Dale Dye

Dale Dye
Born	(1944-10-08) October 8, 1944 Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Occupation	Marine, Actor, Radio host
Years active	1964–1984
Military career
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1964–1984
Rank	Captain
Unit	1st Battalion 5th Marines
Battles/wars	Vietnam War, Beirut
Awards	Bronze Star Purple Heart (3)

Dale Adam Dye (born October 8, 1944) is an American author, actor, presenter, businessman, and retired U.S. Marine captain who served in combat during the Vietnam War. In military parlance, Dye is a mustang, i.e., someone who began as an enlisted service member and earned their commission after enlistment, in Dye's case rising all the way from Private to Captain.

Early life and Marine service

Dye was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, the son of Della Grace (née Koehler) and Dale Adam Dye.

Fellow Marine correspondent Gustav Hasford dubbed him "Daddy D.A" (as he was among the oldest of the correspondents) and included him as a character in his first semi-autobiographical Vietnam novel, The Short-Timers, and more extensively in his second, The Phantom Blooper. The movie based on Hasford's first novel, Full Metal Jacket, included the "Daddy D.A" character (played by Keith Hodiak), though neither the character nor Dye's name is explicitly mentioned in the dialogue.

In his book Dispatches, journalist Michael Herr provides a vivid picture of Dye during the chaos of the Tet Offensive and the Battle of Huế:

"And there was a Marine correspondent, Sergeant Dale Dye, who sat with a tall yellow flower sticking out of his helmet cover, a really outstanding target. He was rolling his eyes around and saying, 'Oh yes, oh yes, Charlie's got his shit together here, this will be bad,' and smiling happily. It was the same smile I saw a week later when a sniper's bullet tore up a wall two inches above his head, odd cause for amusement in anyone but a grunt."

Writing career

Dye has written a number of novels, including Run Between The Raindrops (1985, also published as Citadel) and Conduct Unbecoming (1992.) In addition he wrote the novelisation of the film Platoon.

Founding Warriors, Inc. and other work

After his retirement in 1984 from the United States Marines, Dye founded Warriors, Inc., a California company that specializes in training actors for realistic military portrayals, for movies of the war genre. In the 1986 movie Platoon, he played Captain Harris and served as military technical advisor. He also wrote the novelization based on Oliver Stone's screenplay.

Dye has also appeared in some of the films of which his company has served. He played a role in the movie Casualties of War and also played Colonel Robert F. Sink in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, on which his company also worked, and is now beginning a directing career. He appeared in Outbreak portraying Lieutenant Colonel Briggs, a US Army officer. He plays Theodore Roosevelt's superior officer, Colonel Leonard Wood, in the TNT miniseries Rough Riders. He has a small role in Saving Private Ryan as an aide to General George Catlett Marshall as well as a role playing the Admiral's aide, Captain Garza, in Under Siege and Under Siege 2. He has another small role in Spy Game as Commander Wiley during the rescue sequence, in Mission Impossible as Frank Barnes of CIA, in JFK as General Y, and in Starship Troopers as a high-ranking officer in the aftermath of the Brain Bug capture. Dye played himself in Entourage, teaching Vince to scuba dive in preparation for his role in Aquaman. He appeared in the 2011 Tom Hanks film Larry Crowne.

Additionally, Dye used to host a Sunday evening radio show on KFI AM 640, Los Angeles. He occasionally does fill-in. Dye has also been involved in the Medal of Honor series of video games as a consultant. He was featured in two tracks on Hoobastank's CD Every Man for Himself. He hosted The History Channel's documentary series The Conquerors. He consulted for Lucas Art 2008 scheduled Fracture video game as well as appearing in a cameo role as Col. Robert Sink (Commander of the 101st Airborne Division's 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment) in a video game Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway. He was the technical adviser for the 1994 Oliver Stone movie Natural Born Killers.

Dye has also worked on the HBO companion piece to Band of Brothers, the ten-part mini-series The Pacific, which was shot in Australia.

Dye currently plays Col. Porter in the TNT science fiction series Falling Skies.

Dye, along with wife Julia and comic book artist Gerry Kissell created one of 2011's critically acclaimed and best selling graphic novels, Code Word: Geronimo, for publisher IDW Publishing, that tells the story of the Navy SEAL raid on Osama bin Laden's compound.

