User blog:El Alamein/The Screaming Eagles vs. The Lusthog Squad



Hellstorm takes the Vietnam War and makes it personal in a bloody hail of all-American firepower! The 101st Airborne Division, or the "Screaming Eagles," who fought their way up the North Vietnamese meat grinder known as Hill 937 - Hamburger Hill! The Lusthog Squad, the down-and-dirty squad of pros and joes that tangled with the NVA at the battle of Hue City at the height of the Tet Offensive! When the weapons are this similar, it's going to come down to teamwork and leadership to win it for these men, but only one team will emerge the deadliest warriors!

The Screaming Eagles (represented by the Fury o' the Desert)
The 101st Airborne Division, or the Screaming Eagles, is a fictional team of US Army soldiers from the 1987 film Hamburger Hill based on the real exploits of US troops in the Battle of HIll 937 in May 1969. Hill 937 was nicknamed "Hamburger Hill" because the sheer amount of fire that the NVA sent down after the Americans turned the oncoming soldiers into raw hamburger meat. The Screaming Eagles did manage to take Hill 937 after an exhausting three-day battle and several casualties sustained - although the film does exaggerate the amount of American KIAs, it was one hell of a fight. Ultimately, the leadership of Lt. Terry Eden and the sheer willpower of the small band of troops (along with the technological advantages of the U.S. forces) allows them to drive the NVA from the top of Hill 937 and make Hamburger Hill an American hill.

The Lusthog Squad (represented by the Doctor)
The Lusthog Squad is a fictional Vietnam team introduced first in The Short-Timers (1979) by Vietnam veteran Gustav Hasford. The squad was also featured in its sequel, The Phantom Blooper, albeit with most of its members changed. Stanley Kubrick brought the squad to life in his 1987 film Full Metal Jacket. The Lusthog Squad fights its way through the city of Hue at the height of the Tet Offensive, trying to secure the city from the hands of the occupying NVA back to South Vietnamese control. A hidden sniper harrasses the squad as they attempt to push through Hue, and inflicts several casualties on the squad until they manage to kill their foe - a female sniper - and continue ownard with their mission. Leadership changes throughout the battle as members are killed, but two of the most prominent leaders were Cowboy and Animal Mother.

