Episode-List
Season 3
38. The Luck
39. Doc Hock
40. The Ties that Blind
41. Lonely at the Top
42. A Bodyguard of Lies
43. A Necessary End
44. Cloud Nine
45. Thanks for the Memories
46. I Am What I Am
47. World in Changes
48. Green Christmas
49. Odd Man Out
50. And Make Death Proud to Take Us
51. Dead Man Tales
52. The Road to Long Binh
53. Acceptable Losses
54. Vietnam Rag
55. War is a Contact Sport
56. Three Cheers for the Orange, White and Blue
57. The Raid
58. Payback
38 - The Luck
"Over 2300 Americans classified "Missing in Action" in the Vietnam war
are still unaccounted for. Reported live sightings could indicate some are still held
prisoner in Southeast Asia."
Anderson and Goldman are MIA and possibly dead. Bravo Co goes back to the
area the next day but can find no sign of them. They are ordered to quit looking.
Johnson, Purcell, Taylor and Ruiz try to convince McKay to take them back. He
agrees and takes them out the next day. McKay goes to see Alex, who reacts to
Myron's loss by immersing herself in her work. Johnny tries to make her face reality,
but she states that the men are dead and she refuses to talk about it. Purcell is fed up
with the war. Johnson has finally gotten promoted to buck sergeant. The next day
McKay's helicopter actually goes right over Anderson and Goldman without him
(or the others) seeing the two men. The two Americans have been taken captive by
the NVA. They repeatedly try to escape as they are being led north, eventually
succeeding. Meanwhile, Alex's Bureau chief convinces her that she should transfer
to Paris, the location of the peace talks.
Guest cast: (Dana Lee (Maj. Diem)
Writer: Jerry Patrick Brown ..... Director: Stephen L. Posey
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39 - Doc Hock
"Thirteen American medics were awarded the Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War.
Eight were awarded posthumously."
More FNGs arrive from the World, and the old hands can see that the rebellious
youth is spreading into the Army. Meanwhile, Goldman reveals to Zeke that it may
be time for him to move to a desk job. Alex is glad to see Myron back but tells
him that she is going to take the Paris job. Elsewhere, Taylor, Purcell and Ruiz
tease a new recruit who is a pacificist. Taylor knocks the new medi -- Hockenberry)
on his butt. Zeke is just as horrified as the rest when he is told by Doc Hock
that he won't carry a weapon. Afterwards, Anderson meets Goldman's replace,
a no-nonsense but wet-behind-the-ears new LT who thinks he already knows
everything there is to know. Zeke also learns that he has received a promotion. Alex
arranges a final going-away party for her and Myron -- she ends up missing her plane
to Paris but not because of the party but because she has a chance to do an exlusive
-- and dangerous -- interview with a VCC officer. Meanwhile, Anderson and the rest
of the unit are having trouble adjusting to the new LT and Doc Hock.
Guest Cast: Peter Murnik (Lt. Miller)
Writer: Robert Bielak....Director: Randy Roberts
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40 - The Ties that Blind
"Black Americans constituted about 13% of the troops in Vietnam, 28% had combat
assignments; only 2% were officers."
A tough black officer -- Col. Carl Brewster -- enters the local Vietnamese town
to make the "boom-boom" parlor off-limits because of men catching the clap.
Elsewhere, Goldman and McKay attended the funeral for Alex who was killed in
a bomb explosion. Afterwards, Anderson and the squad have been transferred to
MACV-SOG, under the command of Col. Brewster. Brewster lets Hockenberry
"volunteer" for a special assignment -- cleaning up the whore houses. Goldman
has
trouble dealing with his feelings about Alex's death. Anderson is thinking about using
some of his leave to go visit his daughter, but he is concerned about Goldman.
Goldman returns to the unit, both he and Anderson meet up with Brewster for the first
time.
Goldman breaks up a party when the unit meets up with Baker again -- by telling
Johnson that he is in charge of the squad while Anderson goes home for some leave.
Zeke visits his ex-wife, Carol, and their daughter, Katie. Johnson finds he has a hand
time filling Zeke's shoes and dealing with Percell who is on a dangerous downward spiral.
