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Tour of Duty Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
21 Episodes 1987 - 1988
Episode 1
Pilot
Thu, Sep 24, 1987
It is 1968 and Sargeant Zeke Anderson, a soldier on his third tour of Vietnam, strives to do what he does best - keep his platoon alive. Following a particularly fierce nocturnal attack on Firebase Ladybird by the NVA, Anderson couriers intelligence to Battalion headquarters and does a little recruiting from a group of newbies in order to replenish the platoon's depleted numbers. The last to be recruited is Roger Horn, a harmonica playing anti war protester. Anderson also meets his new Lieutenant, Myron Goldman, a gung-ho officer candidate school graduate taking up his first field position. The two butt heads on their first mission, Goldman resentful when the more experienced Anderson steps in to stop him from making decisions that would put the platoon in jeopardy. Stumbling across the covert headquarters of a band of NVA, the platoon engage in a fire fight resulting in Goldman embarking on a steep learning curve while gaining respect for Anderson's field savvy and bravery. In the aftermath of the battle an NVA soldier left for dead grabs a weapon, intent on inflicting further casualties on the platoon. Horn raises the alarm and then becomes embroiled in a life and death struggle with the man, eventually killing him with a knife and thus putting his whole belief system into question.
Episode 2
Notes from the Underground
Thu, Oct 1, 1987
A U.S. Platoon on reconnaissance patrol with Goldman's platoon is ambushed by the NVA, the enemy soldiers appearing to vanish before Goldman and his men can intersect them, the inexperienced Lieutenant mistakenly calling fire on the surviving members of the other platoon as they emerge from the heavy undergrowth. Dispersed to an adjacent village and amid further tension between Anderson and Goldman, the platoon find the village deserted. Marcus Taylor, a slick, fast talking black private disappears and the platoon discovers evidence of the enemy's vast underground tunneling system. After the first exploratory duo sent into the tunnels is attacked Goldman insists on following Anderson into the dank confines of the tunnel network. Held captive by the NVA in the bowels of the earth and tortured for information Taylor finds humanity in the form of the idealistic communist doctor traveling with the North Vietnamese contingent. Finding a cache of hijacked U.S. supplies and equipment in the tunnels and engaging the enemy, Goldman and Anderson are engulfed in a cave-in. During their efforts to extricate themselves from their earthen prison they come to a better understanding of each other. Meanwhile Taylor's captives are on the move, determined to slaughter the remainder of the platoon, the commanding officer ordering the doctor to kill Taylor. Unable to carry out the order, the doctor is killed during a struggle between Taylor and the commanding officer, Taylor escaping in time to warn his buddies of the ambush. As the platoon celebrate their survival with a spit BBQ of the village pig killed by an NVA sniper an explosives ordinance squad lays 500lbs of explosives in the tunnels and Taylor digs a final resting place for his friend the doctor.
Episode 3
Dislocations
Thu, Oct 8, 1987
Bravo Company are tasked with moving the inhabitants of a village to a safer location. When all does not go according to plan they get some unexpected help.
Episode 4
War Lover
Thu, Oct 15, 1987
Bravo Company have to team up with a gung-ho special forces team in order to destroy a bridge. Bravo Company discovers that things are not always black and white in war.
Episode 5
Sitting Ducks
Thu, Oct 29, 1987
After getting what they think is an easy mission, Bravo Company discover that the village that they are protecting is surrounded by the enemy. What's more, the enemy seem to know their every move.
Episode 6
Burn Baby, Burn
Thu, Nov 5, 1987
After a series of incidents, racial divisions develop within Bravo Company. When one of the men is found dead, Johnson is suspected, making matters worse.
Episode 7
Brothers, Fathers, and Sons
Thu, Nov 12, 1987
Anderson, Johnson and Baker's Huey is downed. They find an orphaned baby while fleeing a father with a vengeance.
Episode 8
The Good, the Bad, and the Dead
Thu, Nov 19, 1987
When a drunken Sargeant is arrested for stealing a jeep, Anderson recognizes the soldier as his old Drill Sergeant. After recommending him to the Lieutenant, Anderson organizes to have him transferred to the platoon. Anderson's new addition soon creates problems for the whole group on their first patrol due to his willful disobedience and lax attention to regulations.
Episode 9
Battling Baker Brothers
Thu, Dec 10, 1987
When Baker's twin brother visits Bravo Company on their birthday a misunderstanding drives a wedge between them. Things get complicated when Baker's brothers helicopter is shot down and Baker believes that his brother is still alive.