Screaming Eagles

 * 1) Lieutenant Terry Eden: Terry is the new platoon leader of the Screaming Eagles, who heavily relies on the experience of Sgt. Frantz and Worcester to keep a hold on his men. He has to struggle with racial tension between the white and black soldiers of the squad and the inattention and loose discipline of the Screaming Eagles as he arrives to the squad. He manages to get a tighter grip on the discipline of the squad and molds them into a reconaissance force in strong morale, but it doesn't last. A surprise NVA artillery barrage and a failed patrol through a jungle path leave two of the squad members dead and soon after the men are assigned to storm Hill 937 (nicknamed Hamburger Hill by the soldiers) in the A Shau Valley. As Lt. Eden fights up the hill alongside his men, NVA attacks injure him and he loses his arm, but he is among the weary survivors who manage to troop up the top of the captured hill at the end of the film.
 * 2) Sergeant First Class Dennis Worcester: Worcester is one of the short-timers of the Screaming Eagles, as he has but a few months left of his tour of duty. However, he's already served at least one other tour in Vietnam before his current one, and he bitterly recounts to his squadmates the rough, unwelcome return to the US they will face as Vietnam veterans. He takes it upon himself to fix up the new recruits coming in, and along with Lt. Eden, they shape up the FNG's (Effing New Guys) into battle-ready soldiers. During the assault on Hamburger Hill, he is wounded severely and dies from his injuries in Sgt. Frantz's arms.
 * 3) Sergeant Adam Frantz:Frantz is another short-timer in the squad and a close friend of Worcester. He's a strong figure of authority, along with Eden and Worcester, and shares the frustration of many of the soldiers when several of the squad members are killed on patrol in the jungle. Frantz helps to ease the tension between the white and black soldiers during this time. Keeping a strong grip on reality, he makes sure that the soldiers respect and understand their North Vietnamese enemy. He quickly assumes a figurehead role during the assault on Hamburger Hill. As an Army reporter tries to interview the men of his squad on their way down from a failed attack, Frantz angrily confronts the newsman and threatens that if he finds the reporter taking pictures of his men dead, he will shoot and kill the man. Although he is stunned and demoralized at the loss of many of his men through friendly fire and NVA attacks, he manages to keep it together and push to the top of the hill. Private
 * 4) Elliott McDaniel: McDaniel is a black short-timer with only a few weeks to a month left on his tour of duty. However, because of his race, he is denied the opportunity to work at a rear-line position at headquarters. Being the squad's grenadier, his M79 grenade launcher attracts considerable attention from the Viet Cong who ambush the squad in the jungle and he is killed. This causes a racial divide between the angry and bitter black soldiers and the defensive and unsympathetic white soldiers that nearly severs the group's ability to work as a squad, but Frantz steps in and manages to heal the wounds inflicted at McDaniel's loss.
 * 5) Specialist Abraham "Doc" Johnson: Doc is the medic of the squad and a very loyal soldier. He knows the very tips and tricks of how to keep clean and healthy in Vietnam, and is very strict on his soldiers maintaining their health. He is deeply affected at McDaniel's death (as Johnson himself is black), but keeps calm with the phrase "It don't mean nothin'. Not a thing." During the assault on Hamburger Hill, Doc is severely wounded in the stomach while trying to save one of his squadmates. He is drugged with morphine to ease the pain and is medivaced to an army hospital. It is unknown if Doc survived or not.
 * 6) Private Ray Motown: Motown is one of Doc's closest friends in the squad and is the one who helps calm him down with "It don't mean nothin'". Motown is also strongly upset at McDaniel's death and resentful to the white soldiers. He provides Private Beletsky with a cassette player so he can listen to a tape his wife sent, but after the batteries run out Motown grows angry and a scuffle breaks out. During the assault on Hamburger Hill, he is killed and his body is found in a crater from a mortar explosion.
 * 7) Private Michael Duffy: Duffy is the burly machine-gunner of the squad, who wields the ferocious M60 machine gun. He storms up Hill 937 in a battle fury and seems ready to carry the day, mowing down NVA soldiers who offer resistance. However, a misdirected call for friendly air support leaves Duffy among the dead as Huey gunships pound their own men with heavy machinegun and rocket fire.
 * 8) Private Frank Gaigin: Gaigin is Duffy's partner, and in contrast to Duffy's hulking build, Gaigin is small, wiry, and wears glasses. He is deeply affected at Duffy's loss to friendly fire and, distracted, is shot down by NVA fire. It is Gaigin's death that causes Doc to be wounded as he tries desperately to save the private.
 * 9) Private Harry Murphy: Murphy is the squad's radioman. He is killed during the friendly-fire air raid that also claims Duffy.
 * 10) Private Paul Galvan: Galvan is one of the riflemen in the squad, and he is killed during the final assault on Hamburger Hill.
 * 11) Private David Washburn: Washburn is one of the black riflemen in the squad, and one of the few Screaming Eagles to survive the attack on Hamburger Hill. At the end of the film, he comes to an exhausted halt on the top of the hill next to Frantz and Beletsky.
 * 12) Private Joseph Beletsky: Belesky constantly worries that he won't remember everything instructed to him in basic training, and takes to heart all the advice the veterans give him when he arrives on the squad. He receives an audio tape from his wife and is one of the few men to have his girl stay faithful to him while he's overseas. His obsession with the tips the veterans gave comes to prove some value, as he survives the ordeal put on his squad and makes it to the top of Hamburger Hill.
 * 13) Private Martin Bienstock: Bienstock is one of the riflemen who has poor luck on the heels of Beletsky's faithful wife sending her cassette tape. His girlfriend breaks up with him because her college friends have told her dating an enlisted man is "immortal" because he is a "killer". Disheartened, he loses focus and is killed before he can complete his climb to the top of Hamburger Hill.
 * 14) Private Vincent "Alphabet" Languilli: Languilli is an Italian nicknamed "Alphabet" by the other soldiers because of his fear of being forgotten if he is killed in battle. He always repeats his name several times whenever he meets someone new. Irritating the drunken Doc, he engages in a minor scuffle and earns the animosity of the black soldiers on the squad. He takes a bayonet to the stomach during the attack on Hamburger Hill, and terrified of being forgotten, pulls aside a friendly soldier and manages to choke out, "My name... is Vincent Languilli. Please don't forget that."

