Smith deployed for his 1st tour to Republic of Vietnam with the 1st Marine Division from 7 October 1967 to 25 October 1968. During this time Lt. Smith served as a rifle platoon commander (4 months) and company commander (9 months) in Alpha Co, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, seeing combat action in Hue, Khe Sanh, the Rockpile, Con Thien, "Dodge City" and south of Da Nang. He was awarded the Silver Star for his actions during the Tet Offensive. He was awarded a second Silver Star for actions on hill 689 at KheSanh in early July. His next assignment was in the 5th Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, California where he served in &lt;a href="3rd%20Battalion%2028th%20Marines"&gt;3/28&lt;/a&gt; as a Platoon Commander, Company Commander and as interim Aide for General Ross Dwyer. In November 1969, Lt. Smith was assigned to a one-year Vietnamese Language School in Arlington, Virginia. In late 1970, he returned to Camp Pendleton for duty on an Interrogation Team for four months and was then assigned to &lt;a href="2nd%20Battalion%2C%205th%20Marines"&gt;2/5&lt;/a&gt; until he was sent to the John F. Kennedy School of Special Warfare at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. Captain Smith returned to Vietnam in November 1971 for duty with the Marine Advisory Unit. He was with the Vietnamese Marines during the Easter Offensive and Counter Offensive of 1972.