Great movie. and I hear the Vietnam War vets say this movie is the closest thing that resembles what they went through out of all the other hollywood movies. Not sure if they mean thematically or realistically.
What I am asking is did things get so bad for some American forces there that there were open desertions (like when the boat was passing by one of the frontline bases), complete chaos (the scene where there is a machine gunner and sleeping grenadier) and oblivious conditions (the second scene where playmates are shown, with them going half-full insane and trapped in the desolate base with dead bodies not taken care of) etc etc...?
OP have you got a link to where Vietnam veterans praised the film for its accuracy? I was under the belief that it was the opposite, giving the film being an updated Heart of Darkness.
Also, the answers in this thread may be of some interest. (given by /u/Anastik and /u/deleted)
Apocalypse now is a difficult movie to use a reference for "accuracy". First of all no movie ever made can approximate the total sensory and temporal experience of reality. Apocalypse Now is a very allegorical and symbolic film. Even its main setting of a boat on a river is a literal and symbolic vehicle that takes the viewer through the war.
Would you say that Picasso's famous depiction of the Bombing of Guernica as "accurate" or "realistic"? The painting is in his famous cubist form but also captures the chaos and savagery of civilian bombing. So in this way it is possible to for Vets to call the movie accurate and reflective of their experience while not speaking towards any particular event or memory.
Speaking in terms of chaos, lack of C.O.s and desolation, I have not come across any accounts that close to what was depicted in the movie. Again I feel that these scenes were meant to reflect a feeling of chaos and oversight rather than specific moments to get the feelings across to an audience who had not experienced the war first hand. In this way a more strange, macabre experience can be had by audiences that might ignore or reject typical attempts at realism or "accuracy".
In saying that though there are accounts of rebellion and the breakdown of command structures. Watch this mini documentary that covers these sentiments, its called "The Quiet Mutiny"
I cant find the exact pages but in Mark Baker's collection of first hand accounts there are tales of killing officers who would take their men on dangerous missions. The book also paints a picture of a soldiers experience being dependent on location. Some soldiers were present around a lot "higher ups" and experienced structure and order. Where as some soldiers wound up in forgotten sectors that had little over sight from higher ranking C.O.s The soldiers in these forgotten sectors tell stories ranging from refusal to go on missions all the way to civilian murders for fun.
But these stories are taken at face value and does not offer any fact checking beyond multiple accounts that tell similar stories.
Source: Baker, Mark. "Nam: The Vietnam War in the Words of the Men and Women Who Fought There." 1981.