Guest Cast: Penny Peyser (Carol), Eric Bruskotter (Baker)
Writer: Carol Mendelsohn....Director: Stephen L. Posey
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41 - Lonely at the Top
"To be a leader of men, one must learn to turn his back on men -- Havelock Ellis,
1884."
While Zeke is back in the States, Brewster sends the men out to locate a missing
SOG team. Once in the bush, Team Viking locates the missing soldiers, who all
appear to be dead. It is an NVA trap; the enemy opens up just as the American
reach the bodies but retreat quickly when Johnson leads a counter-strike against
them. Johnson faces a crisis of confidence because men under his command were
killed. Ruiz is struggling with Doc Hock's pacifist attitudes, Johnson is getting worse
and Taylor is losing faith in everyone. Anderson arrives back in Texas and spends
time with Dr. Seymour. They spend the weekend together and discuss the days
ahead, Zeke has trouble seeing any future that involves him returning to the World.
Guest cast: Betsy Brantley (Maj. Jennifer Seymor)
Writer: David Kemper....Director: Ed Sherin
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42 - A Bodyguard of Lies
"In wartime truth is so precious that she should always be attended to be a
bodyguard of lies -- Winston Churchill"
Utter havoc reigns in the jungle after a newby makes a mistake and two other
soldiers are killed going to his resuce. The man are led by Lt. Beller, and his unit has
seen far too much action and too much death. Bellear is an old friend of Goldman's,
together they are sent back out to search for an NVA regiment. Beller tells command
that his men need rest or they are going to snap but Brewster insists they must go out.
Meanwhile everyone is happy to see Anderson return, except for the ever-depressed Percell.
Goldman spends some time with Beller. Purcell is going over the edge fast and no one
knows that he has started to use drugs. Anderson discovers that Brewster is married to a
Vietnamese girl and they have a child. The next day, on their mission, Purcell (drugged
up)
starts to panic. Beller's unit creates a My Lai-type of massacre in the field and that
sends
Percell off the deep end and straight into the waiting arms of heroin dealers.
Guest Cast: Liam Whatley (Thang)
Writer: Brian Herskowitz .....Director: Jim Johnston
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43 - A Necessary End
"Although 7 1/2 million Americans saw duty in the Vietnam War, there were only 24
cases of desertion to avoid
hazardous duty."
McKay has a date with a "killer" blonde but on the way to take her shopping he
ends up hitting a child with his jeep and comes in contact, for the first time, with a
makeshift orphanage where he decides to get involved with the orphans. Doc finds
Percell high on grass and drugs. Percell leave in a huff, seeking more drugs, and
ends up arrested and assigned to a "shit burner" detail. Goldman goes to
Brewster
to report the massacre. Later, Goldman and Anderson are briefed on a mission into
Cambodia to kidnap a defecting NVA officer. Percell tries to desert.
Guest Cast: Maria Mayenzet (Sister Bernadette), Scott Lawrence (Leeander)
Writer: Jerry Patrick Brown ..... Director: Stephen L. Posey
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44 - Cloud Nine
"In 1969 and 1970 alone, some 16,000 GIs were dishonorably discharged for drug
possession."
Taylor, Ruiz and Johnson go in search of Purcell after he goes AWOL. They look
for 3 days, finally being taken to a heroin parlor by three drug dealers. Danny refuses
to leave and the 3 thugs won't let the soldiers force Danny out. Later, Anderson and
Team Viking are trying to find a road that is part of the Ho Chi Minh trail. When they
find the road they return to the base where everyone knows about Danny. Brewster
tells Goldman to solve the problem and Goldman insists upon talking about the massacre.
Brewster puts his own career in jeopardy as he tries to get the army to deal with
Phu An massacre. Anderson (under pressure from Goldman) organizes a commando
raid and goes into Cholon to spring Purcell -- who then is forced to go through
cold-turkey
withdrawal. Brewster is ordered to shut up about the Phu An massacre.
Guest Cast: Maria Mayenzet (Sister Bernadette), Scott Lawrence (Leander)
Writer: Robert Bielak....Director George Kaczender
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45 - Thanks for the Memories
"On Thanksgiving 1968, 20 US servicemen lost their lives in Vietnam."
