Pvt. Reiben quotes from Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Pvt. Reiben

What's that saying? "If God's with us, who the hell's on their side"?

Pvt. Reiben

Told you he was an asshole.

I don't gripe to you. I don't gripe in front of you. You should know that.

Pvt. Reiben

Sorry, sir, but let's say you weren't a Captain, or maybe I was a Major. What would you say then?

In that case, 'd say this is an excellent mission, sir, with an extremely valuable objective, sir. Worthy of my best efforts, sir. Moreover, I feel heartfelt sorrow for the mother of Private James Ryan and am willing to lay down the lives of me and my men--especially you, Reiben--to ease her suffering.

Pvt. Reiben

You want to explain the math of this to me? I mean, where's the sense in risking the lives of the eight of us to save one guy?

Anyone wanna answer that?

Medic Wade

Hey Reiben, think about the poor bastard's mother.

Pvt. Reiben

Hey, Wade, I got a mother, you got a mother, the sarge has got a mother. Shit, 'll bet that even the Captain's got a mother. [Reiben looks questioningly at Captain Miller] Well, maybe not the Captain, but the rest of us have got mothers.

Corp. Upham

"There's not a reason why, there's but to do and die."

Pvt. Mellish

La-la-la-la-la-la. What the **** is that supposed to mean, Corperal? We're all supposed to die, is that it?

Upham's talking about our duties as soldiers. We all have orders and we are to follow those orders and that supercedes everything, including your mothers.

Corp. Upham

Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.

Pvt. Reiben

Even if you think the misson's FUBAR, Captain?

*Especially* if you think the mission's FUBAR.

Corp. Upham

What's FUBAR?

Pvt. Mellish

Oh, it's German.

Corp. Upham

Never heard of it.

Stars.

Yeah, Brigadier General Amend, deputy commander, 101st. Some **** genius had the great idea of welding a couple of steel plates onto our deck to keep the general safe from ground fire. Unfortunately, they forgot to tell me about it until we were just getting airborne. Well, that's like trying to fly a freight train. OK? Gross overload. Trim characteristics all shot to hell. I nearly broke both my arms trying to keep her level. And when- and when we released, you know I cut as hard as I could, tried to gain some altitude and still keep her from stalling. We came down like a **** meteor. And that is how we ended up. And the others, they stopped easy enough OK, though, you know? We were just-we were just too damn heavy, you know? The grass was wet, downward slope and all. 22 guys dead.

All that for a general?

One man.

Pvt. Reiben

Lot of that going around.

Pvt. Reiben

I got a bad feeling about this one.

When was the last time you felt good about anything?

Well, we could make a sticky bomb.

Corp. Henderson

Are, are you making that up, sir?

No, it's in the field manual.

Well, we seem to be out of field manuals, sir. Perhaps you can "enlighten" us.

You take a standard G.I. sock, cram it with as much Comp[osition] B as it can hold, rig up a simple fuse, then coat the whole thing with axle grease. Now when you throw it, it should stick. It's a bomb that sticks, a "sticky bomb." Think of a better way to knock out the tracks off a tank, 'm all ears.

Pvt. Reiben

This is great. Now we've gotta to surrender our socks.

Get your gear. Let's go.

You heard him, gear up. Your captain just gave you an order.

Pvt. Reiben

Yeah, like the one he gave to take this machine gun. That was a real doozie, wasn't it?

Soldier, you are way out of line!

Pvt. Reiben

Yes, sir, that was one hell of a call, coming to take this nest, but hell, we only lost one of our guys going for it. That's right, I hope Mama Ryan's real ****in' happy knowing that Little Jimmy's life is a little bit more important than two of our guys! But then again, we haven't found him yet, have we? Have we?

FUBAR.

Pvt. Reiben

FUBAR.

FUBAR.

FUBAR.

Y'all got that right.

Corp. Upham

Hey, I looked up “fubar” in the German dictionary. There's no “fubar” in there.

Pvt. Reiben

You know what that song reminds me of? It reminds me of Mrs. Rachel Troubowitz and what she said to me the day I left for basic.

Pvt. Mellish

What, "don't touch me"?

Pvt. Reiben

No, Mrs. Rachel Troubowitz was our super's wife. She comes into my mom's shop to try on a few things, all right? And she's easily like a uh, a forty-four double E. These things are massive. And 've got her convinced that she's like a 42D, all right. So we're in the dressing room, she's trying to squeeze into this side-cut, silk-ribbonned, triple panel girdle with the uh, shelf-lift brassiere and it's beautiful because she's just pouring outta this thing, you know? It's beautiful. And she sees me and she can tell I got a hard-on the size of the Statue of Liberty, all right? And she says to me, "Richard, calm down." And she says, "Now when you're over there, if you see anything that upsets you, if you're ever scared, I want you to close your eyes and think of these. You understand?" So I said, "Yes, ma'am!"

Good luck Reiben.

Pvt. Reiben

I don't need any luck, Sarge! I was born lucky!

Medic Wade

Actually, the trick to falling asleep is trying to stay awake.

Pvt. Mellish

How's that, Wade?

Medic Wade

Well, when my mother was an intern, she used to work late through the night... sleep through the day. So the only time we'd ever get to talk about anything is when she'd get home. So what I... I used to do, I used to lie in my bed and try to stay awake as long as I could, but it never worked, 'cause... 'cause the harder 'd try, the faster 'd fall asleep.

Pvt. Reiben

Yeah, well, that wouldn't have mattered none in my house. My ma, she would've come home, shook me awake, chatted me up 'til dawn. I swear, that woman was never too tired to talk.

Pvt. Mellish

That was probably the only time she could get a word in.

Corp. Upham

It's against the Goddamn rules!

