I admit to a tear or two when Tex Cobb picks up Swayze to take him back. Very moving scene for me.

Ironic that pS was called a boy when he was in his early. 30s and tex is only about 2 years older .

Well it seems that the audience was not meant to like the Swayze character at first. But thought also that the vets were also Special Forces. And really they could as well beat up Swayze as he was outnumbered five to one or six if you counted Hackman's Rhodes' character.
Were you ever in the Marines my friend as that is why I guess you know why that he was Force Recon Marine. Keep in mind that in addition to being a boxer, Tex Cobb also had a background in kickboxing before that.
Also really who in their right mind would a rookie teach a bunch of vets when he was not in combat? As that did not make any sense. Until you found out why he went and the characters begin to respect him and the audience along the way. About his father being MIA.
As he wanted to prove himself. But yeah, that fight was funny. And Swayze needed to be put in his place. Or he would had gone home in a body bag and not just by no North Vietnam soldiers.
March Madness!

yea and that is why the movie is unrealistic
there is no way in hell that an overweight out of shape vet(no matter how many battles he had been in) would beat up a force recon marine in a fight.
all recon marines are highly trained in hand to hand combat. and in those days marines were not trained in hand to hand combat the only training they had was line training which was not very effective. the force recon though were highly trained in every imaginable martial arts

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it made no sense they may have been vets but he was actually special forces and in should have been able to easily eat them all alive

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Hackman's character should had told the team about his father in the first place when they first got there. Had he done that, they would had respected him a little bit more.

For the sake of Swayze's character arc, I think this was an acceptable plot device and Hackman probably wanted to test the others and mess with them a bit. All they knew, was that he had never been in combat and then made judgements about him, based on that simple knowledge. They could have asked more questions before Swazye's Ass Woopin; but then we wouldn't have likely gotten one, if they knew about his father MIA.

Thanks "ShelbyTMItchell" have fun next time you see Patrick Swayze's ass gittin kicked take a chug of a cold one 4 ME
one CHUG A LUG YO KICK in the TV ..Who is the SOFTEST ..PUNK B!TCH Patrick Swayze..

You said it Odewill! You said it all as you took the words out of my mouth!

Patrick Swayze's Ass needed Woopin he was never in a fire fight or in combatHe never even killed a person, been with a buddy that was killedHe had contempt for the whole team even more for Sailor

I couldn't stand the Swayze character at first. Come on a rookie telling seasoned vets what to do. As he had no right to do that. He, not them, needed to get along. The guy was pretty arrogant and loved it when Sailor kicked his butt and nearly ate him for lunch. Teaching the kid a lesson about not treating vets like raw recruits, as Hackman was trying to tell Swayze all along.
But then when Gene Hackman's character told the others about Swayze's father being shot down in Vietnam and MIA, they treated him with respect. And he began to become a team player, not a team leader. Which is what he needed to be all along. Plus, Hackman's character should had told the team about his father in the first place when they first got there. Had he done that, they would had respected him a little bit more.