Top 20 Quotes From Lt. Col. Hal Moore

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: If they're trying to get us close enough to kill, I rekon we'll be close enough to kill them.

Crandall: My men call me Snakeshit, sir.
Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Why do they call you that?
Crandall: Because I fly "lower than snakeshit," sir.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Broken Arrow!

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: You know what Air Cavalry really means? You fly into hostile territory, outnumbered, 10,000 miles from home. Sometimes the battleground is no bigger than a football field, and if the choppers stop coming, we all get slaughtered. Now, I figure chopper pilots won't fly into Hell for strangers, so, I'm Hal Moore.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: [Hal Moore speaks to his men before going into battle] Look around you. In the 7th cavalry, we've got a captain from the Ukraine; another from Puerto Rico. We've got Japanese, Chinese, Blacks, Hispanics, Cherokee Indians. Jews and Gentiles. All Americans. Now here in the states, some of you in this unit may have experienced discrimination because of race or creed. But for you and me now, all that is gone. We're moving into the valley of the shadow of death, where you will watch the back of the man next to you, as he will watch yours. And you won't care what color he is, or by what name he calls God. They say we're leaving home. We're going to what home was always supposed to be. Now let us understand the situation. We are going into battle against a tough and determined enemy.
[pauses]
Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: I can't promise you that I will bring you all home alive. But this I swear, before you and before Almighty God, that when we go into battle, I will be the first to set foot on the field, and I will be the last to step off, and I will leave no one behind. Dead or alive, we will all come home together. So help me, God.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: He died keeping my promise.

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

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Nothing's wrong except there's nothing wrong!

[On the radio]
Colonel: Colonel, what's the situation down there?
[Colonel Moore spins around and shoots a North Vietnamese soldier that was just about to bayonet him]
Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: It's getting pretty sporty down here, sir!

[Moore and Geoghegan a prayer before leaving for Vietnam]
Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Our Father in Heaven, before we go into battle, every soldier among us will approach you each in his own way. Our enemies too, according to their own understanding, will ask for protection and for victory. And so, we bow before your infinite wisdom. We offer our prayers as best we can. I pray you watch over the young Jack Geoghegan. That I lead into battle. You use me as your instrument in this awful hell of war to watch over them. Especially if they're men like this one beside me, deserving of a future in your blessing and goodwill. Amen.
2nd: Amen.
Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Oh, yes, and one more thing, dear Lord, about our enemies, ignore their heathen prayers and help us blow those little bastards straight to Hell. Amen.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: I got a problem, Snake Shit, and I think you're the solution.
Maj. Bruce Crandall: I've been called a lot of things, Colonel, never a solution.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: To follow your instincts and to inspire your men, by your example, you have to be with 'em. Where the metal meets the meat.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Glad you made it son.
Joe: Thank you, Sir, You too.
Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: [after a short pause] I'll never forgive myself.
Joe: For what, Sir.
Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: That my men - that my men died and I didn't.
Joe: Sir, I don't - I don't know how to tell this story.
Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Well you got to Joe. You tell the American people what these men did here. You tell them how my troopers died.
Joe: Yes, Sir.
Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Thank you.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Where you from, son?
Joseph: Refugio, Texas, sir.
Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Well, that's the first thing I've heard today that makes any sense.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Pass this along; tell your men to fire three shots at anything that looks suspicious, on my order.

Sergeant: Seen the new rifles too, the M-16.
Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: That's supposed to be a pretty good weapon.
Sergeant: 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: What do you think, sir?

Joe: Sir, I don't know how to tell this story.
Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Well you have to, Joe. You tell the American people what happened here. You tell them how my troopers died.
Joe: Yes sir.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: [Narrating; voice-over] Dear Barbra, I have no words to express to you my sadness at the loss of Jack. The world is a lesser place without him. But I know he is with God and the angels and I know even Heaven is improved by his presence there. I know you too are sure of this and yet this knowledge can't diminish his loss and your grief. With abiding respect and affection, Hal Moore.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: You got a death wish, Galloway?
Joe: No, sir.
Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Then why are you here?
Joe: Cause I knew these dead boys would be here, sir.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: I'll never forgive myself.
Joseph: For what, sir?
Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: That my men... that my men died and I didn't.