<P> Colonel Kirby is posted to South Vietnam with two handpicked A-Teams of Special Forces troopers . One A-Team is to replace a team at a base camp nicknamed "Dodge City" working with South Vietnamese and Montagnard soldiers, while the other A-Team is to form a counterguerrilla MIKE Force . While selecting his teams, Kirby intercepts a Spc . Petersen (Jim Hutton) from another unit who is appropriating supplies from Kirby's supply depot . Realizing Petersen's skills, Kirby promotes him and brings him onto his SF team . The A team includes: Captain MacDaniel, (Edward Faulkner), a replacement for Captain Coleman; Lieutenants Sachs, (Frank Koomen), and Moore, a Savoy 8 team leader; Master Sergeant Muldoon (Aldo Ray) the senior NCO; Sergeant First Class "Doc" McGee, (Raymond St. Jacques) the team's medical sergeant; Sergeant First Class Kowalski, (Mike Henry) the team's communications specialist; Sergeant Provo, (Luke Askew) the team's heavy weapons specialist; Sergeant Watson, (Eddy Donno) the team's mortarman; and Sergeant Parks, (Rudy Robbins), a man from the Southern United States . </P> <P> Arriving in South Vietnam, they meet Beckworth, whom Kirby allows to accompany them to the fire - base camp . There, he witnesses the humanitarian aspect (irrigation ditches, bandages, candy for children) of the Special Forces mission . Still, he remains unconvinced of America's need to be in Vietnam . </P> <P> During this period, Petersen befriends a young native boy named Ham Chuck (Craig Jue), a war orphan who has no family other than his pet dog and the soldiers at the base camp . Also introduced is the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) base camp strike force leader, Captain Nim (George Takei), who was a Việt Minh officer from Hanoi during the previous war of liberation from the French colonists, and is now fighting for the anti-communist Republic of Vietnam / South Vietnamese government . He is obsessed with having to "kill all the stinking Viet Cong" to win this war . He also claims that there is a spy network within the camp and ARVN strike force . </P> <P> During Captain Coleman's (Jason Evers) final night at the camp, he spends some time in the team house writing a letter announcing his return home . Coleman instructs the men to check their guard duty rosters before they turn in to rest . He bids everyone good night and returns to his sleeping quarters . Not long afterwards, the camp is hit with Viet Cong mortars . The mortar fire strikes the dispensary, communication bunker, and the team house before it suddenly stops . Coleman is found dead by Sergeant Provo . After Coleman's death, MacDaniel informs Colonel Kirby of his demise . </P>

Who played the little boy in the movie the green berets