The Court-Martial of Sandra Gilbert - 40

Arrogant marine Lt. Col. Turner charged 1st Lt. Sandra Gilbert, top in her class as a Cobra pilot, with disobeying his specific order and "conduct unbecoming" when she "related" with Gunnery Sgt. Maxwell Frankl. Harm tried to tease Mac about her quick volunteering to investigate the case. She said that she just wanted Gilbert to get a fair shake and H returned "no playing the gender card." General McCartney called Chegwidden at home to request that everything be handled "quietly" because he was undergoing interrogation by congress for funding. When M arrived with Bud, Turner just made them stand there at attention waiting for him to finally talk so they would have to submit to his "power." He told M that C had told him that she was "cold blooded" and would be fair on the case. Without jumping to his baiting she merely asked for the file and instead of handing it to her, Turner just dropped it on his desk trying to make her have to stoop to get it. Bud, seeing his disrespect, picked up the file for her. Turner had already filed charges - WITHOUT INVESTIGATION, claiming it was his prerogative and grounded her in the middle of her flight quals. Turner claimed that he had given a direct order to Gilbert to stop her affair with Frankl. Congresswoman Bobbi Latham was shown dragging Gen McCartney over the coals in her budget hearings. She defiantly flailed about claiming that she was "going to get to the bottom of this" (referring a 'good ol' boy's network); then, inflicted herself in the middle of the trial.

Gilbert had been invited to a birthday dinner given for her by the Frankl children while his wife was away. Mrs. Frankl returned home unexpectedly and blew up. H was assigned to defend and M prosecute. Both Frankl and Gilbert claimed that there had never been any affair and that Gilbert had only been "counseling" Frankl over his marital difficulties. Mac's legal tactics were specious and she led Mrs. Frankl into making assumptions which were completely ludicrous. Then she began objecting to H's almost every question. H actually adequately broke down both Mrs. Frankl's assumptions as well as Turners arrogant "railroading." T said that he had acted on an "anonymous hotline" phone call; but, that he had never given Gilbert the courtesy of telling her about it claiming that "even the perception of impropriety" needed action. He also had never put his order in writing and said that he couldn't recall his specific wording. "But," he said, "Gilbert knew what I meant!" Latham demanded a Cobra demonstration flight from Turner and took H with her during her request. When Turner said "he couldn't reverse" his grounding so Gilbert could take her, Latham asked H "is he telling the truth?" Reluctantly H said that he could reinstate Gilbert. After the flight, Latham slinkily forced herself on H in a bar and told him that "if the Pentagon had cashiered every officer during WWII who committed adultery, Hitler's children would be sitting in the White House instead of Bill Clinton." She inflicted personal questions on H about previous loves. He said that it had been his best friends wife (Annie Pendry) so he hadn't said anything. Latham started to rag on him about wanting a "little woman waiting patiently for her 'man' to come home from the war"; until, he shut her up by saying "that was my mother's life." Referring to her colleague Congresswoman DeLong (an arrogant congresswoman whose manipulative interference actually killed an incompetent female navy pilot) she told H that "I don't dislike you as much as DeLong said I would.

Bud found that Gilbert was actually pregnant from her medical records (?!). Gilbert finally admitted to H that they actually did have an affair but Frankl had broken it off many months ago. It was Frankl's daughter who had called and asked her to come over to the party while their mother was gone. H tried to get M to back off on the charges; but, she threw his previous words back in his face to "not play the gender card." H found that four male officers had also been found in adultery at Pendleton but none of them had been charged. He claimed it was "selective prosecution" but M still wouldn't budge. Latham went ballistic when H wouldn't tell her confidential information. He had to back her down by asking "are you trying to threaten me?" She replied "is a pig's ass pork?" She then went to talk to Gilbert personally demanding that she "wouldn't let you quit." Gilbert finally admitted that she had had the affair but that Frankl had broken it off a long time ago. She said that she "knew it was wrong, but I was just so damned lonely… and now I've lost everything that I love." Latham added "except your baby." H worked out an "administrative discharge" with M and Gilbert wouldn't contest it. He then told Turner that Gilbert wouldn't let him file charges against him for "selective prosecution." He was incensed but H threw his own words back at him "It's the perception of impropriety that counts." Turner let her finish her quals and she passed number one in her group.

