Worcesters reason for being there

Here you go.

"They love everybody BUT You. I was medevaced after Dak To. There was a Hill. And we were met at Oakland by, pretty little things, y'know what I mean? I mean they had hair down below their @$$es, y'know? And they had bags full of dog sh*t. Well, don't mean nuthin'. I'm back from the 'Nam, man. Nuthin's ever gonna both me again. Well, I get home, my wife's sittin' cross legged on the floor, the kids is runnin' around barefoot, there's a hair-head takin' a leak in the john. Sorry bout that, I said. That don't mean nuthin', either. I go down to Paulie's for a beer. Old Man Finnegan's doin' shooters, they policed his boy in the Ia Drang Valley, sent him home in a plastic bag with 'Members Missing' stamped on it. Don't mean nuthin,... It don't mean Nuthin'... 'cept he keeps gettin' phone calls from kids, college kids, sayin how glad they wuz that his boy got killed in Vietnam, Republic of, by the heroic People's Army,... that's sittin' right on top of THIS f u ckin' hill? THAT'S why I'm here."


"Simply Forgot Us"

It kind of reminds me of Col. Hal Moore from We Were Soldiers. He goes home to his wife and kids, happy to see them, but his mind is back in the war and he goes back.

Soldiers feel lonely when they're not around other soldiers, because only a soldier who's been in a firefight can understand, without words, what a brother in uniform feels. It's a bond with few equals.

Worcester finds out very sadly that no one either understands what he's going through, or cares. From the pretty American girls he dreamed about while away turn out to protest his existence to his wife who has brought another man into his home while he was away to a fellow whose son has been killed and the military so damned business-like they treat his remains with no respect to the college kids celebrating the deaths of soldiers, it's crazier back home than it is in Vietnam, because at least in 'nam he's surrounded by people who understand him, and whom he understands, because for them the single purpose is to survive, and help others survive.

It's also like the guy in The Shawshank Redemption who gets paroled and soon afterwards commits suicide. On the outside, he can't figure anything out. On the inside, he fits in and knows his way around. On the outside, he's lost; on the inside, he's home.

It don't mean nothing.

Previous replies gave you the words; but the key is the insight into the times. At the time of this movie, America was going through a significant cultural change. The men who performed their duty to the militry expected the same reaction from citizens as they observed from their fathers (either WWII or Korean War). That reaction to military service was simplay respect and gratitude. Our Vietnam veterans were schorned and spit upon because they faught in a war. Those who do not understand the military will say that these soldiers were criminals; but far worse, these men were treated as criminals while others bathed themselves in the new religion of Hippieism (is that a wrod?). How ironic! Apocolpse and Full Metal Jacket shows you how the civilains feel about the Vietnam War. Hamburger Hilll and We were Soldiers tells you how soldiers feel about the war.