WEBVTT 00:00.791 --> 00:04.458 (dramatic orchestral music) 00:21.028 --> 00:23.535 - [Narrator] Air cavalry, napalm, and smoke. 00:23.535 --> 00:25.293 These have become some of the most 00:25.293 --> 00:28.043 iconic images of the Vietnam War. 00:32.855 --> 00:35.012 ^- [Mike] I always say the Marines excel 00:35.012 --> 00:36.704 ^no matter what kind of mission 00:36.704 --> 00:38.537 they were assigned to. 00:38.540 --> 00:40.300 I don't give a damn where they at. 00:40.300 --> 00:44.012 We did beyond the call of duty on all occasions, 00:44.012 --> 00:45.760 I mean (speaks quickly) 00:45.760 --> 00:49.927 but some units did pretty damn good, a lot of good. 00:53.219 --> 00:57.238 ^- [Faye] In 1965, we have, who later become the father 00:57.238 --> 01:01.238 of a commandant, Victor H. Krulak, is in Hawaii, 01:02.748 --> 01:06.511 and he's spending five months writing a script 01:06.511 --> 01:09.939 for an exercise to take place on Camp Pendleton, 01:09.939 --> 01:11.619 and it's to be the largest exercise 01:11.619 --> 01:14.508 that's taken place since World War II. 01:14.508 --> 01:16.390 This is since President Roosevelt 01:16.390 --> 01:18.070 saw it on our Red Beach. 01:18.070 --> 01:19.548 And this is a landing and an exercise 01:19.548 --> 01:21.328 that includes (saying foreign word), 01:21.328 --> 01:24.150 they've got 16 villages built up there, 01:24.150 --> 01:27.712 (saying foreign word) to emulate what jungle huts might be, 01:27.712 --> 01:29.996 jungle village, jungle villages might be. 01:29.996 --> 01:33.491 They end up including 20 thousand sailors, 01:33.491 --> 01:36.582 25 thousand marines, 60 ships, including 01:36.582 --> 01:38.262 three of them are carriers, 01:38.262 --> 01:41.689 and they do a whole exercise called Silver Lance, 01:41.689 --> 01:45.856 and it's got Navy and Marine Corps all over the place. 01:47.233 --> 01:48.516 - [Narrator] During this period, 01:48.516 --> 01:50.497 training at Camp Pendleton was accelerated. 01:50.497 --> 01:53.213 The Marine recruits were trained in as little 01:53.213 --> 01:56.880 as 15 days before being deployed to Vietnam. 01:57.434 --> 01:59.000 ^- [David] When you leave school, 01:59.000 --> 02:00.499 ^you're not prepared for war, 02:00.499 --> 02:02.979 ^even with all the training we got in boot camp, 02:02.979 --> 02:04.439 we weren't, I wasn't prepared to physically 02:04.439 --> 02:07.328 witness what I witnessed, you know, people dying, 02:07.328 --> 02:10.890 I had friends die in my arms, being scared 24 hours a day, 02:10.890 --> 02:13.890 deprivation of sleep, being wounded. 02:14.048 --> 02:16.736 - [Narrator] What began in 1964 as an advisory mission 02:16.736 --> 02:19.290 would escalate into a campaign that would last 02:19.290 --> 02:22.040 until the fall of Saigon in 1975. 02:25.002 --> 02:27.824 - [Faye] You've got some people over there 02:27.824 --> 02:30.916 helping as advisors and so on and like that. 02:30.916 --> 02:32.528 But we're not really occupying. 02:32.528 --> 02:36.695 Well, mid-exercise, Major General Krulak gets a message, 02:37.232 --> 02:41.399 "Eh, you gotta send some people to work in Vietnam." 02:41.802 --> 02:45.296 So all of his people had weapons and ammunition. 02:45.296 --> 02:47.380 He sent them over with everything they needed. 02:47.380 --> 02:48.505 They ended up being sent back, 02:48.505 --> 02:49.814 and they end up being some of the 02:49.814 --> 02:53.314 first people in Vietnam to fight that war. 02:53.671 --> 02:55.750 - [David] The most important lesson that I learned 02:55.750 --> 02:58.250 in Vietnam was to value life.