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Tour of Duty

1987–1990 · Ended · 3 seasons

Drama Adventure Action War
First aired
Sep 24, 1987
Last aired
Apr 28, 1990
IMDb rating
8.3 / 10 5,376 votes
Recall rating
7.0 / 10 1 rating

Overview

As the first television drama series about the Vietnam War, Tour of Duty focuses on a single platoon of young U.S. soldiers through their one-year tour of combat duty in Vietnam during the late 1960's. While their own country is rocked by a massive anti-war movement, these young men find themselves thrown into combat in Southeast Asia, where they face enemy troops they can not see and sometimes can not kill. They also face their own fears, as they struggle in a hostile environment just to keep themselves and their fellow soldiers alive. Terence Knox, Kevin Conroy, Stephen Caffrey, Joshua Maurer, Steve Akahoshi, Tony Becker, Eric Bruskotter, Stan Foster, Ramon Franco and Miguel A. Nunez, Jr. star as the infantrymen who represent diverse racial, cultural and philosophical backgrounds but must ultimately depend on one another to get through the war alive.

Won 1 Primetime Emmy. 2 wins & 5 nominations total

via OMDb

Episodes

Season 2 · 16 episodes

  • Jan 3, 1989 45 min

    Having received some warning of the upcoming Tet Offensive, Bravo Co. is still unprepared for what happens to them after they are transferred to Tan Son Nhut Base outside of Saigon. Zeke and Goldman catch up with one of their men in an opium parlor and have a run-in with some Vietnamese thugs. The situation is basically under control until a female wire service correspondent -- Alex Devlin -- butts in. Alex explains that she was following up on a story lead. Lt. McKay is introduced as a chopper pilot who will be shuttling Bravo Co. As they prepare to leave on a mission, Zeke opens a letter from his ex-wife who claims she will soon arrive in Saigon to see him. The company is landed in a hot-LZ and only gets saved from sure disaster when Lt. McKay uses his helicopter to fire machine guns at the hostile position. Alex meets up with Jake Bridger who tells a story about VC infiltrating the cities as peasants. McKay and Goldman start to argue over both their increasing

  • Jan 10, 1989 45 min

    Anderson meets with his wife and sees her off after her announcement that she is remarrying. Goldman begins a relationship with Devlin which almost ends as they are both nearly blown up by a VC bomb. Percell is fed up with the senselessness of the war and Ruiz becomes convinced that he is going to be the next to die. Johnson and Taylor go to check on Bridger only to be told that he is dead (he is faking it), while Stacy Bridger has arrived to find her father. Goldman is ordered to have Alex pull her story about the soldier who died in the opium parlor and Zeke runs into Stacy Bridger -- rescuing her from some Vietnamese punks. He takes her back to the hotel where Zeke ends up trying to save a suicidal marine deserter. The deserter has sold information to the VC and ends up killing himself. Meanwhile McKay sends Goldman on a "snipe" hunt so that he can be alone with Alex, and inadvertently exposes Goldman to serious danger.

  • Jan 17, 1989 45 min

    While out on a patrol, Anderson and Goldman observe some VC transporting an American prisoner and photograph him before leaving the area. Although they are badly outnumbered, Ruiz stupidly goes back down the trail after a necklace he dropped, tipping their position and getting a man killed. Alex drops by to see Goldman. Zeke goes to the hospital to try to straighten out some records and ends up saving the life of psychiatrist Jennifer Seymour from a homicidally insane LURP. An explosion in the latrine sets of Major Darling, while Anderson suggests that it might not be VC but an American solider who planted the grenade. Taylor gets accused -- falsely -- of doing the dirty deed and now it is up to Anderson and Goldman to find a way to clear him. Ruiz begins to completely breakdown. Anderson's budding relationship with Seymour is short-circuited when he betrays her confidence by sharing information he gained from her in an effort to clear Taylor.

  • Jan 24, 1989 45 min

    Anderson risks court-martial to delay the return of battle-weary men to combat.

  • Jan 31, 1989 45 min

    Alex sets out to expose a major whose questionable judgement has caused casualties.

  • Feb 7, 1989 45 min

    Anderson goes into the jungle to find a disturbed friend who refused a transfer home.

  • Feb 14, 1989 45 min

    Alex and a French correspondent investigate illegal incursions of Cambodia by U.S. troops.

  • Feb 21, 1989 45 min

    Anderson, Johnson and Ruiz train four Vietnamese recruits whose inexperience poses problems.

  • Mar 21, 1989 45 min

    A new man -- Woods -- walking point accidentally steps on a pressure-activated mine. While they are trying to get him off it, they are told a squad of VC are heading straight at them. McKay finally arrives to lift them out of the hot LZ. Zeke plans an R&R in Tokyo with Jennifer but the plans go awry when Major Darling offers Seymour a teaching post and position back in the States -- and she only has 48 hours to make her decision. Meanwhile a homosexual GI tries to commit suicide when he is being blackmailed. Jennifer tries to help him -- at the cost of her own career. Meanwhile Woods ends up in a fight, and Taylor realizes the man has career-potential abilities.

  • E10 Nightmare
    Mar 28, 1989 45 min

    Goldman searches for McKay after the Army gives up; Percell faces charges for killing a social worker's attacker.

  • Apr 4, 1989 45 min

    Word of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination lowers black soldiers' morale,

  • Apr 11, 1989 45 min

    Anderson and Goldman find a leak in a top-secret operation; Alex must prove herself to a shady new boss.

  • Apr 25, 1989 45 min

    Alex risks her life by investigating a prostitute's murder in which Taylor is implicated.

  • May 2, 1989 45 min

    Zeke considers a job offer as a mercenary for the CIA; Zeke and Goldman go on a dangerous mission with a Navy SEAL.

  • May 9, 1989 45 min

    While out on patrol, the unit stumbles across CIA recruiter Jim Doyle. He has taken possession of a case of Russian-made sniper rifles, and claims that finding him there was an accident. It is obvious that Goldman and his men have been used by Doyle to provide himself with an escort out of the bush. They get ambushed on the way out. They get most of the rifles back, but Zeke and Myron wonder why they were ambushed by Montagnards, a group known for their loyalty to Americans. Goldman decides to investigate Doyle and enlists Alex's help. Doyle learns he is being investigated and leans on Zeke to get the lieutenant to stop. McKay tries to convince Goldman that he should take a non-combat job ""for Alex's sake"". Taylor is upset because a soldier named Smith gets his sergeant's stripes before Johnson gets them, and Taylor think race has something to do with it.

  • May 16, 1989 45 min

    A young desk clerk seeking to prove himself is assigned to Anderson's platoon.

Cast 14

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