In the premiere episode ,Sgt. Anderson is sent to division headquarters to report on a battle in which his Bravo Company suffered losses, and to meet the platoon’s new leader, Lt Goldman (Caffrey) .He also uses the trip to recruit some new "Grunts", calling upon his own criteria to call the best from a group of green recruits.

Goldman, just arrived from the States, immediately clashes with Anderson over military procedure. The others, equally inexperienced, include Cpl. Percell (Becker) , a patriotic combat volunteer from Iowa; Pvt. Lawrence (Amos), a self-confident black from Detroit; Pvt. Ruiz (Franco), a Puerto Rican streetfighter from the Bronx; Pvt. Baker (Bruskotter), a Southern California surfer, and Pvt. Horn (Maurer) an anti-war college dropout from Chicago.

Back at the camp, they experience their first enemy fire, and meet the platoon’s veterans. Among these are Pvt. Johnson (Foster) a black from Kansas City who has become a skilled jungle fighter; Pvt. Taylor (Nunez), an embittered black who sees Vietnam as a extension of the tough neighbourhood where he grew up, and "Doc" Randy Matsuda (Akahoshi), the unit’s medic, a soft-spoken Japanese-American from Santa Monica, California.

Reluctantly, Capt. Wallace must send them into battle the next day, to meet the enemy force that recently attacked his camp. On the battlefield, in frightening land of sniper fire and concealed booby traps, the men of Bravo Company  will have to forget their differences and depend on one another for their very survival.