Pvt. Reiben

Well, the "Goddamn rules" just walked off with your new friend!

Pvt. Reiben

Hey, asshole! Two of our guys died trying to find you.

What were their names?

Pvt. Mellish

Irwin Wade and Adrian Caparzo.

Wade and..?

Pvt. Mellish

Caparzo.

Reiben, where's your B.A.R.?

Pvt. Reiben

The bottom of the channel, Sarge, the bitch tried to drown me.

Find a replacement.

Pvt. Mellish

Hey! You want to get your head blown off, you fancy little ****? Don't ever **** touch me with those dirty little rat claws again. Get the **** back in formation.

I was just wondering where you're from, that's...[Mellish glares at him. Upham walks ahead to Caparzo] Uh, Caparzo, is that it?

Pvt. Caparzo

Hey, drop dead, corporal.

Got you.

Pvt. Caparzo

And another thing, every time you salute the captain you make him a target for the Germans. So do us a favor, don't do it. Especially when I'm standing next to him. Capisce?

Alright, capisce.

Medic Wade

Corporal, what's your book about?

It's supposed to be about the bonds of brotherhood developed between soldiers during war.

Pvt. Caparzo

Brotherhood? What do you know about brotherhood? Get a load of this guy, Fish. Why don't you ask the captain where he's from?

Pvt. Mellish

Yeah, ask the captain. He'll tell ya everything you wanna know about him.

Pvt. Reiben

You want to explain the math of this to me? I mean, where's the sense in risking the lives of the eight of us to save one guy?

Twenty degrees. [Speaks up] Anyone wanna answer that?

Medic Wade

Hey, Reiben, think about the poor bastard's mother.

Pvt. Reiben

Hey, doc, I got a mother, you got a mother, the sarge has got a mother. Shit, I'll bet that even the Captain's got a mother. [Looks at Miller] Well, maybe not the Captain, but the rest of us have got mothers.

Corp. Upham

"Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do and die."

Pvt. Mellish

La-la-la-la-la-la-la. What the **** is that supposed to mean, Corporal? We're all supposed to die, is that it?

Upham's talking about our duties as soldiers. We have orders and we are to follow those orders, and that supersedes everything, including our mothers.

Corp. Upham

Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.

Pvt. Reiben

Even if you think the mission's FUBAR, Captain?

Especially if you think the mission's FUBAR.

Corp. Upham

What's FUBAR?

Pvt. Mellish

Oh, it's German.

Corp. Upham

Never heard of it.

Sir, I have an opinion on this matter.

Well, by all means, share it with the squad.

Well, from my way of thinking, sir, this entire mission is a serious misallocation of valuable military resources.

Yeah, go on.

Well, it seems to me, sir, that God gave me a special gift. Made me a fine instrument of warfare.

Reiben, now pay attention. THIS is the way to gripe. Continue Jackson.

Well, what I mean by that, sir, is if you's to put me and this here sniper rifle, anywhere up to and including one mile of Adolf Hitler with a clear line of sight, sir, pack your bags fellas, war's over. Amen.

Pvt. Reiben

Oh, that's brilliant, bumpkin. [At Miller] Say Captain, you don't gripe at all?

I don't gripe to you, Reiben. I'm a Captain. We have a chain of command. Gripes go up, not down. Always up. You gripe to me, I gripe to my superior officer, and so on and so on and so on. I don't gripe to you. I don't gripe in front of you. You should know that, as a Ranger.

Pvt. Reiben

Well, I'm sorry, sir, but let's say you weren't a Captain, or maybe I was a Major. What would you say then?

Ah, well, in that case, I'd say this is an excellent mission, sir, with an extremely valuable objective, sir, worthy of my best efforts, sir. Moreover, I feel heartfelt sorrow for the mother of Private James Ryan and am willing to lay down my life, and the lives of my men — especially you, Reiben — to ease her suffering.

Pvt. Mellish

He's good.

Pvt Caparzo

I love him.

Capt. Hamill

How was the road in?

Scenic. We lost most of our ammo.

Pvt. Mellish

Not to mention one of our men.

Capt. Hamill

Lieutenant, redeploy that bazooka to the other side of the road!

Yes, sir!

Capt. Hamill

And get Ryan up here.

Ryan! Ryan! Front and center! Ryan!

Pvt. Reiben

Here comes our boy. [Ryan runs past Reiben. At Horvath.] Told ya he was an asshole.

Sir, Private Ryan, reporting as ordered, sir!

Capt. Hamill

At ease. Captain Miller 2nd Rangers wants a word with you.

This way. [Miller stops and sits on a rock] Take a knee. [He does so, taking his helmet off as well. Pause] Private, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. [Pause] Well, there isn't any real easy way to say this, so, uh...I'll just say it. Your brothers are dead. [Ryan has a saddened look on his face.] We have, uh, orders to come get you 'cause you're going home. [There is a long pause]

Oh, my God, my brothers are dead. I was gonna take 'em fishing when I got home...

I'm so sorry, James.

H-How'd they die?

They were killed in action.

T-That can't be. That can't be, my brothers are still in grammar school.

You're James Ryan?

Yeah.

James Francis Ryan from Iowa?

James Frederick Ryan, Minnesota? [Hamill has a confused look on his face] W...Does that mean my brothers are okay?

Yeah, I'm sure they're fine.

Are you sure that they're okay though? How-

We're looking for a different Private Ryan. This is just a big foul-up.

Pvt. Reiben

What's the saying? "If God's on our side, who the hell could be on theirs?"

"If God is for us, who could be against us?"

Pvt. Reiben

Yeah, that's it. What did I say?

Tell, me Reiben, if you had to do it again, how'd you think you'd react the next time?

Pvt. Reiben

Me? I'd shoot myself before I ever got off the damn boat.