An introductory text explains how the United States has gradually become strategically isolated after several European nations (except the United Kingdom) withdraw from NATO. At the same time, the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact partners aggressively expand their sphere of influence. In addition, the Ukrainian wheat harvest fails while a Communist coup d'etat occurs in Mexico.
Lt. Commander Thomas Dodge (Kelsey Grammer), a capable yet unconventional US Navy submariner, is about to be passed over a third time for command of his own nuclear submarine because of his unorthodox methods and because of a notorious genital tattoo received after getting drunk and passing out while on shore-leave. Failure to secure a command will result in Dodge being dropped from the Navy's command program and an assignment to a desk job, and that means he will resign from the Navy. During his career, Dodge has made an enemy of Rear Admiral Yancy Graham (Bruce Dern), who strongly speaks out against Dodge's command promotion.
In 1941, the newly appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (Sō Yamamura) and his predecessor, Zengo Yoshida (Junya Usami), discuss America's embargo that starves Japan of raw materials. While both agree that a war with the United States would be a complete disaster, army hotheads and politicians push through an alliance with Germany and start planning for war. With the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Yamamoto orders the planning of a preventive strike, believing Japan's only hope is to annihilate the American Pacific fleet at the outset of hostilities.
En 1943, sur une île du Pacifique, Nellie, une infirmière américaine, s'éprend d'un planteur français, Emile de Becque, qui a quitté son pays parce qu'il était accusé de meurtre. Mais elle accepte mal le fait qu'il ait déjà deux enfants, nés de son union avec une Polynésienne. Pendant ce temps, le lieutenant Cable tombe amoureux de la jeune Liat, fille d'une commerçante, mais refuse de l'épouser en raison de sa couleur de peau. Une mission à haut risque viendra bouleverser le destin de ces deux couples.
Bunker Hill Military Academy has just concluded another school year. Cadet Brian Moreland (Timothy Hutton), an academic junior, meets privately with the academy commandant, retired Brigadier General Harlan Bache (George C. Scott). Bache promotes Moreland to Cadet Major, the paramount rank at BHMA. Bache also reflects on the time when he was a West Point cadet (Moreland's intended college), as well as a graduate of BHMA prior to that, and how he dreads civilian life with his forthcoming retirement. Moreland is congratulated by several good friends: Cadet Captains David Shawn (Tom Cruise) and Alex Dwyer (Sean Penn), as well as Cadet Lieutenant Edward West (Evan Handler). Shawn, a Red Beret, leads a celebration in the hallway. The commencement is celebrated by a parade and pass & review. Following the ceremonies, General Bache announces that BHMA's board of trustees is selling the school to real estate developers; however, they will remain open for one more year in order to allow the seniors to graduate and give the underclassmen time to apply to other schools. The delay gives many cadets hope that BHMA - which many of them consider home - can be saved. Bache also expresses his hope that the institute can be saved, as he wryly remarks to Moreland "We are here, and the condos are not".
At an inaugural ball, US Navy Lieutenant Commander Tom Farrell meets a woman, Susan Atwell, and they begin an affair, although she is involved with another man. Later, Farrell begins to work at the Pentagon for the US Secretary of Defense, David Brice.
In 1941, bugler and career soldier Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) transfers to a rifle company at Schofield Barracks on the island of Oahu. Captain Dana "Dynamite" Holmes (Philip Ober) has heard he is a talented middleweight boxer and wants him to join his regimental team in order to secure a promotion. Prewitt refuses, having stopped fighting because he blinded his sparring partner and close friend over a year before. Holmes is adamant, but so is Prewitt.
United States Marine Corps Major Benson Winifred Payne (Damon Wayans), a hardened Marine, returns from a successful drug raid in South America, only to find out that he has again been denied his long-hoped-for promotion to the grade of Lieutenant Colonel. Instead, Payne receives an honorable discharge on the grounds that "the wars of the world are no longer fought on the battlefield", and that his killing skills are no longer required by the U.S Marine Corps.
Un film spectaculaire sur les prouesses d'un pilote de chasse américain lors des exercices extrêmes de simulation de combat aérien. Des images inédites de manoeuvres d'entraînement en formation avec le sauvetage virtuel d'un pilote.
In May 1943, the crew of the Memphis Belle, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress of the US Army Air Force, are grounded in England while their aircraft is repaired.
During the American Civil War, Captain Robert Shaw is injured in the Battle of Antietam and sent home to Boston on medical leave. He visits his family there, where he meets the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, a former slave. Shaw is offered a promotion to the rank of Colonel to command the first all-black regiment in the Union Army, the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He accepts and asks his childhood friend, 2nd Lieutenant Cabot Forbes, to serve as his second in command, with the rank of major. Their first volunteer is another friend, Thomas Searles, a bookish free African American. Other recruits soon follow, including gravedigger John Rawlins, timid freeman Jupiter Sharts and Silas Trip, an escaped slave who does not trust Shaw. Trip instantly clashes with Searles and Rawlins must keep the peace.
The USS Forrestal, an aircraft carrier on station in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, receives a mayday from a cargo ship. The ship reports that they have been attacked, are on fire and adrift. A deployed Navy SH-3 helicopter attempts to rescue the crew, but is downed by a gunboat and the aircrew is captured.
Captain Yossarian (Alan Arkin), a U.S. Army Air Force B-25 bombardier, is stationed on the Mediterranean base on Pianosa during World War II. Along with his squadron members, Yossarian is committed to flying dangerous missions, and after watching friends die, he seeks a means of escape.
During the Vietnam War in 1968, Captain Sam Cahill (Danny Glover) has been working hard to create good relations between the United States and Montagnard Vietnamese in the village of Dak Nhe. The U.S. Army is looking to monitor enemy operations on a clandestine weapons supply route which passes near the village. Cahill is coming close to his discharge, and explains to his successor Captain T.C. Doyle (Ray Liotta), the delicate nature of Vietnamese customs as well as the counter intelligence involving covert enemy activity. In a lapse of judgment with surrounding village children, a child steals a Nestlé Crunch bar, the wrapper, which when found, lets the NVA know of the local villagers' cooperation with the Americans. As punishment, Brigadier Nguyen (Hoang Ly) of the NVA, orders his subordinate, Captain Quang (Vo Trung Anh), to kill the villagers' elephant right before a spiritual festival. To aid the villagers, Cahill promises to replace the slain elephant before their upcoming ceremony.
Doug Masters (Jason Gedrick), son of veteran U.S. Air Force pilot Col. Ted Masters (Tim Thomerson), is a hotshot civilian pilot, hoping to follow in his father's footsteps. Then, his hopes are dashed when he receives a notice of rejection from the Air Force Academy. Making matters worse is the news of his father being shot down and captured by the fictional Arab state of Bilya while patrolling over the Mediterranean Sea. Despite the incident occurring over international waters, the Arab state's court finds Col. Masters guilty of trespassing over their territory and sentences him to hang in three days.