He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in January 1964. He served in Vietnam in 1965 and 1967 through 1970, surviving 31 major combat operations. He emerged from Southeast Asia with numerous decorations, including a Bronze Star for valor and three Purple Heart medals for wounds suffered in combat. He spent 13 years as an enlisted Marine, rising to the rank of master sergeant. He was chosen to attend officer candidate school and was appointed a warrant officer in 1976. He later converted his commission and was a captain when he was sent to Beirut with the multinational peacekeeping force in 1982-83. He served in a variety of assignments around the world and along the way managed to graduate with a BA degree in English from the University of Maryland. Dye worked for a year at Soldier of Fortune magazine after his retirement in 1984. He spent time in Central America, reporting and training troops in guerrilla warfare techniques in both El Salvador and Nicaragua before leaving the magazine in 1985 and heading for Hollywood.
Personal quotes
"A great number of the war films I saw, however, didn't match my own experience... The uniforms were pressed, the guys were clean, and they reacted in such a heroic fashion to life in extremis. No matter what Sir Laurence Olivier had to say, it isn't just acting when something is so out of your frame of reference. You have to have an idea of what the truth is. Nobody did."
"The military is probably the best school in the world for an actor. You have to sublimate your own personality and become something else. I'm good at that."
He has appeared in several military movies such as , …
Outbreak
The Puppet Masters
Platoon
Casualties Of War
Always
Under Siege
Natural Born Killers
Under Siege 2
Space: Above and Beyond" (1995) [TV-Series 1995-1996]
SGT. Bilko
Mission Impossible
Starship Troopers
Spy Game
44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out (2003) (TV)
Band of Brothers
The Great Raid
It just keeps going on and on. This guy is Outstanding People and I really appreciate his support in most of the military movies I’ve seen.. I had the privilege of hearing him on AM talk radio the other day when he was talking about his stay over in Iraq , ( showing his support for our troops. ) Near the end of the program he mentioned killings taking place over there and said : " Never use the word Massacre ,... That is an Explosive Word ! " I think he was pointing a finger at the press. He sounded just like he always did on the big screen.