Ghost Ship - 39

[A very pivotal episode in that Harm finds critical information which eventually leads to him finding closure about his father. Not only with an artifact but with "networking" into the KGB.] Alameda country was trying to raise the money to refurbish and keep up the mothballed carrier, USS Hornet, for use as a museum. Two fortune seekers, Sibby Le Negro and Andy Kochifis, were cut torching into the "void" between the inner and outer hulls for possible artifacts when they found the skeleton of Lt Brian Tate, who served with Harm's dad. Tate was clutching a "Skoshi Tiger" patch worn by Vietnamese F5 pilots and wearing an unmarked "go to hell" watch. Chegwidden sent Harm and Mac to investigate and Bud reluctantly stayed behind for research. H remembered his childhood visit to the Hornet with his father when he got to set in a cockpit. Harriett went to the military archives with Bud for research and met an "old flame," Millie Shaker. Flummoxed, Bud said he was looking for the "USS Horney" records. A man introducing himself as "Mark Falcon" of the Alameda Police said he was "on his own time" and joined H and M in the investigation. Falcon said he had been an army MP in Saigon for a year and that the salvagers were looking for "something else" cause they didn't need to torch into the void in order to calculate a bid. Hs dad had flown "167 missions over the north, half of them off the Hornet." H had his mother send his father's audio tapes from her home in La Jolla then used them to "take a walk with my dad." [Then they used eerie music and odd camera angles to make it look as though he was being watched.]

The autopsy showed the skeleton was 25-30 year-old Caucasian, died from blunt force trauma to back of head, and had the patch clutched in his fist. When Falcon seem incredulous about keeping old records, H quipped "this is the navy we have Popeye's enlistment papers somewhere." They found the skeleton's name and that he had gone "missing" on Apr 30, 1975 - the day Saigon fell. M told H that B had been without sleep for 34 hours and 24 minutes so H asked how she did it. She quipped back "my mother was Swiss." H reverie'd about carrier takeoff's then into the hanger bay and finally "down to the O2 level where Tom Boone and I billet." H fell, hitting his head, and when he awoke saw a shadow looking down at him before M, Falcon and Le Negro found him. Le Negro tried was arrogant and tried to convince H that he had broken through a chain barrier. Falcon and M went to question Andy and when he stonewalled, Falcon grabbed him by the gonads to force his explanation that they had been looking for the gold that was rumored to be in the void since the fall of Saigon.

Bud notified H that a Skoshi Tiger, Col Nguyen, had also been aboard the Hornet on that day but was lost on a flight to Guam with a SOG officer (cover for CIA in Vietnam). Then after his call Webb brought B a pizza- and information that he found the KGB was also on the track of their investigation. Harm continued his "walk with his dad" alone and was visited by a man (who he thought was his dad) who led him into a berthing compartment before he passed out. H was found the next morning by M and Falcon who called an ambulance. While Falcon was away M revealed information from Bs second call, namely: Nguyen's plane had been sabotaged after he had boarded the Hornet with a list of names that he wanted to trade for the good life in Paris-- American MIAs that the Russians were holding in Russia at the end of the war. Nguyen had approached 2 CIA agents. One had been on Nguyen's flight the other "went missing" after the war and was thought to have been a double agent. H conjectured that Nguyen had killed Tate, and hid his body in the void, because Tate had seen where he had hidden his book. The berth that they were in wasn't Hs dad's so he believed to have been Tate himself who had led him there. H looked behind a grill in the wall (where his dad had said that he and Boone had hid their bourbon) and found the book - with his dad's name in it! They were just leaving when they were trapped by a fire (possibly set by LeNegro). H, still woozy from his hit on the head, saw the personage of Tate again who led them down and around the passageways to an exit.

