U.S. Marines in action in the Northern Provinces of South Vietnam, near the DMZ. They are seen in full combat gear, carrying small arms, including recoilless weapons, as they move across green fields where smoke is rising. Next, they are seen spread out and moving across muddy rice paddies. A U.S.jet fighter streaks across a shoreline at low altitude. Views from a Marine jet fighter bomber dropping bombs on Viet Cong targets from low altitude. Explosions on the ground are seen from behind the aircraft as it passes. Brief view from ground of bomb striking and black smoke rising. Closeup (in 1969) of two McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms from U.S. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 232 (with Red devil insignia on their tails) flying in tight formation. View of pilot in front cockpit an F-4. Aerial view from below of the pair of F-4s. Closeup view from below, as an F-4 releases ordnance in flight. A huge explosion fills the screen as film title slate appeared reading: "Counterpunch." (narrated by Jack Webb). Sign at Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro, California, is shown. Marine sentry at entrance checks identifications of persons arriving at the gatehouse. Marines seen firing mortars, during training. A C-47 transport airplane airdrops supplies to Marines on the ground. Marines in jeeps drive across sand where a bulldozer is working on an airfield under construction. Front view glimpse of a Douglas A-4 Skyhawk aircraft taking off. A pair of Marine Boeing CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters in flight. Group of U.S. Marine Corps officers looking over a model of terrain while being briefed by a Lieutenant Colonel during training "Operation Alligator Hide" in 1967, at the White Beach Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California. Closeup of the detailed mockup of the terrain. Another officer briefs about the use of F-4 and A-4 aircraft support prior to a helicopter assault. Bombs exploding near a bridge. Marines using small 4-wheeled self-propelled open vehicles as they move along a hillside during the exercise. A Captain at a field command post states he will mark a target with white phosphorus (Willy Pete). A tank is seen maneuvering. Pilot is seen responding from cockpit of an A-4 Skyhawk aircraft. An M48A3 Medium Tank is seen on the ground and two F-4s of Squadron 232 in the air. The tank crew fires a white phosphorus round into the hillside, where it generates white smoke. An F-4 is seen flying low toward the area and a bomb explodes on the marked target. Amphibious training is seen, with Marines charging a beach from a landing craft; a tank wading ashore; Marines hit the beach from an LVTP-5 (Landing Vehicle, Tracked, Personnel); Fighter bomber dropping a bomb from offshore; glimpse of Douglas A-4 Skyhawk.
View of parking ramp at Tan Son Nhut Air Base (Than Son Nhat International Airport, Trường Sơn, Phường 2, Tân Bình, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam) in Saigon, Vietnam. A jet airplane seen climbing in distance. A C-130 transport parked on the ramp. Scene shifts to front of passenger building, with flags of various airlines (including Pan Am, Air America, Thai Airways, and Swire Group/Cathay Pacific Airways) flying atop the building. "Saigon Tan Son Nhut Airport" is lettered across the building. Striped awnings cover two doorways. Two utility vehicles are parked in front. Closeup of three airline flags.
U.S. 47th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Battalion troops in Binh Phuoc, Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Rising smoke marks a landing zone. Aerial view of a rice paddy. Soldiers walk through the rice paddy. A pilot at the controls of a helicopter. Soldiers get off a United States Army UH-1D Iroquois helicopter. UH-1D Iroquois helicopters take off and fly away. The soldiers walk towards the base.
Naval bases in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Aerial view : a Market Time boat base in Cam Ranh Bay. Buildings at the base. Piers extend out from a beach. Hills and a water body near the base. A Coastal Group 26 Junk Base on Binh Ba Island.
A desert road in the United States. Sign reads “Baker 12, Barstow 74”. A car accident in the desert with overturned car and bystanders.. Sign reads “United States Air Force Norton AFB 63rd Military Airlift Wing” at the entrance Norton Air Force Base, now known as San Bernardino International Airport (1601 E 3rd St #100, San Bernardino, CA 92408, United States). Cars arriving and exiting the gate of the Norton Air Force Base. Four off-duty airmen descend from a staircase. A 1967 Volkswagen Squareback station wagon is parked in front of the building. The four men open their car hood to place their bags there. Another man checks the tires, saying, "just checking the rubber." A White man speaks to his African American friend on the car. The man starts to drive the Volkswagen Squareback. View of man driving as seen from another moving vehicle driving in front of the moving car with camera looking backward. The 1967 Volkswagen Squareback wagon drives on the highway. Point of view (POV) shots of highway views and highway signs as seen from a moving car. Car plate reads “California RHV 189”. View of the road from a moving car, passing by a sign reading “Bastow 33 Las Vegas 189”. Car driving on desert highway.
Opening scene shows two U.S. Air Force F-105 Thunderchief aircraft taking off in pre-dawn from Vietnam on a bombing mission, in 1966, during the Vietnam War. Next, the F-105s are seen diving and dropping bombs that explode into fire and smoke on the ground. Closeup of a Strategic Air Command (SAC) KC-135 aircraft in flight. It has been modified to serve as as a "Combat Lightning" aircraft that serves as a communication link between the Tactical Air Reporting Center at Monkey Mountain, near Danang, Vietnam and ground radar, airborne radar and any U.S. aircraft operating over North Vietnam. KC-135 "Combat Lightning" crew members are seated in a briefing room at the U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield, in Thailand. A briefing officer explains their mission, using charts and a map labeled SECRET Noforn (no foreign access) showing Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin. The briefer points to an area in the Gulf, and sketches a figure eight, showing where and how the KC-135 should maneuver in a holding pattern during its mission. Crew members rise and leave at the end of the briefing. View of a Strategic Air Command EC-135L that arrived on May 29, 1967, along with another, to support 24 hour "Combat Lightning" operations. Ground crewman directs the EC-135L as it taxis out and then takes off, past a C-130 aircraft holding short of the active runway. (Narrator notes that by the end of July, 1967, there were four "Combat Lightning" C-135 aircraft operating at U-Tapao airfield.) View from above of EC-135L aircraft in flight above clouds, en route to its assigned location over the Gulf of Tonkin. View of radio operator inside the aircraft, who is in radio contact with U-Tapao and the aircraft they are going to relieve. View of map showing their destination figure-eight holding pattern. Radio operator establishes the same contacts used by the aircraft they are relieving, to assure continuity of communications. Remainder of the film contains extended views of the radio operator at his station and of the EC-135 aircraft in flight. Near the end, the crew's Armaments and Electronics Technician is seen pulling a piece of malfunctioning electronic gear from a rack and replacing it with a spare, stored nearby.
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