Platoon (1986)

In 1967, U.S. Army volunteer Chris Taylor arrives in South Vietnam and is assigned to an infantry platoon of the 25th Infantry Division near the Cambodian border. The platoon is officially led by the young and inexperienced Lieutenant Wolfe, but in reality, the soldiers defer to two of his older, more experienced subordinates: the hardened and cynical Sergeant Barnes, and the more idealistic and reasonable Sergeant Elias.

Chris is immediately sent out with Barnes, Elias, and veteran soldiers on a planned night ambush for a North Vietnamese army force. The NVA soldiers manage to get close to the sleeping Americans before a brief firefight ensues; Chris’s fellow new recruit Gardner is killed and Chris himself lightly wounded. After his return from the hospital, Chris bonds with Elias and his circle of marijuana-smokers while remaining aloof from Barnes and his more hard-edged followers.