H was hospitalized for 2 days and asked B to tell W thanks. W replied that "his dad paid that debt long ago." B told Ht that he "just wanted one girl in port-- her" and she asked "does that mean we're going steady"? When H and M appeared at the Alameda police office to retrieve the book from the evidence room, they found: 1) a boy delivering a pizza (same actor who later played Bud's brother "Mikey"); and, 2) that Falcon was a black officer who had never seen them before. "Falcon" was then shown on a Russian flight with Hs book. Harm's voiceover said "I'll find him if it takes the rest of my life."

Rendezvous - 37

[This episode is where Bud and Harriett's relationship began in earnest; A good storyline although aspects ridiculous to the absurd; contains more 'back-story' about Mac's childhood]
Liz testified that she had been going to sleep with Felker; but, "couldn’t go through with it" so had asked to go swimming. She left when she found Felker dead thinking that the murderer might still be around then found that her husband wasn't home when she got there. When H and Ht were helping her move into the women's shelter she dropped a folder; and, Ht snooping in it found love letters to Liz from PO Carlos. Harm, doing his duty, informed M of the letters and she blew up at him for "trying to sandbag her again." He told her that Holst was "pushing all your daddy buttons" and that her emotions were hurting her case. Later he apologized and she told him that her father would come home drunk and demand that she come and take his shoes off. "Then the yelling would start," she said, "then the slapping… and then the sobbing… his over being sorry." She said she didn't "know which was worse "his hitting or his sobbing that he was sorry." It wasn't long that her mother "left him and me with him." She admitted to starting drinking herself "just to get away." H told her that "once you ID your enemy you can defeat him."

Mac used the information in court to which the CPO exploded and had to be subdued. Bud and Ht were on the beach drinking again and talking about the case. Bud said that "defending western civilization makes people horney" and Ht blew wine out her nose with laughter. They began to kiss again and B saw the same satellite go overhead again so they left with B exclaiming "the satellite"! Liz called M in the middle of the night and asked for her to come over. She then asked if "Freddy was going to loose" and claimed that she had lied before in order to get back at his abuse. She said that the "CPO was really home when I got there and hit me so I was mad at him." On the stand she told the CPO that she hated him but "he doesn't deserve to die." Bud got the satellite photo's and told M that: he had gotten a favor from Webb (?!) who told him that it was really a Russian Satellite which was shooting the base (?!) and that Webb had gotten a favor from his contact (??!!) who had sent him a copy of the photo of the beach on the murder night (????!!!!!!) Under no obligation to inform the prosecution, she ordered B to shred the photo. Bud stormed around and finally exclaimed to Ht that "being a lawyer sucks." Of course she ran right to H to whine that "men are pigs" then feign that she didn't want to talk before she whined some more about B getting cold feet when he saw the satellite over the beach. H calmed her down and said that B was "worth it," then figured out that B must have gotten something from the satellite. The next day he recalled Liz and showed her the copy of the photo (he must also have gotten it from W) and she broke down with the truth. The CPO had been on the beach when she came to investigate, had broken down about being so sorry and they'll kill me, and she mothered him into "it'll be alright, I'll help you."

Mac told H that "you won the case" and H replied that "you won the war." Mac said she "carries her dad's past with me wherever I go"; and, H replied "it's ok if he doesn't weigh to much." Mac said, "he doesn't, not any more." Bud and Ht stayed over to "finish their picnic" and again saw the satellite overhead.

Cowboys and Cossacks - 34

Capt MacNamara of the USS Cayuga & Captain Grinkov of Russian warship Vasiliev have played a 10 year "macho" expensive game of "bumper cars with their ships," ramming each others ships to see who could be first into the Sydney harbor etc. Now in a war game they did the same thing trying to enter the games area and collided. Harm, Mac and Bud were assigned to "observe" the games but found they were to undergo an "officer trade" as observers. H asked MacNamara about the "damage" to his ship and was rebuffed. MacNamara arrogantly told him "you've only been on my ship 3 minutes and have ticked me off, let's hope you do the same to Grinkov." H & B met the second in command, Uri Kretchiak, who H recognized as a former forward on the Soviet Olympic hockey team. The Vasiliev was falling apart and had poor maintenance. Gas masks didn't work when H had to help rescue some men from an explosion in the missile room where they were "loading missiles"- Kretchiak claimed was a drill. Grinkov told H that he had shot down his brother- as a "joke." B got a hangover from the toasts with vodka and apologized just in case he did anything wrong. Grinkov altered course to outside the legal area and when H declared a foul wouldn't let him radio the Cayuga. H saw several sailors being clandestinely put off the boat in a raft at night. When pressed with his attempts to lie, Kretchiak admitted that they were the ones with children. Speaking of the ship, Kretchiak said "the scabbard is rusty but the blade is sharp." Grinkov, he said was at end of his career and the Vasiliev would be destroyed after this voyage. He considered Grinkov unstable and H convinced him that he had to take command. When they got weapons B asked if this would be mutiny and H said "no, they would be terrorists." They attempted to radio the Cayuga but were discovered in the attempt. Kretchiak reversed and captured H & B. They were thrown in the brig as saboteurs.

