BACK INTO BATTLE

Dale Dye, technical adviser on the Oscar-nominated “Platoon” (he also played an Army captain), goes back to war next month--this time to Israel, as tech adviser and Soviet helicopter pilot for “The Beast.” The A&M; Films film is about the war between the Soviets and guerrillas in Afghanistan--but from the perspective of a young, frightened Soviet tank crew--”sort of like ‘Das Boot’ inside a Soviet tank.”

Dye, a retired Marine captain who saw combat in Vietnam, is aware that John Rambo--a.k.a. Sly Stallone--also is headed for Afghanistan for “Rambo III.” But Dye predicts that, like “Rambo II,” Stallone’s latest “will once again make the Soviets into the demons of the East.” Dye likens the Afghan conflict to Vietnam for the young Soviets fighting there: “I don’t think they want to be there and we’re going to bring that out. I don’t think ‘Rambo III’ will.”

Meanwhile, Dye’s written a screenplay called “Outrage,” focusing on Marines in Beirut (where Dye was a Corps spokesman in 1983). Falcon Films hopes to produce it late this year.

And Dye’s Warriors Inc. is providing technical advice on a new HBO series about Vietnam, “War Story,” written by Viet-vet Pat Duncan.

If that’s not enough, Dye is celebrating a new co-production. His wife, Kathryn, gave birth Monday “at 1640 hours” to their first child, Adrian Kate.