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.

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!

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 nearly 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.

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.

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 out 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).

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.

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.

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.