MacNamara treated M abusively when she advised him that they should abandon the Vasiliev when it went out of bounds and rejoin his own fleet. He obsessively said he was going to take down the "cheater" Grinkov. Then when she pointed out his inappropriate behavior he banned her from the bridge. MacNamara was refusing to pick up the survivors in the raft, even when M was getting more forceful, until he was shamed into relenting. The Russian men wouldn't talk about Grinkov or the ship. Finally one of the Russian exchange officers began taking a fancy to M while she was working out. Playfully, she told him "are you going to tell me about the raft and the men or am I going to have to beat it out of you?" They sparred and she was wiping the floor with him. Eventually, bruised, he told her that Grinkov was showing signs of dementia and the men mutinied. MacNamara still wouldn't listen to her to back off and went ahead with his simulated "kill" even though it was out of bounds. Then Grinkov launched two real missiles at the Cayuga which they were able to neutralize with their defensive weapons. MacNamara declared this "war" and retaliated with a missile despite Ms warnings and pleas about H & B. The Vasiliev was severely damaged and H & B were drowning in the brig. They were able to escape just at Kretchiak arrived to let them out. H again convinced him to take command, and abandon ship was ordered. H finally radioed the Cayuga and went alone to the missile room where Grinkov had armed the missiles. Grinkov told H that a sailors first duty in war was to "fight with honor, compassion and conviction. If one does that, even if he doesn't win, his death is noble." H talked him into waiting until his men were able to escape the ship because they didn't deserve to die. When H convinced Grinkov that he wasn't going to try and stop him from going down with his ship he let H go as well. "Tell MacNamara," he asked H, "that I will miss the battles. We were never friends, but we were the best of enemies." MacNamara had his ships company salute during the Vasiliev's sinking. Seeing that, M told H that she was surprised. H told her that "some people value their enemies more than friends." "Including you?" she asked. H replied, "need you ask?"

Code Blue -36

Mac met Harm during his morning jog and baited him into a competition. When a car bore down on them crossing the road H pushed M out of the way and was thrown up over the car. He was admitted for observation of lacerations and head injury by a doctor who "wanted to see him walking around in a hospital gown." When he asked where the head was the nurse handed him a urinal. The Israeli minister of west bank security, Semadar Barruch, was rushed to the same hospital for a heart transplant that he had been on the waiting list for. While M was in the cafeteria Hamas terrorists took over the hospital and herded most personnel into the cafeteria. H was in his third floor hospital room with retired Chief Walter Hume, who was in for a hip replacement, and who claimed to have "sank four U-boats during the Big One" and who wouldn't stop talking. The terrorists planted bombs on stairwell entrances, took over the operating room where the transplant was being performed, and demanded the release of Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook who the US was holding. Mustapha Ben Kessar was the groups leader and full of himself. He negotiated with special agent Lang and demanded to speak with Marzook or he would kill a patient.

