Rescue Dawn

Attention.

At ease, gentlemen. Be seated, please.

As you've all probably noticed, we're currently headed north.

Tomorrow morning at 05:00 hours, we will be taking a position at Yankee Station.

That means we're back in business.

We'll be flying sorties over North Vietnam to take out enemy supply lines,

which means we have to cross over into Laos.

This mission is classified.

No cards and letters to sweethearts. No phone calls to family back home.

- Is that understood? - Yes, sir.

No one can know.

No one except Charlie when we kick his ass.

For survival in the jungle environment,

the smart soldier must understand that nature is not a force against him.

He has to make nature work for him

by utilizing the ample natural provisions at his disposal.

Is this a double feature?

For God's sake, just lean your head back and open your mouth.

What is this?

Hell, the boys back home don't know anything about the jungle.

In the jungle, your best friend is your knife.

Oh, look at ... Now he's getting serious.

Cut the leaf, man. Here it goes. Come on, baby, cut. Cut.

Where is the salt and pepper shaker for that leaf?

Chew it, boy! Chew it!

Leaf good. Me like leaf.

Maintain a constant state of readiness ...

What did he do, sit in an anthill? Look at him.

And then, when the rescue helicopter appears, make sure ...

Honestly, it's right above your head!

Jeez. Shake it, Pops.

He's got a nice ass for a sailor, I'll tell you that.

I don't mean that in a weird way.

God bless America.

Are you a smart soldier?

I mean, I just thought we'd be assisting some South Vietnamese generals

against a few infiltrators. Whole thing would be done in three, four weeks.

You picked the wrong time

- to enlist, Dengler. - I know.

No, but I just wanted to fly so badly,

and everybody, they were telling me all about the fantastic massage parlors

and the go-go girls, everything, and ...

And what did I get? Goddamn one night?

- One night in Saigon. That's me. - Yeah, and that didn't go so well.

Gentlemen, next please.

Okay.

Hey, are there any mosquito nets?

What you see is what you get.

- Okay. Okay. I see plastic. - Yes, sir.

I see plastic there and how about ...

Are you able to give me two slices of that plastic, please?

- Sir? - And maybe six foot by three foot,

you put a zipper in the middle,

- and I crawl inside ... - What you're describing

is a sauna, not a mosquito net.

Not a mosquito net, but it holds off the bugs.

And you put some netting on it so I can breathe through at night time.

- You got it, sir. - Yes?

- Absolutely, sir. - Okay.

Now, look here. Look at this. I have my boot on your table.

- Why do I have my boot on your table? - I don't know, sir.

Okay, this is why. Look at this.

Can you create a flap for me in the tongue here

so I could hide my American passport inside of here should I need it?

You know what, sir? Since you're my only customer today, it would be my pleasure.

Thank you.

So, Charlie got his shit together.

Now we have heavy antiaircraft fire around Mugia Pass.

Change direction and altitude every seven seconds

so the radar of the enemy gun cannot lock onto you.

Your secondary target will be the intersection of 121 and 90.

That's the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

That's right, Spook, inside Laos.

Now, one more thing.

They've been using your radios to lure our rescue teams into ambush.

Now, don't get me wrong. You go down, you use that radio.

But if they're hot on your trail, you scrap it.

You scrap anything that they can use against you.

Now, this is Flight Lieutenant Dengler's first mission.

Yes, sir.

You're gonna be Spook's wingman. You think you can handle that?

I could not ask for a better man, sir. But, please,

- could I ask you a question, sir? - Go ahead.

You know, Spook is such a goddamn daredevil,

could you please order him not to try too hard to die for his country,

but rather to let the son-of-a-bitch on the other side die for his instead?

Okay. All right, boys.

- You all set? - Yes, sir.

Anything else?

- No, sir. - Okay. Let's go, go, go!

Raider Tivo, 6195, position four.

Raider Yankee, 67279, position two.

- Heads against the wall. Come on. - Come on, Diet.

Come here. This is what we would do as kids

when we were out for mischief. It would keep us out of trouble.

But we would usually pee right now.

- Can we pee? - I don't really have to.

I'm not gonna.

But this will keep us safe. Okay, fellas?

Stay out of trouble. Come back in one piece. Good luck.

- Come back, boys. - You, too.

Boys, get set to change the altitude again. On my mark.

- Now. - Roger.

Gentlemen, do you notice the coastline down there?

Welcome to North Vietnam.

It's pretty boring.

Boys, we got too much cloud cover.

Climbing again 280 west. We're heading into Laos.

Target in sight.

Lessard, roll in.

Rolling.

Farkas, roll in.

Rolling.

Dengler, roll in.

Rolling in.

I'm hit. I'm hit!

Dieter, you're losing altitude! Pull it up!

Dieter, pull up!

Dengler, get out of there!

Dieter, bail out!

I'm not gonna bail out!

Oh, come on.

Come on.

Come on, search planes.

Where are you? Where have you gone?

Come on.

God, how can it get this hot?

Hey. Hey. I need to go to the bathroom.

I need ...

I need to go to the bathroom.

Yeah. I need to take a shit.

Hey. Hey.

I need to take a shit.

Oh, shit.

Hey. Hey.

Does nobody listen to me?

Why doesn't anybody listen around here?

Why don't you listen to me?

I said I needed the bathroom and now I've shit myself.

Why doesn't anybody listen around here?

I'll shit my pants.

They can't hear us. They can't see us through the treetops.

It's not my fault. I didn't signal them.

Don't ever, ever do that again!

You better just shoot me right away! Don't you ever do that again!

This is unusual.

You American pilots normally attack us earlier in the day. Sit.

No English.

German.

Why don't you admit that you are an American?

Yes.

I am an American citizen,

and I love my country.

But why are you in this war against us?

I never wanted to go to war. I never wanted to go to ...

I saw enough as a child. I only wanted to fly.

Then you should sign this.

"Condemning the imperialistic aggression

"of the corrupt and debased political establishment of the United States ... "

What else would you call it?

" ... against innocent children and the peace loving working classes."

No, I cannot sign this. I cannot sign it.

If you sign this, we would be your friends.

- You could be released in two weeks if ... - I cannot sign this.

- It's against my ... - Your what?

I mean, what is in here?

What isn't here?

I love America. America gave me wings. I will not sign it, absolutely not.

No way.

Your choice.

The quick have their sleepwalkers,

and so do the dead.

Hey.

- Hey. Hey. - Hey, there. Who's that? Hello.

Hey, you American?

- What? - He's American.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm American.

My name is Dieter. I'm a U.S. Navy pilot. And originally I was born in Germany ...

- Be quiet. ... but I am a U.S. citizen now.

- Quiet. - What?

- Who's that? - Quiet.

Why? I'm whispering.

- Little Hitler's coming. - Who?

- Little Hitler. - Who's that?

Who's Little Hitler?

Okay.

Now, what the hell is this? The Middle Ages?

Hey, listen. Don't mess with these guys. You'll regret it.

- Hi. Dieter Dengler. - All right, let's go. Give it over.

Who won the World Series?

- The World Series? - Yeah.

- I don't know ... - Hey, man, the guy don't like baseball?

You don't like baseball?

- No, I don't know. I don't follow baseball. - I'm Yik Chiu Tuo.

- Yik Chiu Tuo? - They call me Y.C.

- Okay, Y.C. - Y.C.

Hi, I'm Dieter Dengler.

- Dieter Dengler. - Yeah.

We all flew together for Air America.