We will follow the setup to the test in great detail, using stock footage – much attention to the test site itself, close-up shots of the bomb, the blockhouse a mile away, aircraft and helicopters readying to fly into the cloud to take measurements, scientists and technicians, and U.S. Marines hunkering down in their trenches. Again, much attention to the trenches, and especially their proximity to ground zero.
Time is late afternoon; sun is beginning its slow approach to the horizon. Long shadows stretch across the desert. A ring of distant mountains.
Close in on one platoon assembled in a trench dug within a patch of cactus, only a few dozen yards away from ground zero. A shot shows the test site beyond the helmets of Marines in their trench. The cactus patch is large, spreading out along the slope of a shallow hill.
Private: “Hey Sarge! Why do we gotta be in the middle of all this cactus? This stuff hurts!”
Sergeant: (Sarcastically) “Aww! He hurt his widdle finger.” (Now gruffly) Quitcher bitchin’, grunt! It’ll make y’ tough! I don’t need any pansies in my platoon!
Cut to overall shot of trenches. We see several hundred Marines piling in through cactus and tumbleweeds.
Sergeant speaking, “This is the big one, boys. This is the one that will have them Russkies shaking in their beds. Now we’re going to do it good, we’re going to do it right. Hunker down, hunker down. Keep yer heads low and let the blast blow over you. When I give the whistle, we’re going over the top, and we’re gonna show Ike that the Marines’ll do it right. We’re going to move in and take that ground.”
Cut to stock footage of countdown in the blockhouse,
“Five… four…”
Montage of troops and observers
Quick cut to Marines in the trench, huddled helmets, backpacks and rifle butts, radio man listening to the countdown and calling it out.
“Three…”
“Three…”
“Two…”
“Two…”
“One…”
“One…”