forces, this situation took place and loofs have been loos from their side and our side. we hope that they keep their line to avoid trouble. >> there was this one guy, he couldn't hit anything. every afternoon he'd fire a few rounds down our way and, you know, we'd stay and cover more or less, but he never came close to anybody. i mean, if we cleaned him out, they might have put somebody in there that could shoot. >> other times the sniper problem requires action. ♪ ♪

>> as things settle down, the job becomes one of maintaining security. this means, among other things, a constant and careful search of all civilian traffic through the neutral corridor. no hiding place is overlooked, which might conceal weapons. the means of renewing violence in the corridor. so the marines remain in santo domingo, ready to stay until the danger is passed and order fully restored. >> kelly, you infiltrating the people down. >> what's that, sir? >> start infiltrating your people down. [ gunfire ]

>> whoever's firing this machine gun. >> gulf one, gulf one, it's gulf six, over. that was good. he put it in. i want more over there. >> vietnam, a wounded marine is rescued under heavy enemy fire. his buddy is questioned. >> whatever possessed you to go running off into the paddy like that? >> i'm a marine. >> how do you mean? >> i'm a marine. i'll take care of him. >> do you take your weapon with you? i. >> i took my .45. >> weren't you scared? >> a little bit after i got out

there. >> combat is never easy, but in vietnam it is especially hard. one big reason, the terrain. rice paddies with mud boottop deep or worse, streams crisscrossing the paddies and valleys. hills steep and unfriendly as those in korea. ♪ ♪ desert-like areas where temperatures hit 130 in the shade. and there isn't any shade. and tropic jungle, hot, steaming, hostile as any the marines faced in the pacific during world war ii. a prime answer to the near impassability of vietnamese terrain is the helicopter. beneath the staccato slap of rotor blades, marines can move swiftly to wherever the vietcong are reported and arrive fresh and ready to function.

of course, to marines, this is no new concept. it was in the early 1950s that for a first time a copter assault was used to take ground in a combat zone. the place a hilltop in korea. combat troops were landed. so were full supplies for their assault. though it had never been tried before, it had been worked out in advance. the operation was successful. the people who did it were united states marines. in the mid-1960s navy seabees clear the way for another

marine corps innovation which sees its first use in vietnam, the expeditionary landing field, it's called, e.l.f. for short. everything is air transportable including the preformed sections of lightweight metal which interlock to form a smooth all-weather landing surface. once again the seabees make the difficult look easy. they put down 8,000 foot of runway and set up the accessory gear. lightweight landing control console, carrier-type landing lights, arresting gear, air portable control tower. the seabees have, in fact, taken a carrier deck and moved it ashore. ♪ ♪

>> the first skyhawk jets to arrive are quickly readied for action. ♪ ♪ just four hours after the first jets land, they are taking off again to fly their first mission in close support of ground troops in the field. the forward air controller with the ground forces is a combat pilot himself. talking directly to the jets, he pinpoints targets for them. ♪ ♪

the result of this direct voice link with airborne jets is this -- an absolute minimum of delay between the time ground troops need air support and the time they get it laid in close. ♪ the combat success of the expeditionary landing field is another index of marine corps mobility. in a matter of days a landing strip, control tower, arresting gear, the whole works could be taken apart and airlifted to another location. for now, however, it's working just fine here at ku lai. elsewhere on high ground above the huge air base at danang.

marines man the dead ly hawks. army air has not been a problem yet in vietnam. but should it come, the hawks are waiting. on the field at danang itself, the business of delivering destruction to vietcong in the paddies and the jungles, is a round the clock job. marine phantom jets are doing a big part of that job. and it is this kind of weapons system, this complexity and sophistication of striking power which leads observers to use the term "the new breed" in speaking of today's marine. ♪ ♪ the phantom can break the sound barrier while climbing out from takeoff and move into action at better than twice the speed of sound. the armament that they can

deliver offers wide flexibility, too, ranging from bombs and 20 millimeter cannon to rockets and bull pup missiles. the flame and shrapnel of the marine jets is not delivered casually. to be sure of targets, minimize danger for the innocents, is always agonizingly present. ♪ ♪ for some the price of humane hesitancy comes high. like this marine colonel, hit while controlling jet air support from a low flying copter. >> i've got a lot of pain in that left ankle.

i sense it's a good sign. that sharp pain that you get when you got nerves, you know. it's that sharp nerve pain. burning, burning. >> i'll do all i can to save that leg. >> i know. i know there's not much left because -- i was carrying that damn thing in my hands all the way back. i was afraid the whole thing was going to come off. i say, hell, they can't be right around in here. so i didn't call bombs and nape in on these people but that's where they were. i'm sure now that that's where they were. god damn it. i hate to put nape and on the women and children. i just didn't do it. i just said they can't be there. though we held the planes, we held the fixed wings up, we held them up there, just figured we could call them if we need them. as far as i know, i'm the first to hit it. i flew down at 100, 200 feet

over this village, this hamlet area. i thought i saw some people in a hole, and i just hung around there too long. and i was too low. but i was way back out over the friendly troops that we landed. i was over those troops when i went -- oh -- when we caught this round. there was no indication that we'd been fired at until then. >> since all their operations are in coastal areas, the support of naval gunfire is something the marines in vietnam can always count on. ♪ during 1965, marine forces launch a number of large scale offensive operations. names like operation starlight, harvest moon and piranha are written into history.

