I expected a low-budget movie that was long on story and short on effects. The story, however, was full of hackneyed elements (the jaded Lt. who won't trust the new guy, the platoon full of chip-on-the-shoulder vets, the new guy who earns the platoon's respect through his grit...and on and on). It was also piled high with errors in detail that just irritated me. It seems as though there were no military advisors at all working on this film. Few or none of the rifles carried by the platoon dated to Vietnam. In one case, a sharpshooter picks off a VC sniper using a rifle developed in the mid-90's that shoots pistol ammo - hardly the high-accuracy piece they were trying to depict.<br /><br />The romance that appears in the film is also laughable and totally unnecessary. That the lead character places his love in harm's way with little regard for her safety is obnoxious - and probably worth a court martial.<br /><br />I am an animal lover, and when I heard Animal Planet was going to show the story of military dogs in Vietnam, I was excited. The story, though, is thin and the attention to detail was so poor as to be a distraction.