The men of Team Viking are receiving medals in a ceremony in recognition of their heroism.
In the midst of the ceremony, General Higgins arrives and reads out Brewster. Higgins
thinks Brewster should have kept his mouth closed about Phu An. Higgins leaves with
the threat that he will destroy Brewster if the colonel keeps "forcing the
issue". Anderson
talks with Percell who is off drugs, finally, and is now spending time at the Psych Ward.
Doc calls home and finds out that his girl friend is sleeping with someone else. Brewster
takes the story of Phu An to the press and is relieved of duty.
Guest cast: Michael Fairman (Gen. Higgins), Shawn Levy (Budd Sills)
Writer: Carol Mendelsohn .... Director: Paul Lynch
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46 - I Am What I Am
"The U.S. flew 36, 125,000 helicopter sorties during the Vietnam Conflict. The
number of enemy missions is unknown."
Team Viking goes out to capture a Soviet chopper but ends up surrounded and captured.
Luckily the mission was just practice. Myron discovers that his father -- Gernal Goldman
--
is back on the base. His father has 2-3 months left to live because of cancer. While Myron
and his father fight, Johnson attempts to decide if he should re-up or go back to the
World.
A Mexican/American WAC takes up with Ruiz. Johnson finally decides to go back to the
States. Percell wonders if he is yet ready to return to the field. Anderson and McKay
butt heads when McKay tries to take over the leadership of a mission.
Guest Cast: John Cypner (Gen Goldman), Kamala Lopex (Susanna Lozada)
Writer: David Kemper ..... Director: Bradford May
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47 - World in Changes
"The CIA's four-year Phoenix Program removed an estimated 60,000 verified
communist agents from the Viet Cong infrastructure."
McKay decides he is personally going to get the sniper who has been taking out
helicopters... but with Anderson and Goldman on the ground and him in the air,
he ends up the next target, crashing and killing his co-pilot. Johnson, with only 72
hours left, gets a bad case of "short timer's nerves". Meanwhile a crazy CIA
operative
-- Duke Fontaine -- takes several VC suuspects up in a helicopter and starts throwing
them out until one of them will talk. Anderson and the team are going to go out after a
VC-recruiter and get permission for Johnson not to go but because Johnson has
decided that he "must stick to the routine" he ends up going. Taylor and Johnson
are
captured by the VC and tortured by a sadistic Vietnamese man.
Guest cast: Ping Wu (Lu Bihn)
Writer: Jim Kearns ..... Director: Jim Johnston
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48 - Green Christmas
"On Christmas Day, 1968, eight American soldiers died in Vietnam, one in
Laos."
Christmas finds Team Viking the bush trying to capture prisoners in Cambodia.
Doc tries to show compassion to one of the captured men... who turns out to be able
to speak English. Anderson and Goldman exchange Christmas gifts, back at camp.
Ruiz takes flowers to Susanna. Taylor finds that he misses Johnson. Team Viking prepares
for a Christmas party at the orphanage. Meanwhile, Sgt. Marvin Johnson returns home
and finds out that bigotry is alive and well there.
Guest Cast: John Hancock (Arthur Johnson)
Writer: Steve Smith ..... Director: Helaine Head
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49 - Odd Man Out
"This is a war of the unwilling, led by the unqualified, dying for the ungrateful
-- G.I. Latrine Graffiti."
Taylor is expecting to be promoted at any moment, and opens his mail to find a letter
from Johnson talking about how great things are back in the World. Anderson is forced
to tell Taylor that he has been passed over for promotion. Taylor starts to deal with the
black/white issue -- badly. Percell goes to a black "bar" to get Taylor when it
becomes
obvious that Taylor isn't coming home unless someone goes to get him. Goldman is told
that Team Viking is going to go on a mission being dictated by a local Vietnamese Province
Chief. The man is going to trade permission to use his village as a base for artillery
(which will save many American lives) for the team's going to get his wife). Only after
the team agrees do they discover that the woman is pregnant (with another man's child),
sick and running from her husband.
Guest cast: Haunani Minn (Li), Joseph Hieu (Chieu)
Writer: David Ehrman ..... Director: James Contner
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50 - And Make Death Proud to Take Us
"Booby traps acounted for 17 percent of all American wounds suffered in the
Vietnam War."