Lusthog Squad

 * 1) Corporal/Sergeant/Private James T. 'Joker' Davis: Joker is sent on a mission to join the Lusthog Squad (which is being run by Cowboy then) at Phu Bai along with Lance Corporal Compton ('Rafter Man'). Promoted from Corporal to Sergeant before starting this mission, Joker survives an encounter with a female sniper in the Citadel and mercy-kills her before returning with his report. Not long afterward, he incurs the wrath of a colonel for wearing an unauthorized peace sign button on his uniform; as a result, Joker is assigned to the squad as a fireteam leader. During a mission in the jungle where a sniper lures the team one by one to an ambush, Cowboy promotes him to squad leader before running into the trap to kill three wounded squad members. Cowboy's hand is blown away before he can kill himself, so Joker shoots him through the eye and leads the team away. In The Phantom Blooper, the reader learns that Joker has been demoted to Private for failing to recover the body.
 * 2) Lance Corporal 'Rafter Man' Compton: A 'New Guy' taking pictures for Joker's articles, Rafter Man is constantly shocked by the horrors of war as he travels with Joker to team up with Cowboy. His nickname comes from an incident at an enlisted men's club in which he climbed up into the rafters for a better view of the stage, then fell onto the table of a visiting general. He kills the female sniper in the Citadel, which greatly excites him, but after seeing his reflection in glass he is disturbed. While returning to Da Nang, the still-shocked Rafter Man is run over by a tank, cutting him in half.
 * 3) Sergeant Johnny 'Cowboy' Rucker: Cowboy is Joker's oldest and best friend. The two meet at Parris Island, where he laughs at his jokes. Later on in 1968, Cowboy is the leader of the Lusthog Squad. After being wounded at the Citadel by the female sniper, he leaves Animal Mother temporarily in command. In the jungle, Cowboy sacrifices himself by shooting all his dying men so that nobody else will run into the trap to save them. Joker then shoots him, having been given command of the squad. Joker takes Cowboy's pearl-grey Stetson hat as a souvenir, wearing it and carrying it with him.
 * 4) Animal Mother: A former platoon sergeant demoted to a private, Animal Mother is described as monstrous and giant, with ammunition bandoliers criscrossing his torso "like a big Mexican bandit." He is a rapist and shows no mercy to anyone. Nonetheless, he remains loyal to all Marines and is willing to sacrifice himself for them. He carries an M-60 machine gun with him at all times. In the jungle encounter with the sniper, Animal Mother nearly shoots Joker, with whom he shares bitter friction, but then obeys him after Cowboy gives him command of the squad. Later, Joker learns that Animal Mother was captured by the Viet Cong, but escaped from a POW camp and is back on active duty with the Marines.
 * 5) Alice/Eightball: Also nicknamed "Midnight Buccaneer", "Ace of Spades" and "Jungle Bunny" by Cowboy, Animal Mother and Joker, respectively. As the "point man" of the squad, he walks in front of all others and is keen on sensing danger and noticing booby-traps. He has also a foot fetish: he believes in voodoo and cuts off his kills' feet with his machete, carrying them in a blue shopping bag. The "Alice" nickname stems from the fact that his favorite record album is Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie. He is the first to step into the jungle ambush (because Cowboy hurried him), and is mercy-killed by Cowboy after being wounded multiple times.
 * 6) Donlon: The radioman of Lusthog Squad, he is portrayed as somewhat sensitive (crying over the dead). Donlon can be something of a nuisance, since he insists on doing his job as a radioman during the hairiest of situations. He is nearly killed by the sniper in the jungle; the bullet smashes his radio before he is pulled away by Joker. In The Phantom Blooper, Joker finds him living in California, studying political science at UCLA and protesting the war. The two attend an anti-war demonstration that is forcefully broken up by the police, resulting in Donlon losing an eye. His first name is given as "Tom" in The Short-Timers, and as "Bob" in The Phantom Blooper.
 * 7) Doc Jay: The corpsman of the team, Doc Jay claims to have "magic hands" and, if it were up to him, would stay in Vietnam forever to help out even the dead. Doc Jay goes after Alice during the jungle ambush, and he is shot by the sniper as well. He then performs a tracheotomy on the fallen New Guy, and is subsequently mercy-killed by Cowboy. Referred to as "Doc J-for-Joint" in The Phantom Blooper.
 * 8) Crazy Earl: The squad leader before Cowboy, he is a frail, sick man who, during Joker's blackout at the Citadel, goes crazy and starts shooting at the enemy with a BB gun. He is killed during this frenzy, and Cowboy takes the lead after him.
 * 9) T.H.E. Rock: Rock is nicknamed thus due to a small quartz rock he wears around his neck, allegedly for identifying him in case he should die in battle. He does die at the Citadel, shot in the head by the female sniper. The squad then takes on a personal vendetta on the sniper and kills her, though he does survive in the film.

X-Factors
Consider these X-Factors when casting your vote, as the similarity in these squad's weapons all but requires a deeper evaluation:

Leadership: Which squad has the more capable leader?

Morale: Which squad is in better mental condition to fight?

Combat Experience: Which squad has endured more combat?

Tactics: Which squad proved more tactically sound in the battle space?

Teamwork: This is huge. Which team is able to work together better in the battle?

Training: Which team received superior training prior to their deployment to Vietnam?

Supplies/Logistics: Which team has the better resources/supplies that will last them the battle?

Calm Under Fire: Which team is less likely to break under overwhelming attack?

Successfulness: Which team was more successful in their mission during the movie?

Voting System
Because both teams carry such similar weapons loadouts, a complete X-Factor evaluation must be present for your vote to be counted in full. With all the information provided, your vote must be at least one complete paragraph  that relevantly details the team members and how they work in the battle space. Weapons may still be evaluated, but keep in mind they are not the make-or-break factor in this fight. Anything less will not be counted - no half votes.

Battle
To be written

Expert's Opinion
To be determined