Military awards

Dye's military decorations include:

•   Bronze Star with 'V' for Valor (Vietnam 1968)
•   Purple Heart (3)
•   Meritorious Service Medal (Okinawa)
•   Joint Service Commendation Medal
•   Navy Commendation Medal (2) with combat 'V' (Vietnam and Beirut)
•   Air Force Commendation Medal
•   Navy Achievement Medal with Combat 'V' Device
•   Combat Action Ribbon (2) (Vietnam and Beirut)
•   Navy and Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation (4)
•   Navy Unit Commendation (2)
•   Meritorious Unit Commendation (2)
•   Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal (4)
•   Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal
•   National Defense Service Medal
•   Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
•   Vietnam Service Medal (8)
•   Humanitarian Service Medal
•   Sea Service Ribbon (4)
•   Overseas Service Ribbon
•   RVN Staff Service Medal - 1st Class
•   RVN Gallantry Cross Unit Citation with Palm
•   RVN Civil Action Unit Citation
•   RVN Vietnam Campaign Medal
• Legionnaire, Order of Saint Maurice (Ancient and Honorable Order of Infantrymen)

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role
1986	Platoon	Captain Harris
	Invaders from Mars	Squad Leader
1989	Always	Don
	Born on the Fourth of July	Infantry Col.
	Casualties of War	Capt. Hill
	The Favorite	French officer
1990	Kid	Garvey
	Fire Birds	A.K. McNeil
	The Fourth War	Sgt. Ma.
	Spontaneous Combustion	Gen.
1991	JFK	Gen. "Y"
	Servants of Twilight
1992	Under Siege	Capt. Nick Garza
1993	Heaven & Earth	Larry
	Cover Story	Jack
1994	Endangered
	Guarding Tess	Charles Ivy
	Natural Born Killers	Dale Wrigley
	Blue Sky	Col. Mike Anwalt
	The Puppet Masters	Brande
1995	Outbreak	Lt. Col. Briggs
	Under Siege 2: Dark Territory	Capt. Nick Garza
1996	Sgt. Bilko
	Mission: Impossible	Frank Barnes
1997	Trial and Error	Dr. Stone
	Starship Troopers	General
1998	Saving Private Ryan	War Dept. Colonel
1999	A Table for One	Vernon Harpwood
2000	Rules of Engagement	Gen. Perry
2001	Spy Game	Cdr. Wiley
2003	Missing Brendan	Gen. Temekin
2005	The Great Raid	Gen. Kreuger
2007	Music Within	Capt. Ruzicka
2010	Knight and Day	Frank Jenkins
2011	Naked Run	Harry
	Larry Crowne	Cox
Television
Year	Title	Role
1987	Billionaire Boys Club	Defense attorney
1988	Supercarrier	Capt. Henry K. 'Hank' Madigan
	Tales from the Hollywood Hills: Closed Set	Assistant Director
1989	The Neon Empire	Chief Bates
1990	The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson
1991	Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis	Maj. Green
	L.A. Law
1992	Raven	Col. Paul David Mackay
	Dead On: Relentless II	Capt. Rivers
1995	JAG	Sgt. Maj. Hollis
1996	Space: Above and Beyond	Maj. Jack Colquitt
	Within the Rock	General Hurst
1997	Rough Riders	Col. Leonard Wood
1998	Seven Days	Gen. Cole
	Operation Delta Force 2: Mayday	Capt. Halsey Lang
	JAG	Col. Bill Cobb
2001	Band of Brothers	Col. Robert Sink
1999	Air America	Capt. Gage
	Mutiny
2000	The Others	Capt. Ken Radley
2003	44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out	SWAT Lt.
2005	Entourage
2006	Las Vegas	Sgt. Burn
	Commander in Chief	Gen. Peter Allyson
2007	The Loop	Ralph Somkin
	Chuck	Gen. Stanfield
2010	Cold Case	Al Wasserlauf
	Entourage
2011	Falling Skies	Colonel Porter
2012	Falling Skies	Colonel Porter

Further reading

• Herr, Michael (1977). "Chapter 2: Hell Sucks". Dispatches. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 70–85. 

External links

• Warriors Inc, Dale Dye's company
• Dale Dye at the Internet Movie Database
• Dale Dye leadership