"In Apocalypse Now some idiot says 'Ah the smell of napalm in the morning.' That's baloney. You smell death one time, you won't like it, I guarantee it."

This is the Vietnam War as it was experienced by the average American soldier. It is the story of the men of the 25th Infantry, the "Tropic Lightning" Division. The film Platoon was inspired by the tour of duty of one famous Veteran of the 25th, Oliver Stone - but the images with which these ordinary GIs confront us are as powerful as any movie and often more eloquent.

"I waited a few minutes and I got up and ran, and I fell, and crawled and had tears in my eyes. ... I could hear the rounds hitting close and going by me. It sounds like a dry stick broken in half close to your ear, a snap. ... It felt like the harder I tried to run the slower I was going."

The men of the Tropic Lightning Division experienced nearly every facet of the Vietnam War, from tiny skirmishes to the great battles of the Tet Offensive. They confronted a hostile land and climate, fought determined Viet Cong guerrillas, and traded blood with the battle-hardened North Vietnamese Army. They knew the Vietnamese as the enemy, as tenuous allies, and many points in between.

Serving in Vietnam from 1966 to 1971, the men of the 25th saw the tempo of the battle swing back and forth. The violent realities, however, remained the same from beginning to end.

Based on both interviews with veterans of the 25th and the divisional records, this gripping history provides a vivid view of how the war was actually fought. Listen to what these men have to say about their ordeal - the stifling heat; the brutal terrain; the machinery of death; the horror of being wounded in action; thestruggle to bolster morale; life in base camp; life, and death, on patrol. These troops bore the brunt of the Tet Offensive, chased deadly shadows through the Viet Cong's infamous tunnels, and battled the enemy at close quarters during countless swift ambushes and firefights.