History ComicBook / PunisherThePlatoon

''Punisher: The Platoon'' is a 6-issue miniseries published in 2017 in the Marvel MAX line.

!!Tropes

* TheSquad: Rather, the Platoon, though aside from Castle and Bago, most are in the same squad anyway.
** EnsignNewbie: Castle is a freshly-minted second lieutenant with zero combat experience. He scores points by openly admitting the fact, listening to the men, especially the far more experienced platoon sergeant, and ends up winning the platoon over when he holds it together under fire.
** SergeantRock: Dryden, the platoon sergeant who Castle relies on for advice.
** TheMedic: Capa.
** MoreDakka: Fish.
** CommunicationsOfficer: Mollander.

* YoungerThanTheyLook: Frank is ''18 years old'' during the entire story.

''Punisher: The Platoon'' is a 6-issue miniseries published in 2017 in the Marvel MAX line. The story concerns Michael Goodwin (younger brother of Steve Goodwin from ''ComicBook/ThePunisherBorn'') interviewing four USMC veterans of the Vietnam War who were members of 4th Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment, and who were once commanded by a young 2nd Lieutenant named Frank Castle in 1968.

* RevengeBeforeReason: Ly Quang’s problem. She's a promising and intelligent Viet Cong commander who Giap thinks is most valuable raising new cadres, rather than risking her life killing Americans, and tries to get her out of the mindset. [[spoiler: He fails.]]

* {{Eagleland}}: Discussed. Goodwin’s intent of the book he’s writing and the interview he’s conducting is the perspective of Vietnam veterans initially believing in Type 1, then returning to America with a Type 2 view. Some of them don't have that view, citing the atrocities conducted against the natives.

* YoungerThanTheyLook: It's hard to believe Frank is just 18-years-old.

* CorruptQuartermaster: Staff Sergeant Donald. He sells [=AK=]s as souvenirs, and seems to be involved in drugs. Castle uses him to replace the platoon’s weapons with an older, more reliable model. His stealing radio parts puts the platoon in serious trouble late in the story, and he's last seen with an unpinned grenade on his pillow.

--> '''Giap:''' The Vietnamese fight for their country while the Americans fight for nothing, with no idea why they're doing it at all. [...] No, that isn't fair. The best of them were fighting for each other.

* TheNeidermeyer: Downplayed with Captain Nguyen Van Cuong who is pretty dim, overly jingoistic, disrespects Ly Quang, and is an all-around blowhard who ultimately owes his rank to the fact that his father is an NVA general, but ultimately tries to get her reinforcements since Giap trusts her, and Giap implies that he's crushing on Ly Quang. He's also seen to be acutely aware of his own incompetence, as he constantly consults with Giap like a sensible officer. The the one time he's left in charge without Giap to tell him what to do he mutters "What would ''he'' do..." to himself.

* GeniusBonus: Plenty of these given a piece of historical fiction:
** The Green Berets fresh off [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lang_Vei Lang Vei]] and pissed off at the Marines were part of a real incident where the loyal indigenous soldiers and their families weren't allowed into the Marine camp for food and shelter because the paranoid Marine commander feared North Vietnamese infiltrators were among them.
** Ly's traumatic backstory begins with her seeing American troops coming down the Song Ve Valley. There was only [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Force one American unit]] that operated in the Song Ve Valley, and notorious for its war crimes. Them taking an hour to massacre Ly's family is very much true to their real life selves.

** Ly's traumatic backstory begins with her seeing American troops coming down the Song Ve Valley. There was only [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Force one American unit]] that operated in the Song Ve Valley, and they committed hundreds of war crimes against Vietnamese civilians.

* NoRangeLikePointBlankRange: During his first firefight, Castle rushes to a machine gun nest with the NVA behind him. After taking care of the enemies about to fire, Castle takes over and blows one Vietnamese soldier's head off from inches away with his sidearm.

* TheEnemyWeaponsAreBetter: Subverted. While Frank is fed up with the M16’s unreliability and praises the AK-47’s durability, it has substandard range and accuracy. The platoon ends up going with the M14, but collects AK-47s and trades them for M14s with the CorruptQuartermaster, who sells them as souvenirs to SoldiersAtTheRear.

* LighterAndSofter: It's still a grim war comic, but it's much lighter compared to Ennis's usual work. Gore is at a minimum, and it's a regular war story compared to the sheer darkness of the Punisher Max's typical fare.

* TheNeidermeyer: Downplayed with Captain Nguyen Van Cuong who is pretty dim, overly jingoistic, disrespects Ly Quang, and is an all-around blowhard who ultimately owes his rank to the fact that his father is an NVA general, but ultimately tries to get her reinforcements since Giap trusts her, and Giap implies that he's crushing on Ly Quang. He's also seen to be acutely aware of his own inexperience, as he constantly consults with Giap like a sensible officer. The the one time he's left in charge without Giap to tell him what to do he mutters "What would ''he'' do..." to himself.
* NoRangeLikePointBlankRange: During his first firefight, Castle rushes to a machine gun nest with the NVA behind him. After taking care of the enemies about to fire, Castle takes over and blows one Vietnamese soldier's head off from inches away.

* ReliablyUnreliableGuns: The early unreliability of the M16 is brought up. Castle ends up bribing a supply sergeant into procuring the older and better M14 for the platoon (and threatening him into not selling them drugs).
* RevengeBeforeReason: Ly Quang’s problem. She's a promising and intelligent Viet Cong commander who Giap thinks is most valuable raising new cadres, rather than risking her life killing Americans, and tries to get her out of the mindset. [[spoiler: He fails.]]