<P> In 1969, during the Vietnam War, United States Army Special Forces Colonel Walter E. Kurtz has gone insane and now commands his own Montagnard troops, inside neutral Cambodia, as a demi - god . Colonel Lucas and General Corman, increasingly concerned with Kurtz's vigilante operations, assign MACV - SOG Captain Benjamin L. Willard to "terminate" Kurtz "with extreme prejudice". </P> <P> Willard, initially ambivalent, joins a United States Navy river patrol boat (PBR) commanded by Chief, with crewmen Lance, "Chef", and "Mr. Clean" to head upriver . They rendezvous with surfing enthusiast Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, 1st Cavalry commander, to discuss going up the Nùng . Kilgore scoffs, but befriends Lance after discovering his surfing experience and agrees to escort them through the Nùng's Viet Cong--held coastal mouth . They successfully raid at dawn, with Kilgore ordering a napalm strike on the local cadres . Willard gathers his men to the PBR and journeys upriver . </P> <P> Tension arises as Willard believes himself in command of the PBR while Chief prioritizes other objectives over Willard's . Slowly making their way upriver, Willard reveals his mission partially to the Chief to assuage his concerns about why his mission should proceed . As night falls, the PBR reaches the American Do Lung Bridge outpost on the Nùng River . Willard and Lance enter seeking information for what is upriver . Unable to find the commander, Willard orders the Chief to continue as an unseen enemy launches an assault on the bridge . </P> <P> The next day, Willard learns from dispatch that another MACV - SOG operative, Captain Colby, who was sent on an earlier mission identical to Willard's, had joined Kurtz . Meanwhile, as the crew read letters from home, Lance activates a smoke grenade, attracting the attention of a camouflaged enemy, and Mr. Clean is killed . Further upriver, Chief is impaled by a spear thrown by the natives and attempts to kill Willard by impaling him . Willard suffocates him, and Lance buries Chief in the river . Willard reveals his mission to Chef, but despite his anger towards the mission, he rejects Willard's offer for him to continue alone and insists that they complete the mission together . </P>

How many versions of apocalypse now are there