese troop to death with a helmet.

** Another scene that reinforces this is when the helicopter full of reporters arrive after the battle. Moore and Joe are deluged with questions from the reporters, and the men can only stay silent and turn away in disgust.