ALIENS - Squad Personnel

[NecronomIV]

Hi,

In Aliens there is a first and second squad. I was wondering if there was a breakdown somewhere of which of the marines were in which?

1st Squad includes Hudson and Vasquez
2nd Squad is Hicks, Drake, Frost and I want to say maybe Dietrich and Crowe?

Any help appreciated.

[SM]

Off the top of my head

1. Apone, Hudson, Vasquez, Crowe, Wierzbowski
2. Hicks, Drake, Dietrich, Frost

[NecronomIV]

I always thought the numbers would be balanced though.

I wondered if Crowe at least was second-squad. Dietrich torches Frost, and then Crowe and I'm pretty sure Wierzbowski are injured from the explosion. If they were first squad, they should have been up closer to Vasquez?

Maybe they got juggled around a bit. It was a confined and eccentric space.

[SM]

They weren't split into squads in the hive. When they leave the APC Vasquez and Drake are on point then the order changes as they proceed.

The squads are made clear during the initial sweep of the colony.

[Kimarhi]

The squads seem f**ked.  Probably because they carry what is essentially a squad automatic weapon each (each m41 can put a sustained fire of 100 rounds before a reload), and thus don't need as many guys per squad, but they are essentially what would be considered a single Army squad by numbers alone today.  They even have what would be some headquarters personnel with them in dietrich, who shouldn't count amongst members of an actual rifle squad.  A medic/corpsman is an attachment. You need the infantry MOS to actually be in a rifle squad.  Of course this is going by todays standard, in the future all sorts of shenanigans could/would've occurred.

Apone was acting as both a platoon sgt and as a squad leader.  He'd really be outside the two "squads (modern day fireteams)" in todays world giving command and control orders to them. 

[SM]

The weapons split seems off too.  Hicks squad has a M41, smart gun and two flamethrowers.  Also when they split up, the 'Bowski has to go off on his own.

[SiL]

"Quarter and search by twos"

"Except you bowski"

[SM]

He knows what he did.

[NecronomIV]

Okay, so the squads don't make a lot of sense. Cheers. I was hoping that it was a meaningful way of grouping the characters for a project, but not really.

It's interesting how often Wierzbowski gets called out by name, when his only line of dialogue is "OhhaaarrrghhhhhhwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaAAArrrraaaaahhhhhh".

Sometimes I feel it's like an in-joke for the cast, and sometimes I feel like it's trying to give visibility to the character/actor in a role that seems like he's there to make up the numbers, and deliberatly has no lines for budget reasons.

[Corporal Hicks]

"Quarter and search by twos"

"Except you bowski"

This one never fails to get a chuckle out of me as he wanders off by his billy. 

[SM]

Okay, so the squads don't make a lot of sense. Cheers. I was hoping that it was a meaningful way of grouping the characters for a project, but not really.

It's interesting how often Wierzbowski gets called out by name, when his only line of dialogue is "OhhaaarrrghhhhhhwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaAAArrrraaaaahhhhhh".

Sometimes I feel it's like an in-joke for the cast, and sometimes I feel like it's trying to give visibility to the character/actor in a role that seems like he's there to make up the numbers, and deliberatly has no lines for budget reasons.

Cameron gave all Wierzbowski's dialogue to Frost IIRC.

However thanks to the characters using each others names constantly and having them on screens, the audience can make a connection even if they don't have any dialogue not much screen time.

In Alien 3 they just went 'f**k it' and called dudes Prisoner 1 in the script.

[Corporal Hicks]

Cameron gave all Wierzbowski's dialogue to Frost IIRC.

You R C.

I'm sure he or Crowe gets a line in the APC though, I think. Can't recall who it is.

[SM]

Crowe.

[Corporal Hicks]

Danke.

[Xenomrph]

Danke.

like SM said, it's spelled "Crowe".