in such operations as these, the young marines of the new breed engaged the vietcong guerrillas and take on vietnamese regulars as well in numbers up to regimental strength and greater. using all the advanced weaponry and mobility at their command, the marines seek out the enemy. and wherever they find him, they beat him decisively. not just tactical defeat, disaster. virtual elimination of organized combat capability is the way the official reports put it. ♪ ♪ >> half-load. fire! ♪

♪ ♪ >> in their first major trial by fire, youngsters who were too young even to read about korea worked with a cool professional skill that leaves one old-timer to remark -- >> well, they're young marines, they're just as good marines today as they were 15 years ago and possibly a lot better as far as intelligence and their capabilities are concerned. they're real fine as far as i'm concerned. >> some of the troops went in through here. >> yeah. >> right in through there?

>> we got a 360 here that we're pulling out as soon as we get under way. >> this is six. this is six. roger, we've got it now. i want you to set up that hasty defense in there real quick. but check it out. >> okay. set him down in a minute. >> stay like that. >> ready? >> is the pain a lot, manny? >> i need some help over here. >> i'll give you a hand.

>> don't throw any water on my face. >> you don't want any more water on your face? he's awake now. >> all the way up. >> lay still, man. okay? >> evacuate the man to the rear to where we can get him out on a chopper. do you understand? over. >> the chopper saves a lot of lives in vietnam. in minutes a man can be air lifted direct from combat to an aid station where the compassionate skill of navy surgeons is ready and waiting. marine casualties have been light in vietnam, but there is no warfare without its pain -- both felt and shared.

♪ ♪ marines in vietnam learn fast to take nothing at face value. far too often beneath the outer appearance of a harmless civilian, there is the familiar black garb of the vietcong guerrilla. ♪ ♪ the vietcong is a tough, ruthless jungle fighter, experienced in being hard to find. but in places like okinawa, iwo jima, the marines have learned, too. ♪ ♪ without their weapons, they look so insignificant.

but the vc is hard. his thin wiry body can take great physical hardship and his mind will not shrink from burying a village chief alive or executing all village elders if it might further his aims. ♪ ♪ hard as he is, however, and the vietcong is no superman. he can be beaten on his own ground and beaten badly. in operations like starlight and harvest moon and piranha, the marines have demonstrated this beyond anyone's doubting, including the vietcong. the vietcong are not the only problem. in dark little villages, the same ones the vietcong have

hidden in and operated from, marines find the people they have come to help. people who have lived for too long in fear. >> well, the vietnamese are a wonderful people as far as i'm concerned. and they need help and we're a strong nation and we can give them help, and they've asked for that help, so we're here. >> i've always had the feeling if we could get the feeling across to the people of vietnam, that the people of the united states were behind them and wanted them to be free to have the things that they've been denied for so many years that we could possibly bring peace to these people. >> ten years from now these people will forget the bulls and the shot and the shell and everything else. but they're going to remember this if they don't remember anything else. i think if we're going to win this war, that we're going to do it here before we'll do it on the battlefield. that's the only way we can win it. >> the people who live out in the rice country, their standard of living is very low by our standards. they have very few comforts.

they live from rice crop to rice crop. >> this is the other war in vietnam, the one in which american fighting men are working with vietnamese civilians to build hope and strength for the future. it takes many forms. standing guard, for example, over the harvesting of rice for a village which for years has paid a big part of the crop for -- to the vietcong. helping them bring it in and store it, letting them see that they and their crops are going to be safe from now on, it's simple and it's practical. it's appreciated and it works. ♪ ♪ in another village, navy doctors and corpsmen serving with the

marine corps will be found helping the people fight a war against sickness. teaching the fundamentals of sanitation, waging combat against infection. ♪ ♪ bringing smiles to faces that for too long have reflected only fear and despair. >> we was out in the village giving out christmas things that people from the states sent over. and we want to let everyone know back home that the kids are -- they really need it a lot and, believe me, they really enjoy everything they get. ♪ ♪

♪ >> tuesday night american history tv focuses on the struggle for african american equality from the jim crow eraf the late 19th century to, the civil rights movement. tune in tuesday night and every night this week here on c-span3. >> this week on q & a, robert gordon, professor of economics at northwestern university discusses his book, the rise and fall of american growth, in which he looks at the greath and the american standard of living between 1870 and 1970 and

questions if we'll ever see anything like it again. watch this sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> each week, american history tv brings you archival films that provide context for today's public affairs issues. terrorism, a personal threat, is a 1986 u.s. air force film that documents several terror attacks, including the october 1983 suicide truck bombings in beirut lebanon that killed 241 american servicemen and 58 frerch paratroopers. including interviews with survivors of attacks in other countries, the film encourages service members to be more aware of their surroundings and the potential for terror attacks when stationed overseas.

