By the time of this episode two issues were of primary concern to the
pre-production team, getting more female viewers and controlling productions
costs. It was hoped that the introduction of another female character, a
woman reporter, would boost ratings. There were a lot of reporters in
Vietnam, including some women. But writer Steve Smith was the only veteran I
know to have ever encountered a reporter of either sex. He drove a male
reporter from a helipad to the Division Public Affairs Office, and no words
were exchanged.
The character of Captain Wallace had never been written as strongly as it
should have been, in my opinion, and actor Kevin Conroy had been limited to
some walk-on roles. He was a Principle, and was being paid a lot of money and
not used. (In fact he was so bored he had taken a second job, sketching
tourists in Honolulu, to have something to do every day.) It was inevitable
that he should go.
This was one of the episodes that didn't seem to go right. It was rewritten
several times and finally totally rewritten, all for dramatic reasons. The
issue of the flamethower was one. Flamethowers look very dramatic in movies,
but in reality they are heavy, short-ranged, tempermental devices of value
only in attacking fixed fortifications in major assaults. This didn't has
happen much in Vietnam. (The flamethrower sequence in the movie "Deer Hunter"
is one of the movie's worst faux pas.) Without special training they are
almost as dangerous to the operator as the enemy. No unit would take one
along without good reason. We tried to cover this in the script by emphazing
the importance of the mission and that there were sufficent forces in support