MovieChat Forums > Red Dawn (2012) Discussion > Do you think any of those poor paratroop...

Do you think any of those poor paratroopers in the south even made..


It close to the ground before they were plugged multiple times by legions of rednecks with deer rifles and deadly aim?

I mean they pretty much made themselves helpless sitting ducks until they got within a hundred or so feet from the ground and could fire their own weapons with any degree of accuracy.

Me thinks the movie would have been a lot more sided if it happened in hickville USA

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I always thought one of the dumbest "rules of engagement"(think that is what they were called) that you learn in the military is you can not shoot at an unarmed paratrooper. Not that in the situation you described would be bound by those rules . I know in this movie the soldiers were armed and in if fellow US citizens(southern or otherwise) knew these soldiers were hostile they wouldn't wait till they hit the ground to start shooting. Luckily I was never put in combat to have to follow that rule or find out if it something that US soldiers actually stand by.

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That can't be a real "rule"...

What are you supposed to do, wait by and twiddle your thumbs as they slowly descend, stumble on the ground, fight with their parachute for a moment, pull out their weapons, and then yell out, "Oi! You ready?"

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"Oi! You ready?"

No, give me a minute. I want to eat this ranger bar first.

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US Military Rules of Engagment only protect personnel evacuating an aircraft in distress. Invading paratroopers are fair game

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...Unless of course they are retreating from Kuwait on the highway of death...

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On the ground, you are fair game. You only get a break if you are evacuating from a plane


Can't we all just get along?

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True. We were taught in Basic Training that an ejecting pilot is to be taken prisoner, but armed paratroopers are target practice.



"Two tigers cannot live on the same mountain"

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I apologize if I was incorrect on my comment. The drill srgt going over it didn't go into detail about it, it was just in a list which he said out loud and then went onto the next one. Then someone scratched their nose and we got smoked for 5 minutes(I think it was a big pet peeve of the first seargent who happened to be there that day)

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My husband and I said the same thing. We both said as soon as we saw what was going on, we'd be outside taking out as many as we could. And you can bet the rest of our neighborhood would be doing the same.

Don't have to be a redneck to own a weapon...

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Don't have to be a redneck to own a weapon...


...but it helps! :D

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To be fair, as a multiple gun owner, I would think twice (probably three times) about shooting at paratroopers coming down. Odds are they would be a misjumped US training unit rather than invading paratroopers from some Communist country bent on eating our newborn children.

If I knew for sure they were, sure, but the point of inserting paratroopers is to surprise your enemies and we as civies wouldn't know they were the enemy.

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Did you watch the movie?

There were hundreds if not thousands of them coming down. A bit much for "misguided" domestic troops. Additionally, they were obviously hostile once they hit the ground (with more still coming).

Yup, I'd have eliminated a few of them. ;)

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Sure I watched.

But if I were "realistically" in that situation (which I think you were trying to convey), I would think that the chances of a military exercise would be higher than an invasion from a country that can't even feed itself.

I guess I am just not that "trigger happy" as a gun owner.

Once they hit the ground, wasn't the topic of discussion, shooting at falling paratroopers, was.

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Yup. Paratroopers are supposed to sow confusion behind enemy lines. Civilians on the ground would think the airborne troops were simply off course. Even if the troopers spoke a foreign language, the civilians would think they were on a joint international exercise.

Believe me, you (not YOU, the general you) do not want to shoot at a bunch of random paratroopers and then have to explain why you killed some visiting South Korean soldiers who were simply invited there for war games. Well, I suppose you could plead insanity if you claim that Red Dawn made you think a foreign invasion was coming.

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Don't tell me, tell her.

And as far as General You, he can shoot anyone he likes, that commie bastard.

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Paratroopers never drop into a city. They would drop outside the city, form into their combat units, then attack. Dropping into a city would result in many injuries and the inability to get organized.

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lol yep, that was pretty stupid wasn't it? All those trees and power lines and roofs. Make sure you drop twice the number of men you think you'll need, 'cause there's about to be a shytstorm of injuries.

...then whoa, differences...

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I'd have held off until I know they're hostile.

You saw one or two of the planes getting shot at, so that's good enough evidence for me that they're to be used as target practice.

Outside the army and the police, there are many tens of millions of guns in the USA and plenty of ammo. No invading army could be successful by force. To takwe over the USA an invader would either need to use chemical weapons, or call in a few trillions of bonds, or win a reality TV show.

Spock! Form an away team! You, me, Bones, Scotty and umm... Ensign Smith!

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Where the FVCK was NORAD

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yeah they didnt drop in ky tn va nc wv. many would be killed a few would have been raped and one or two might have become meth heads.

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