H took his IV stand and went to investigate the gunshots but accosted by a pregnant woman in labor pains on the wrong floor. He put on scrubs and was mistaken for a doctor by Tamir, a terrorist who found him discovering the bomb on the door. A terrorist, Zacki, came to look for H and was shown to have a conscience. He was upset at finding a dead patient in ICU and when Mustapha ordered him to kill a hostage H saw him choose the one already dead. H found someone's cell phone in a purse and called Lang who tried to help him disarm the bomb and deliver the woman's baby. The OB wanted H to check how far dilated the woman was. When he was uncomfortable the woman said "I haven't got anything you haven't already seen." After he had checked, H said "I haven't seen that before." The replacement heart arrived on the roof and they chose M to be the one to retrieve it which now put her in the OR with Mustapha. Tamir found Hs name on his abandoned IV bag and interrogated Walter who told him that H was a SEAL and he had better not let him find him. Tamir said "I fear no man," and Walter replied, that "makes you stupid as well as annoying."

Zacki, a photography student at NYU, was in the "gang" only trying to avenge the death of his brother, RaFat who blew himself up planting a bomb in London. He found another dead patient in the ICU and H, who was watching, talked him into disarming a door. Tamir shot him in the head but H escaped. H loaded a syringe with a sedative and "took down" Tamir and got his gun. Walther helped H put Zacki on a bed with oxygen. Not being able to raise either Zacki or Tamir, Mustapha took the replacement heart case and went to Hs floor. He pushed the heart case into the middle of the corridor to bargain with H over giving up his gun. Meanwhile M suggested that they fill the OR with anesthetic gas to disable the non-English speaking guard. She took him down and called Mustapha on his phone to give him the chance to give up the heart. Mustapha went after H first, who had flooded the floor with water from the fire hose then threw in the cardioversion paddles when Mustapha stepped in it. As he was electrocuted, Mustapha's gun fired putting holes in the replacement heart.

The next scene showed M discussing how the chief Palestinian negotiator had secured the mother's written permission to harvest the heart from brain dead Zacki because he would "welcome the chance to negotiate with an Israeli with a Palestinian heart." The pregnant woman finally delivered a boy who she suggested naming Harmon Walter but the baby cried. When M suggested "Mac" the baby cooed.

The Guardian - 35

Harm defended Paul Bauwer, a homeless former SEAL who killed three convenience store robbers/murderers in order to protect his son, Marty, who was playing a video game in the store. Bauwer had been MIA for 4 years as a POW and his personnel file was mostly sealed. Bauwer had gone AWOL from a psyc evaluation nine years previously for nearly killing a man who Bauwer had claimed was stalking his wife. He now watched his son anonymously while he was living on the street. He fled to a church where Bud just happened to be praying about not studying for his final law exam. H got B out and tried to protect Bauwer from trigger happy police but he was wounded by a sniper. H defended Bauwer against the "hot shot" prosecutor, Nardoni, who snidely gloated "welcome to the big league" when the judge refused Hs motion. Bauwer told H to NOT contact his ex-wife "under any circumstances." Nardoni went for the highest penalty because the last of the thugs was killed while he was running away from Bauwer. B was able to enhance the video surveillance tape by looking at a reflection in the cooler door and identified a boys baseball cap. Bauwer admitted that it was his son but wouldn't let H use him. He said that it was better "to put an old dog down who is more trouble than he's worth once he's outlived his usefulness." H finally found the boy, without help from Bauwer, then got the judge to order the prosecutor not to inform Marty about his dad. While passing the frustrated Nardoni in the hall, H told M "I think I like the big leagues." Nardoni laid it on about Bauwer having an antisocial personality disorder from complete hearsay evidence. Mac took him down showing that the man Bauwer had attacked for stalking his wife (and had been wrongfully prosecuted) had actually stalked two other women. Nardoni began harassing Marty on the stand so Bauwer grabbed him in a chokehold and had to be subdued. They gave an eloquent defense so Bauwer was found not guilty of murder. H arranged for him to apply for work at one of his friend's parachute schools. Marty came back and apologized to Bauwer for running away and said he hoped he wasn't a coward. Bauwer told him that he would see him around.

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.

