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Booty Money. Despite occasional psychological strains from isolation in the bush, the Green Berets still handle some of the toughest chores of the war. Special Forces "C and C" teams venture on missions "over the mountain"—reconnaissance forays into Laos and Cambodia that are classified and not talked about. "Mike-forces," elite irregulars under Special Forces officers, are sometimes thrown into hazardous actions where regular Vietnamese and
U.S. units might not be readily committed. There is considerable incentive for "Mike force" troopers. A private gets more monthly pay than a regular Vietnamese master sergeant ($58 v. $48). There is also the promise of booty money for captured Communist weapons: an AK-47 assault rifle brings $25, a 120-mm. mortar $200, a tank $500.
Even in today's big war of divisions, the Green Berets have somehow man aged to remain individualists; occasionally they come up with a grandstand play that is hard to equal. Last spring, for example, two elephants were needed in a remote village to work on a new sawmill. The Berets tranquilized the animals, set them on a free-swinging platform and helicoptered them to an otherwise inaccessible location.
Despite such feats, the likelihood is that the Green Berets will hardly recognize themselves—or, for that matter, their surroundings or their enemy—in John Wayne's version. In the movie, the camp's single .50-cal. machine gun sits splendidly unprotected on a little hillock and the commanders direct the battle from a fragile watchtower that the Communists somehow manage to miss to the last; in reality, Green Beret camps are heavily bunkered, often reinforced with cement. In the movie, an evening's relaxation for Special Forces officers involves an outing to a Miami-style club, at which some of the guests are in evening clothes; in reality, substitute a few cans of beer in a bare, functional officers' mess. In the movie, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese walk into the camp's defenses like so many head of cattle; in reality, they usually hit the way good infantrymen are taught to attack, using every inch of terrain for cover.
On the Communist side, there is a starchy general, complete with well-lit villa, Citroën limousine and champagne and caviar to seduce the willowy government agent; even the Viet Cong would find that amusing. On the U.S. side, Wayne's self-conscious heroes penetrate into the Communist-base area by parachute and then traipse through forests that are obviously south of the Mason-Dixon line rather than the DMZ.
With people taking so many foolish chances in the movie, the Green Berets will probably not even want to use it as a recruiting come-on.
* A contraction of mobile strike.