>> in athens, greece, if you've ever been, the motorcycles, they never stop. they zoom in between the cars, and you might have 15, 20 of them zoom up in front of traffic. on this particular afternoon, about 4:20 in the afternoon, i heard a motorcycle coming in, slowed down, and it slowed down too quickly. me being the third car from the front. so i turned to watch it and they slowed down and they came right next to my car and there i was, sitting watching them, and the guy in the back, reached in his belt and pulled out a metallic object and right away, i saw it was a pistol of some kind, and i said, oh, shit, this is it. >> it sounded like a fire

cracker. i remember thinking, oh listen to all these people screaming and it's nothing but a fire cracker, but then as my eyes opened, you saw nothing but black and smoke everywhere. >> about 17 minutes later is when i woke up. and that's when i realized that the embassy had been hit very, very hard. >> the next thing i can remember is a loud bang, it was like the m-80 simulator we use in combat defense training. very loud. and of course by the time i realized what i was hearing, i was flying backwards. it scared the hell out of me is what it did. i because i saw all this blood and i was worried about my friends that were with me. because i was the ones that asked them out that night. and all i could think of was, well, you went and done it now.

you're going to die down here, instead of back home nice and quiet. >> terrorism. it's a real and personal threat. ♪ >> what must the folks back home be thinking? that's the question on the mind of every marine in lebanon today. do they know whether i'm alive or do they think i'm dead? it's an anxiety that plagues them even as they sift through the rubble trying to find bodies. the force was close to a one-ton bomb. they'll search for firm evidence was who was behind the disaster. >> the suicide bombing in beirut that took so many umarine lives was without equal, making headlines around the world. a vicious premeditated attack, of such magnitude that it changed forever the way this country and many other nations

view the threat of terrorism and how to deal with it. but the beirut massacre also focuses on the individual, on your vulnerability as a single member of the armed forces. it serves to introduce the concept of how personal a terrorist attack can really be. >> you always remember that the guy was smiling. >> as the being sho of just what happened is wearing off, bitterness and anger are rising to the surface, but basically it just plain hurts. >> when it's all compiled and we get the names, i think it will hit everybody harder, that you could tell by actions, that it's hurting the people now. they had a lot of friends. we had a lot of friends over too. you can tell in a man's actions, the way they feel about the situation. >> former green beret, bryan pagliano jenkins, a top expert on terrorism, has spent a lot of time studying the way it feels. >> everyone we had interviewed has always made the point that i

know there was a problem with terrorism. of course there was a concern in this particular city where i was, or this particular country, but i always thought that would happen to the other people, that would happen to the other guy, that this would not happen to me. and even when it was happening to them, they could not believe that it was happening to them. >> several months before the marine headquarters was bombed, this marine survived a bombing of the u.s. embassy. >> after i woke up and realized what had happened, and started hearing the sirens and screaming voices, people pleading for help, i could hear children and women crying. i started picking my way around and trying to find out where i was at. and though i'd lived in that place for eight months, i couldn't tell where i was at. it was just that tore up, that blown away. >> in defiance of the atrocity, embassy staff flew their flag as the search went on.

u.s. marines of the multi national force were brought into the area as an extra security measure and to keep away the curious. lebanese police say more bodies were found in the rubble overnight. the recovery work is going slowly. there's the danger that heavy machinery being used in the clearing operation could bring down the upper floors, killing anyone still trapped inside. but no one is optimistic about finding survivors. >> my information from the rescue workers on the site is that it is very unlikely that anybody will be found alive who was in the building. >> but there are those who wait and hope. the islamic holy war, a muslim fundamentalalist group is still believed to be responsible for the attack. the group was organized in the shi'ite suburb of beirut. they follow the teachings of

ayatollah chomeny. embassy officials say it was a suicide mission. >> to sergeant light, it was like reliving the horrors of war all over again. >> it was as if they put me right back in vietnam. because just that quick, i started reacting the same as i did when i was in combat. and not that i wasn't worried, i was worried. not scared. but like i say, when the place is on fire and there's debris falling all around you and you see parts of people laying everywhere, it tends to upset you. >> large scale terrorist attacks, and the individual human stories that go with them, aren't limited to the middle east. look anywhere that u.s. military personnel are stationed. >> the terrorists struck at midnight. they moved along the flightline, setting two time bombs in each of the air national guard fighter jets. by light of day, investigators found eight of the planes were

totally destroyed. two were second half damaged. the price tag is put at $45 million. a leftist group claims responsibility for the bombing. their immediate target of criticism, the renewal of the military draft reg slation. but officials see this as the latest incident in a long list of political violence in puerto rico, and the guard commander says it was a very professional one at that. >> they've done a good job, yes, sir. police figured they set the bombs at midnight when the guards change. so they had a good vibe on what was going on here. >> the terrorists involved are connected with the ambush of the u.s. navy bus in puerto rico a year ago. two seamen were killed, ten wounded. in this attack on the national guard base, no one was hurt, but officials say that was nothing but luck. sometimes luck is what it takes to survive a well planned terrorist attack, as navy boiler technician third class randal keith found out. >> well,