The Biggest Military Exercise You Never Knew About - Operation Desert Strike (1964)

This 1965 US Army television documentary tells the story of a large-scale joint Army-Air Force training exercise in the southwestern United States--primarily along the border between California and Nevada. The objectives of the exercise were to test initiation of tactical nuclear warfare, control of escalation, and tactical operation on the nuclear battlefield.

Desert Strike was the largest American military exercise since the end of World War II, that began on May 17, 1964 in an 18,000 square mile area of desert in the U.S. states of California, Nevada and Arizona. The exercise involved 89,000 U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force personnel training for two weeks in mock combat.

Coordinated by United States Strike Command (STRICOM), the huge mock war between the mythical nations of Calonia and Nezona employed tanks, artillery, jet fighters, paratroopers, and tens of thousands of men using blank-loaded weapons. Based on data from the exercise, the U.S. Army developed the Air Support Operations Center (ASOC), which would soon be introduced into the Vietnam War. Despite precautions, 34 American servicemen had been killed by the time that the exercise ended on May 30, mostly in traffic accidents involving military vehicles.

Also depicted, are US actions in the Dominican Republic in 1965 that required a US Army and US Marine intervention to maintain order, and protect/evacuate American and other allied nationals.
#coldwar #history #army #airforce #parachute #war #soldier #airforce

Opening Montage Music: By moonmode via Pixabay:
"Stolen Heart"
https://pixabay.com/music/rock-stolen-heart-198999/

More info on Operation Desert Strike: https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/ASPJ/journals/1964_Vol15_No1-6/1964_Vol16_No1.pdf
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=78531

More info on The Big Picture:
http://www.armypictorialcenter.com/the_big_picture.htm

URL - https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2569850
NAID Identifier: 2569850
Local ID: 111-TV-661