Force Recon - 33

Mac and Bud were assigned to investigate two injuries during marine Force Recon training. Lt Col HR Malcom requested the investigation. Sgt Maj Sauer was shown "whipping Harm into marine shape" so he could go undercover to the Force Recon training without telling M. He posed as Gunny Post in order to investigate internally the training methods of legendary Capt "John Wayne" Koonan, who routinely went beyond established battle plans and made each assignment "harder" than needed in order to make his men "tough." Gunny Krychuck had been wounded while attempting to save Cpl Bell, who got scared and "froze" while explosions burst all around them, because they were too close to the fire (Koonan's "extra" problem). M was upset with H for not telling her about his under-cover assignment; so, when Malcom introduced H as the new Gunny she tried to make him look foolish by making up a story-line of her own. H ingratiated himself with the men and stood up for the unit in a bar fight against another unit who insulted them. When Koonan extracted Hs unit from the brig and pointed out that he didn't see any of the other unit in there with them H responded that they all went to the infirmary. Eventually Bell told H that he saw Koonan rubbing the map with dirt and redrawing the line with pencil.

In the recon unit's "live fire" graduation exercise, H took the men into a mock town to rescue POWs before the town was leveled by artillery. H told his men that in this exercise "Murphy will make an appearance." In his usual tampering, Koonan switched their radio to a disabled one; but, Sgt Tesla saw him do it and switched it back (so Koonan's radio was the one disabled). They retrieved the dummies they were to rescue and called "clear," but Tesla went back in to retrieve some orange rags which he thought looked like an extra POW. While in there, a beam fell on him and pinned him to the ground. H had to go back to rescue Tesla and ordered the team to proceed on out of the area; but, he was unable to lift the beam by himself and the shelling had started. The team, however, came back to rescue them both, midst live bombing. Koonan was watching through binoculars but couldn't radio a cease fire because he was the one who had the disabled radio. H eventually got the men out without injury and Koonan admitted his method of "trickery" in front of M & B so that Malcom wouldn't be blamed with complicity. Koonan got reprimanded and left corps.