Washington Holiday - 32

King Josif of Romania was planning on requesting admission to NATO and the hard liners in his country threaten to kill his daughter, Princess Alexandra- a spoiled brat, if he does. They shot her bodyguard, while at a function, as a warning to the king. Webb convinced the SECNAV to assign Harm as her '"escort" to official functions while she was in the country. While at a formal dinner she went to the bathroom and had another woman give H her clothes and tell him she had gone out the window. H followed her to a nightclub, where she was drunk and refused to return, so H had to carry her through the crowd. H met a new neighbor, Meghan O'Hara (played by Nancy Chambers, DJEs wife, the future "Singer") who said she was a reporter for a newspapers society column and tried to get "chummy." The king, who had been unhappy that H was "so young" when he first met, sat and talked with him after he retrieved her from the nightclub. The princess continued to flirt with and seduce H, appearing at his apartment one evening. Interpol was able to catch the assassin of the bodyguard and got names of his accomplices; namely, Vartan Kepish who was on the king's staff. Webb exposes Kepish and also said that the other assassin was a woman. The time came for the king to announce his intention for joining NATO and a military base, but he couldn't put his daughter at risk. Instead she got up and announced their intention. O'Hara, who was the assassin, had killed a maid and guards and was in the balcony behind a curtain with a rifle. H spotted the gun, pushed people out of the line of fire, and climbed to the balcony. O'Hara had the drop on him but hesitated killing him, so was shot by the secret service. H held her in his arms as she died. H was presented a "Romanian Medal" for his service to the crown.

Harriet was assigned to Norfolk & Bud was flummoxed. He made a date with her then stood her up due to a flat on a bridge without a spare. When he finally got to her she had accepted a date to the NATO ball with Ensign Nestor. B bumbled into asking someone from the office to the ball. M & H had to finagle to get them together at the dance.

The Game of Go - 23

A failed operation of Webb's to capture a drug lord, Carlos Estruga, got a marine, Sgt Jesus Silva, killed as they seemed to walk into a trap. W demanded the court marshal of a marine who failed to fire his weapon, Corporal Cordoba. Estruga called ambassador Witherspoon and was shown placing pieces on a game board while claiming that Silva was alive and "willing to speak on videotape about the failed attempt to kidnap me." Witherspoon's secretary, Marisol, was shown suspiciously listening in to all his telephone conversations. Harm, Mac and Bud were sent to investigate. Alfredo Rincon, a local drug investigator, revealed that Estruga was using Embara Indians as guards and that the guards had been unaware of the recon team until one of the marines gave away their position. Cordoba claimed that his gun had "jammed" making him unable to fire; so, M field stripped it to prove that it didn't jam. Webb went "ballistic" with M and demanded that the "coward" Cordoba be prosecuted. When she challenged W back, about knowing what it was like to be under fire, he claimed that he had been in the gulf war; but, his actions were classified. M told him that a Marine doesn't leave men behind and W said "there's a first time for everything." Thwarted, W began publicly embarrassing Cordoba to the point that H intervened and told him that if he did it again he would "kick back," so then W began embarrassing B instead. H & B went to meet Estruga at an appointed rendezvous but Estruga wasn't there, only the body of Silva and a videotaped message. W was continually using the radio and Lt Diaz told M that during the failed mission they "couldn't keep W off the horn."

The videotape message said that Estruga wanted the release of his brother Norbeto from prison in exchange for W. While they were watching the message Estruga played sounds of gunfire and battle over the radio making W believe that there was trouble and leave the compound so he could be captured. W hadn't revealed that Estruga's brother was being held to H and M, in order to prevent them from demanding that they trade him for Silva (when they thought him to be alive.) Suspecting one of two traitors, H and M devised a plan to flush out the real one. B called the ambassador, with Rincon in the room and Marisol listening in on the phone, and informed him of Hs plan to rescue W. Marisol called Estruga AND Rincon went directly to move Webb, so both were traitors. H was captured (in his plan) and taken to Estruga. H placed "go tokens" on the board and claimed that Rincon had turned "triple agent." M, with others including Cordoba, followed Rincon to Webb. They ran out of gas due to a failure to check the gauge and had to run the remaining miles. Estruga believed Hs ruse and flew to where W was being held. Just as Rincon was convincing Estruga that H was lying, M arrived with her troops. H kicked Estruga out of the helicopter and Cordoba shot several terrorists from all around the petrified Webb without hitting him. W said he was relieved that they had decided to trade Norbeto for him but H told him "state said you weren't worth it." H and M captured Estruga and Rincon who had run into a cane field. W had to apologize to Cordoba so B went over to stand by him and watch him do it. M almost kissed H.

