The Green Berets

Reporter George Beckworth sits in a Special Forces briefing about why the U.S. is involved in Vietnam. Col. Mike Kirby challenges his doubts and pushes him to witness the conflict firsthand. The encounter plants the seed for Beckworth's decision to report on events in Vietnam.

As the unit prepares to depart, Kirby catches Sgt. Petersen appropriating supplies. Rather than discipline him, Kirby decides to put Petersen on his team and leverage his skills in the field. Beckworth is invited to accompany them, nudging him toward a new role as embedded observer.

The team arrives in South Vietnam and Beckworth meets Kirby's unit at their camp. Kirby introduces Beckworth to the mission, while Beckworth remains unconvinced that American intervention is necessary or humane. The journalist starts to observe with a wary eye.

Inside the camp, Beckworth and the men meet Ham Chuck, a war orphan whose family was killed. Petersen takes the boy in as if he were his own son, forming a bond that adds a personal stake to the war. Jamoke the dog accompanies Ham Chuck as he adjusts to life with the soldiers.

During a patrol, Muldoon detains a suspicious Vietnamese soldier and Nghiem tortures him for information. Beckworth confronts Kirby after witnessing the interrogation, but Kirby defends the procedures, arguing that their enemies deserve no legal protections in this new type of war.

Beckworth learns that the granddaughter of a village chief he befriended has been tortured and executed by the Viet Cong. The personal loss deepens his disillusionment and solidifies his resolve to report on the broader conflict.

Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops launch a massive attack on the camp at night. Beckworth fights alongside the Green Berets and helps move villagers into the protective perimeter as shells and gunfire erupt around them.

The defenders are driven back as sappers breach the outer perimeter. Nghiem triggers hidden explosives that kill undercover spies, but he is mortally wounded by a mortar round shortly after. The heavy losses test the unit's endurance.

Kirby orders a retreat and U.S. helicopters begin evacuating refugees from the compromised camp. Petersen places Ham Chuck on a helicopter and promises to return for him in Da Nang. Kirby then calls in an AC-47 gunship, Puff the Magic Dragon, which annihilates the enemy forces on the camp.

Back in Da Nang, Beckworth resolves to file a story that supports U.S. involvement in the war and prepares to travel back to the base. The brutal experiences at the camp shape his journalistic stance on the conflict.

Kirby meets with his superiors and Col. Cai to discuss a top-secret mission to capture North Vietnamese General Pha Son Ti. Lin, Cai's sister-in-law, is used as a honey trap to lure Ti to a guarded location in North Vietnam.

Kirby, Muldoon and Petersen join Cai's group for the mission. Two of Cai's men stay behind to set explosives on a bridge to slow pursuit, while the rest move toward the plantation where Ti is expected.

The unit eliminates the plantation guards, subdues Ti with Lin's help, and places him in the trunk of his own car. Kirby, Cai, Petersen and Lin drive away while the rest are killed trying to escape.

As dawn breaks, the surviving team crosses the destroyed bridge and continues through the jungle toward extraction. McGee is wounded and Muldoon helps them, while Ti is airlifted out by a Skyhook; Petersen is killed by a booby-trap, his body left behind.

Back in Da Nang, Beckworth watches Ham Chuck search for Petersen among the arriving helicopters. Kirby informs Beckworth of Petersen's death and the two walk along the beach toward a quiet sunset, signaling an end to the mission and a transformed outlook on war.