Episode 10
Nowhere to Run
Thu, Dec 17, 1987
The troops are under attack by the VC. Percell accidentally kills an unarmed boy. Lt. Goldman reconnects with an old flame.
Episode 11
Roadrunner
Thu, Jan 7, 1988
Anderson receives a letter from his ex-wife saying that their three year-old daughter is asking about him. Anderson fights back tears and asks the chaplain if he could send his daughter a letter telling her that he loves her and misses her. Lt. Goldman tells Anderson that they must go to the Don Ho Valley to rescue any pilot that lands in their area. Anderson is against it as his previous unit was almost wiped out the last time he was there. They go anyways and reach a downed Air Force pilot surrounded by a company of VC.
Episode 12
Pushin' Too Hard
Thu, Jan 14, 1988
The platoon is visited by reporter Vickie Adams. She joins them on a patrol.
Episode 13
USO Down
Thu, Jan 21, 1988
After a group of performers' chopper crashes the team ventures out to bring them back to safety, which leads to some unexpected developments.
Episode 14
Under Siege
Thu, Feb 11, 198847 mins
The platoon is assigned to defend Firebase Ladybird under siege by a regiment of North Vietnamese troops. At the same time they come under siege by NVA soldiers, they are assigned a new, ambitious commander who complicates an already dangerous situation.
Episode 15
Soldiers
Thu, Feb 18, 198847 mins
When Purcell's father had a heart attack in Honolulu, Ruiz and Taylor change their R&R to Honolulu to give Purcell support. They are confronted by the anti-war attitudes and demonstrations back home. Purcell is shocked by the veterans' ward at the hospital, while he deals with his feelings towards his father, who has left his mother and has taken up with a younger woman.
Episode 16
Gray-Brown Odyssey
Thu, Feb 25, 1988
Among other casualties, Lt. Goldman temporarily loses his sight when his Jeep hits a mine. Horn leaves him with a female VC soldier (named Li Kiem) and goes for help at Goldman's demand. He removes her gag in an effort at civility but she tries to get a local woman who comes across them to help her escape by speaking Vietnamese. He manages to sense what she is doing but he counters and they leave, with her as his prisoner/shield. It turns out she speaks English but still implacably considers him her enemy; they debate politics briefly. During this time she tries several times to have him killed or captured but he manages to evade these threats as well. They come across an embittered farmer who hates both sides and initially refuses them food but then reconsiders. She seems to soften towards Goldman, whom she calls "GI". He later regains his sight after a dunking while they cross a very deep river. He saves her from drowning but they come under fire from a VC team chasing them, with ultimately deadly consequences.
Episode 17
Blood Brothers
Sat, Mar 12, 1988
General Goldman, Lt. Goldman's father, is on base on a fact-finding mission. He agrees that Myron has disobeyed orders by withdrawing rather than advancing against his better judgment toward what appeared to be a burned-out NVA facility. It turned out that the NVA were dug in a bit further on the trail. A pal of Ruiz tripped a wire and was killed. He was high on heroin. Sent to chill out with Sgt. Ecksley in supply, Ruiz discovered that Ecksley was selling Army goods in the black market and enabling soldiers to score heroin through the local drug lord. General Goldman saw more "truth" than he anticipated and realized that this war is not the same as previous wars.
Episode 18
The Short Timer
Sat, Mar 19, 1988
Taylor is a short timer, anxious to go back to Detroit. However, as the time for him to leave nears, he is less sure that he wants to leave his friends in Nam.
Episode 19
Paradise Lost
Sat, Mar 26, 1988
Bravo Company was saved from a group of VC by some Montagnards, who then brought the guys back to their village, home of a former Special Forces agent. Brigade determined that Bravo Company should train the villagers on weapons. The Special Forces agent opposes giving the tribe the weapons, as it will cause them to become a target. Brigade wants the Montagnards to cut off the VC trail running near the village. Bravo Company runs afoul of a local martinet who takes out his anger on the village.
Episode 20
Angel of Mercy
Sat, Apr 9, 1988
Lt. Goldman is shot loading a captured, injured VC colonel onto a helicopter. At the base hospital, he learns that Nikki Raines, the nurse he is in love with, had an abortion and she wants to break up with him because he is a soldier, a bad risk. The ARVN aide to the intelligence officer who wants to question the VC colonel tries to kill the colonel so that he cannot reveal the plans for a big offensive at the Tet.
Episode 21
The Hill
Sat, Apr 30, 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.