Full Engagement - 31

[We learn more back story about Harm and his flying family as he and Mac get better acquainted.] Harm talked Mac into "playing hooky" and going with him flying in his Stearman over the Appalachian mountains. He let her fly and laughed as she got it into a power dive then delayed pulling it out to frighten Mac. They had engine trouble and had to land in an open field with a split fuel line. H wanted to stay near the plane but M insisted on looking for a cabin and marched off by herself until H followed. They heard gunshots which turned out to be three redneck poachers killing a game warden. When the leader of the group tried to tell H that he had bought the warden's jeep in an auction, H asked about the police radio too. One poacher took a shot at them so they fled to the jeep and tried to hot wire it mid a hailstorm of gunfire. M returned fire with her flare gun as H stole the fuel line from the jeep. M was shot in the leg and H carried her to safety as they set the jeep on fire. They used brandy to "sterilize the wound" but she got infected anyway. They built a shelter for the night and M blamed H for caring more about his plane, Sarah, than he did for them getting out. H revealed that his grandfather had earned his wings in a Stearman like that and had been "killed flying off the Hornet in '42." His grandmother had kept it under a tarp, and he and his dad were going to restore it; but, his dad was shot down in Vietnam. After Hs "night blindness" crash he spent time with his grandmother and restored the plane - "it was like dad was with me." The poachers caught up while M couldn't run any more so H led them away in a diversion. One poacher tracked M, however, and put down his gun to go at her with his knife and "have his way with her." H returned just in time to see some struggling in the bush and pull the dying man off M, stabbed with his own knife.

Meanwhile an MP showed up at JAG with a 16-year-old fraudulent enlistment, Angel Munoz, to keep an appointment with H for his hearing the next day. Bud took custody of him and began trying to contact H. After leaving 10 messages and paging many times, he went to search Hs apartment, in shambles from construction, for clues about where he was. He heard a message from M who was waiting at the airport. The hanger mechanic told B that "this wasn't the first time he had flown out of here with a pretty girl and not come back till the next day." B assured Munoz that this was uncharacteristic and that if H said he could use extenuating circumstances then he would believe him because "he's very good at impassioned pleas." The poacher leader was shown "finding" his stabbed brother and stating that "I was just going to kill them, now I'm going to make them hurt." He arranged for tracking dogs to come "at first light" so they could find H and M.

M "freaked out" over having blood on her hands that "wouldn't come off" and the "look in the poachers eyes as he knew he was going to die" which was "just like Eddie's." She said that "Eddie was the closest thing to a friend she had while she was growing up." He was her drinking buddy and they were "wasted" after her high school graduation dance. She remembered the cool window glass on her face as she rode with him, then being on the cement with blood all around and the look in Eddies eyes as he realized he was dying. She was in the hospital for a week before her uncle Matt picked her up and took her to Red Rock Mesa to dry her out from her alcoholism. She began blaming herself and H told her that he wouldn't blame himself if she wouldn't. She capitulated then called him "stick boy" and began ragging on him about him telling her that women had 10% more fat than men. The next day M couldn't feel her leg and appeared very ill. H promised her that he would "get her through this." A poacher found them and shot. H returned fire with the gun he took from the dead poacher; then, had to tell M that he "knew they shouldn't let women be marines because they fell apart" in order to get her to keep walking on her leg. She told him to "shut up, you've made your point" as she got up and ran ahead of him.

At Munoz's request Bud appeared before judge Morris (who had been a hard case ever since the gun incident); but, Morris wasn't going to listen. Munoz plead that he had "extenuating circumstances" then claimed that "he isn't a real lawyer"! After a chewing out Bud got a continuance. The poacher with the dogs found and shot at a decoy coat they set up; then, set off it's booby trap which hit him in the chest, close range, with a flare and killed him. H carried M, running, to the plane and was fixing the fuel line when the lead poacher arrived and began firing. H talked M through starting the engine while he returned fire; eventually hitting the poacher, but not before the plane had begun taxiing with M. H chased it, jumped in and barely missed the trees as they became airborne.