Newbie replacements arrive, including a young man that gains Anderson's attention
as he and Team Viking return from the field, as the boy proves to be 15 years old.
FNGs are moving in all over Team Viking. Goldman (suffering from the same shortage
of room) finds himself bunked up with McKay. Team Viking gets assigned a recon
mission based on Fontaine's information. Anderson and Goldman spend as much
time as possible breaking in the new guys. Zeke and Myron head out with 18 FNG's.
Anderson's unit stops to dig in a defensive position to work from, but before
completing the bunkers they are attacked by the enemy, and due to outstanding
bravery and courage, a few actually survive.
Guest Cast: Scott Fults (Eddie Bell), Alan Scarfe (Col. Stringer)
Writer: Jerry Patrick Brown ..... Director: George Kaczender
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51 - Dead Man Tales
"Some studies estimate 20% of U.S. Casualties were from 'friendly fire'. The
office Department of Defense figure is 3%"
Team Viking earns a 3-day pass and then promptly gets itself in trouble because of their
brawling. While the major is reading every one out about this, a shot from the jungle
kills him. Anderson assigns Bell and Doc to work at the orphanage and takes the rest of
them out. Goldman is sent out to find the sniper "or else". McKay's new gunner
opens fire on the Americans below him -- by mistake -- killing a large number of them. The
Team gets thoroughly drunk and Bell climbs up on the top of a building and ends up falling
to his death. When the others realize what has happened they decide to get him listed as
KIA. McKay, meanwhile, goes after the sniper himself!
Guest cast: Alice Carter (Tien Ly), Scott Fults (Bell)
Writer: Robert Bielak ..... Director: Bradford May
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52 - The Road to Long Binh
"During the Vietnam War era, there were over a half-million incidents of
desertion by U.S. serviceman."
All of the enlisted men of Team Viking end up with food poisioning. Goldman is forced,
because of that, to take on an assignment himself that he had intended to assign to
someone else, drafting Anderson to come along. They pick up a deserter who Anderson
has known as the "ideal" soldier for years. As the two men spend time together
they talk
about their early meetings, etc. Zeke gets a letter from Johnson. The next day Digby
(the deserter) escapes before Anderson and Goldman get there but is recaptured. They
start off to Long Binh prison. Digby has been a soldier for 14 years but gave it up when
some soldiers started to give him and his Vietnamese wife a hard time. Digby ends up
saving their lives, a number of times, and he ends up "accidentally" escaping.
Guest Cast: James Sutorius (Digby), April Tran (Lt. Pran)
Writers: David Kemper and Carol Mendelsohn ..... Steven Dubin
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53 - Acceptable Losses
"Of 3, 253 soldiers listed as MIA prior to 1973, only 34 returned on their
own."
Team Viking takes off on another Fontaine mission, where they run into heavy contact.
McKay arrives back at the LZ to rescue them, only to end up being fired on by missiles.
He has no choice but to leave without Taylor, Ruiz and Private Woznaik. They attempt
to make it back to their own lines on their own. The team goes back to check for their men
-- McKay gets tricked by the VC and neaarly killed -- only Taylor's self-sacrificing smoke
grenade gets the chopper pilot back up in time. Wozniak ends up dead of a snake bite,
leaving Ruiz and Taylor on their own. As the days pass, Taylor and Ruiz are replaced by
two new soldiers, including 44-year-old PFC Thoams "Pop" Scarlett, a lifer with
a unique
perspective on the war.
Guest cast: Danny Nucci (Wozniak)
Writers: David Kemper and Carol Mendelsohn ..... Director: Bradford May
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54 - Vietnam Rag
"More U.S. soldiers died in Vietnam AFTER the Paris peace talks then
before."
Taylor and Ruiz are still listed as MIA. At the camp there are still more FNGs,
including a peace-loving photographer. Anderson is told by Goldman that Team Viking
is about to be back to SOS (same old shit) missions -- no more special operations.
