[Vision]

No I’ve never served. But the Marines I’ve met have a love a respect for the Corp and the guys last night seemed to be trapped in their situation or are “fighting for the white race.”

Give me a break.

[Publius]

The bit about fighting for the white race was a joke uttered in the presence of a black -- who thought it humorous. It's a form of gallows humor.

Let me add another screwup.

The marines want to smoke the guys in the white trucks with red diamonds, but their orders are not to engage. They're angry. Later they find that the guys in the white trucks were Republican Guard death squads -- the worst of the worst -- and were eminently worthy of being smoked.

Clausewitz said, "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy." This was a classic case.