Rick returns to his base, expecting to be allowed to rest after the intense mission, but he is intercepted by men frantically running toward choppers. U-Haul tells him that all available men are needed, including Rick. Rick boards a helicopter with Cracker, and they land in a hot zone where men are crouching in trenches. Vietcong soldiers are firing on the Americans. Rick sees Twenty lying, badly injured, in a nearby trench. Another man is holding Tristie, Twenty’s dog, as she tries to get to Twenty. Twenty yells at Tristie to stay, but she leaps into the air and is shot dead. Rick tries to resuscitate her, but she dies.

The US Army drops mortars onto the Vietcong’s positions. Medics remove Twenty, who is badly injured but alive. Night falls, and Rick sleeps fitfully.

Twenty, who will likely lose an arm, is devastated by Tristie’s death; he blames himself for not training her to stay better. Rick assures Twenty that he will bury Tristie with a lock of Twenty’s hair.

Rick sits with a dying soldier, lying to him that he will be fine. When the man dies, Rick sits apart from the other soldiers and sobs. A pilot, collecting soldiers to bring them back to base, tells Rick that he can’t fit Cracker or Tristie in the helicopter.