Pop's son is reportedly one of the new guys. Suzanne returns from leave to hear that Ruiz
is missing. The photographer gets permission to go out with Anderson's team. Things go
bad fast, and they are soon losing soldiers to stupid reasons -- and mostly just because
they are FNGs.
Guest cast: Charley Lang (Bennett), Joe Toppe (Preacher)
Writer: Robert bielak ..... Director: George Kaczender
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55 - War Is a Contact Sport
"During the Vietnam war, half of all conscientious objectors already in uniform
were granted a discharge."
Out in the field, Percell captures a VC. Doc and another soldier stand guard. A second
VC attacks Danny and while Doc and the other soldier watch, the first VC grabs a gun.
Doc refuses to fire, despite the fact that he has the only other weapon and the third
American
is killed. Colonel Brewster returns for the Phu An board of inquiry. Everyone ostracizes
Doc,
feeling that they can't trust him. Goldman meets up with Brewster after Pop has punched
the
colonel out. Meanwhile, Ruiz and taylor have crawled out of the jungle after 22 days. Doc
-- told he is going to be transferred oout as he is "no longer dependable" --
meets up with Pop
and goes on a bender. Ruiz leans that Suzanne has suffered a breakdown due to the stress
of
the job and losing him (she thought).
Guest Cast: John Lemay (Michael Kelman), Michael Fairman (Gen. Higgins)
Writer: David Kemper ..... Steven Caffrey
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56 - Three Cheers for the Orange, White and Blue
"From 1961 to 1971, 18 million gallons of the defoliant 'Agent Orange' were
sprayed over the Southeast Asia theatre."
Anderson & Pop are having a good time at a local bar when a young trooper turns up
and gets insulting to Pop -- it turns out to be Robby (Pop's son). The Phu An Board of
Inquiry starts. As the situation develops and Beller realizes what his men did -- he had
blocked it out -- he kills himself. Zeke and Team Viking go out with Robby on another
SOG mission. They end up getting sprayed with Agent Blue. Before the end of the day,
Robby ends up killed, leaving Pop to bring his son home in a body bag.
Guest Cast: Lee Majors II (Spec. Robby Scarlet)
Writer: Carol Mendelsohn ..... Director: Stephen L. Posey
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57 - The Raid
"We have reached an important point, when the end begins to come into view --
General William Westmoreland, November 21, 1967"
The monsoon seasons starts. Pop goes back to the States for his son's funeral, only to
be blamed for the death of his son (by his wife). Goldman is upset over Beller's suicide
-- feeling that the ex-friend was only another type of victim of the war. Brewster enlists
Goldman for a volunteer mission to rescue MIA/POWs. AN ex-POW (very fragile) comes
back to Vietnam to help plan the mission. Doc is still on base but no one will speak to
him.
Doc goes to talk to Goldman, begging to be part of the rescue mission but gets refused.
The mission turns out to be a nightmare. The POWs were moved before the Team got there,
Griner is blinded, Pop and McKay are hurt and get shipped to a hospital in Japan, Brewster
is hospitalized at China Beach.
Guest Cast: Jonathan Gries (Maj. Rex Chapman)
Writer: Jim Johnston.......Director: Jim Johnston
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58 - Payback
"I'm so short I left yesterday! GI latrine graffity"
Several months later, McKay -- mostly recovered -- is told that he will never fly again.
Bitter, he tries to get a civilian job flying but is told that Vietnam vets are too
freaky.
When he finally gets a job flying air-traffic monitoring, he loses it -- not to a
"flashback"
but to sheer irritation. Ruiz returns home to New York but can't find a job. In Montana,
Percell is now a carpenter and is nearly freaked' out by finding a Vietnamese worker on
the
crew. That same night he runs into a peace-activist at a blind date. Bill Griner returns
home
to North Carolina -- having been blinded. His parents turn to faith healing and Griner
retreats
to the "comfort of the fields and a faithful dog". Back in Vietnam, Taylor meets
a new black
soldier who tells him that he came back because the world is nowhere for a
"black". Doc has
been sent to a field hospital but gets in trouble even there because he shows compassion
for
a dying man.
Guest Cast: Clifton Powell (Luther Fraction)
Writer: Jerry Patrick Brown
~ The definate and sad End... ~
© 2001 Mika