you betcha, captain.
cap'n, does that mean we got to walk all the way up to ramelle?
hell, no, last time i shot a corporal, cap'n miller near bit my head off.
corporal, you have just seen one of captain miller's many god-given talents. if, by some miracle, you survive, you will witness many more of them.
you writin' a book or somethin'?
figured.
i'm jackson. i'm from west fork, tennessee. my pappy's a preacher. him and his two brothers got a ministry, the blessed church of the wandering gospel.
in the back of a nineteen and thirty- one stretch hudson with a big ole' trailer.
i don't make jokes about things of, or related to, the preaching of the holy gospel, including the ministerial calling of my family.
we got us a tent, forty-two feet across, eighteen feet at center, hundred-and-ten foldin' chairs. circuit's eleven towns, covers all 'a hasset county and most 'a weller county. i expect that upon completion of my military service i will be joinin' said ministry.
you figure that out, you got yourself one nice prize.
the whole kit and caboodle.
the captain prefers not to discuss certain aspects of his life, in particular, everything up to and including his enlistment in the united states army.
you got somethin' against the cap'n?
you got that right.
captain, my feet are most uncomfortable. if i'd 'a known we was gonna have to walk all the way to ramelle, i never would 'a volunteered for this here mission.
i most likely would have, sir, had i been given the opportunity.
army life is too dang easy, my feet have gone soft. back home, we go out squirrel huntin', i walk forever and a day and then some, don't even raise a blister.
cap'n, my feet are most uncomfortable.
dang! that was close!
thirty-ought-six, norton long-barrel with dual-groove, parallel rifling, elevated three-glass scope and a single-throw hammer.
yep.
not where i come from.
forty-two-hundred, i figure.
reiben, how many time i got to tell you, i'm from tennessee.
shit, that was no big deal.
last i knew.
sir, i have an opinion on this matter.
seems to me, cap'n, this mission is a serious misallocation of valuable military resources. miller go on.
well, sir, by my way a thinkin' i am a finely made instrument of warfare. what i mean by that is, if you was to put me with this here sniper rifle anywhere up to and includin' one mile from adolf hitler, with a clear line of sight, war's over.
yes, sir. it seems to me, sir, that the entire resources of the united states army oughta be dedicated to one thing and one thing only, and that is to put me and this here weapon on a rooftop, smack-dab in the middle of berlin, germany. now i ain't one to question decisions made up on high, sir, but it seems to me that saving one private, no matter how grievous the losses of his family, is a waste of my god-given talent.
in the shadow by those two trees.
we left them eighty-eights.
watching.
shut up, will you?
just shut up, ryan didn't kill wade.
sir, i ain't feeling so chipper on account of wade.
sir, i understand what you're doin', but i respectfully request permission to grieve in my own manner.
sir, i understand. i don't like it, but i understand.
yep, you step on a rusty nail, get lockjaw, never say another word as long as you live.
not yet.
so, that's ryan.
cap'n?
seems to me, we got us a opportunity, here, to kill two birds with one stone. command seems to think keepin' this boy alive is worth somethin'. if we was to do that and hold this bridge, good chance we'd get us a bucket full of medals. i might even get me one 'a them big, fancy ones like you got, so's i could sass any officer in the whole dang army, you included.
yes, sir.
you betcha, sir.
reiben, are you makin' fun 'a the way i talk?
covering them, opens up. kills the advancing germans.
i think i'm we got that eighty-eight.
he ain't half-bad, i guess.
he ain't wade.
behind the sandbags, on top of the bridgekeeper's hut.
calmly picking off the attacking germans.
fires. drops one of the germans on miller with a head shot. cuts open miller's face with bits of skull.
like hell, you did.
no kiddin'?
me? i'm walking with my hound, lucy, it's about an hour 'fore sunrise and we're out huntin' coon. i got me a flask of pure kentucky mash whiskey.
i am, but i like imported whiskey. so there i am and i hear the biggest ole' coon you ever did hear, 'a rustlin' right there in front of me. that ole' boy comes right out of the brush, i got a clear shot and he knows he's 'bout to meet his maker. i aim, i got my finger tight on the trigger and then i just smile and say to that ole' coon, go on, now, you get out 'a here. then i sit down on a hollow log and take me a right long pull a' that mash whiskey.
say what, cap'n?
don't that get kind of expensive, cap'n?
to each, his own.
on the bridgekeeper's hut. picking off german soldiers who follow the tank.
knows what's coming but he holds his position, continuing to pick off german soldiers.