Fri, Sep 29, 1989
With Goldman recovering from his wounds and transferring to Intelligence, Anderson meets the replacement Lieutenant Miller, who is keen on appearance by the book, which is something the new medic, Francis Hockenbury aka:' Doc Hock', takes lightly. Meanwhile, Alex Devlin gets the rare opportunity to interview NVA General Thoc in the tunnels. After surviving a B-52 strike on the complex, she is happy to be back in Saigon and spend her last night with Myron before leaving Vietnam for good.
Fri, Feb 16, 1990
Bravo Company has to leave four men behind - Taylor, Ruiz, Wozniak, and Lamb who was killed. McKay takes Goldman, Anderson, and Duke Fontaine back to pick them up. However, some VC get Lamb's radio and lure the chopper in. Taylor, Ruiz, and Wozniak see the VC doing this and release other smoke, and McKay has to leave them behind again. "Pop" Scarlett joins Bravo Company.
Fri, Apr 29, 1988
Bravo Company takes Hill 1000 - again - and finds no trace of the enemy. All the men, especially Horn, question why they take a hill suffering casualties and then abandon it, only to be required to take it again. A day or so later, a helicopter spraying Agent Orange is shot down, and Bravo Company again goes up Hill 1000 through the dripping Agent Orange. Horn walked down the hill but decides that his friends are worth fighting for. Horn is wounded throwing explosives into the VC bunker. And then the men are ordered yet again to abandon the hill. Medals are handed out that highlight a number of the episodes.
Fri, Nov 17, 1989
With Thanksgiving 1968 as a backdrop; Colonel Brewster's decision to go to the press about the Phu An massacre lands him a lot of trouble with the higher echelon, especially when he goes on the record with journalist Sid Boyle. Meanwhile, Percell, after quitting heroin cold turkey, is physically fine, but psychologically still shaken. Also, Lt. Goldman, Sgt. Anderson and the squad are gathering evidence for Colonel Brewster's theory that the NVA must have fuel storage dumps at regular intervals along the Ho Chi Minh trail.
Fri, Sep 22, 1989
Anderson and Goldman are listed MIA in the aftermath of an artillery strike. The platoon, McKay, and Alex Devlin deal with the loss in different ways. Johnson gets promoted to sergeant and has to fill in the shoes of Zeke. Alex Devlin wants to put Vietnam and Myron behind her and accepts a position as correspondent in Paris. Anderson and Goldman in fact have been taken POW. In a stopover village they figure out where they are and realize that they are ferried northwards. They need to escape because their chances to make it back to their own lines are dwindling.
Fri, Apr 27, 1990
Hockenbury, who moved out of the barracks and into a room in the dispensary, joins Bravo Company at mess, but he is still ostracized. Col. Brewster has developed a very sensitive mission in which he expects perhaps heavy casualties. Even though Goldman, Percell, and Ruiz are short, all the men volunteer. Fontaine is the intelligence liaison. Also, Air Force Major Chapman, who escaped three months previously from a prison camp in Hanoi, is also part of the mission. The mission: to raid a POW camp and bring home 38 guys.
Fri, Dec 22, 1989
As Bravo Company returns from a mission, they are interviewed by a television reporter. Sgt. Hannagan has received a pile of wrapped presents from groups back home. Bravo Company decides that the presents should go to the orphanage as Hannagan had told the television reporter. Hannagan tries to prevent that from actually happening, but Percell, Ruiz, and Taylor take the presents and load them onto a truck. Nurse Susanna Lozada is grieving a soldier they lost on the operating table. Ruiz comforts her and invites her to the Christmas party at the orphanage. She and several other nurses ride the truck to the orphanage. The truck is attacked en route, and the guys chase down the attackers. They stay the night so that they can go home in the light. As Anderson says, they are standing guard, which is what soldiers do.
Fri, Jan 19, 1990
Bravo Company gets 15 newbies and is sent into the bush to set sensors along a train and to reestablish a base. Anderson's group, reestablishing the base, is attacked by VC, and Goldman's group cannot get to them. Likewise, there is no air support to be had before the next morning. One of the newbies, Griner, is from South Carolina, and Taylor immediately decides he is racist. Griner proves himself an excellent shot, which Taylor recognizes and appreciates. Another newbie, Bell, from Texas, looks very young and is, in fact, only 15.