- Lt. Joe Mallory: [conferring with a new junior officer] Johnson-! If you're as good under fire as you are on paper, we'll get along. And if you're *not*, I'll re-classify you and send you back to a repro-depo. Is *that* clear?
- Lt. Fred Johnson: Yes, sir.
- Lt. Joe Mallory: We're leaving tonight. You're getting the best rifle platoon in the regiment, and the best platoon sergeant in the *army*; You do what he tells you to do, and *maybe* your chances of staying *alive* another week, are going to be pretty good. Is *that* clear?
- Lt. Fred Johnson: Yes, sir.
- Lt. Joe Mallory: Until you know what this is all about, Johnson, you're nothing but a *messenger boy* for Sergeant Bell!