good to meet you, rambo. how are you?
that's right. cia special operations division.
i'm authorized to get you out of here. i thought that's what you wanted.
classic special forces op.  hit fast.  in and out. two men. two days.
we like you. at least the computer at langley likes you. pulled your file because of various factors. service record. area familiarity.
not yet.
it's yes or no. in or out.  now. if it's "out," we will not have had this conversation. if you come in, you will not be working for us. no knowledge. no comment. do you understand?
north vietnam. what they call the democratic republic of vietnam now.
we don't leave our men, rambo.
this is your mission packet.
memorize it here. it doesn't leave this room.
the twenty-four hundred american servicemen missing in action in vietnam, laos and cambodia are officially listed "presumed killed." certainly most of them are.
but reports keep filtering in. sightings by refugees. nothing verified. finally, we feel we've got enough to proceed on.
memo e-7 on top will cover the details. an abandoned vietnamese army base in the north-central highlands may have a compound used as an internment camp. as you can see the intelligence is soft. these landsat photos show huts.  barracks. it could be anything.
this operation is in two phases. recon and rescue. you are phase one. your two-man team will probe the site, confirm the presence of american pows, if any, make photographic and tactical observations, then proceed to the extraction point without engaging the enemy.
negative. absolutely not. the phase two assault team will get them out.
don't look so disappointed. it should be hairy enough.  even for you.
your flight to bangkok is at 06:30. commercial carrier. low profile. rendezvous with colonel trautman at the indra. room 618. you'll meet your number two man, lieutenant brewer. he doesn't get a packet.  you brief him verbally.
i didn't know you were a stick man, rambo.
about 22 hours on site.
this is a covert operation, numbnuts.
check out the command hut.
that's right.
couple hours. let me buy you a coffee.
pows? i don't know. but either way it'll get that subcommittee off our necks. cream?
the league of families leans on congress. then they lean on us. like we don't have enough to worry about in a dozen dirtwater countries. damnit!
they're in! on the money.
no, sir.  we're already committed. they're in the jungle right now. i say we play the hand through.  if they find something we just bury the report later. it's still airtight. yes, sir.
goddamn it! now the goddamn satellite shows the camp occupied.  some trucks or something.
what's up?
it's not necessary.
that's a pretty hairy ride. full colonels are supposed to be above that sort of thing.
have fun.
what did you say?
this station is now on condition bravo. harrison. meyers. goodell. out.  now!
go to your comint priority frequency. give me the mike.  zen hammer, this is coach one. this is an alpha-kilo-victor command priority.
i want you to abort the operation immediately.
have a drink.
you got five hours? i'll tell you about secretaries of state, and funding committees and diplomatic relations.
look, colonel.  we're all adults here. this is a war. a very quiet, very intense war. people get sacrificed.
you think i'm some whacko? i like to hurt people? i'm doing a job here. if i knew what's right or wrong i'd be a goddamned priest, right? so i follow directives.  i do what i'm told. it's simple. if your boy had done what he was told, there wouldn't be a problem.
look, it was a screw-up, alright? they weren't supposed to find anything. we thought that camp was empty.
word came down.  they wanted an answer. and they knew the answer they wanted: no pows. but it had to look good. best effort. the whole dog-and-pony show.
it was clean. very clean.  rambo was a decorated vietnam vet, a former pow himself.  if he came out and said "no pows" the sub-committee would buy it. he gets himself caught he's a private citizen, a whacko, acting on his own. if he gets proof, it gets lost somewhere between here and d.c. airtight. but no.  rambo's gotta be a hero. thinks he's starring in his own war movie or something. he put me in a corner. no choice.
that's a crock. we don't say that. do you have any idea the shitstorm if he'd gotten back with that guy? if it went public? the white house would have to act through channels. we're talking ransom. four billion bucks in war reparations to vietnam to get the others back. that's billion, colonel. with a "b". for a few guys that've had their brains in a blender for ten years? a pain in the ass to everybody? no way. there's no way.
of course not. you can't get approval to rescue a kitten from a tree after tehran.
here. drink.
you're out of your depth, trautman. way out. i'm acting correctly here. not you. not your gung-ho jungle ace. it's over. walk away.
what that?
he's giving them a run for their money. says here they've got two hueys from danang. i didn't know those dinks had hueys.
typical.
what?
stares at the sheet for a long time.
well, have they got him yet?
christ almighty.
what?
when the unidentified helicopter has crossed the river into thailand, shoot it down with air-to-air rockets. then proceed to the crash site and fire your remaining rockets into the wreckage. is this understood, zen hammer?
what are you talking about? why?