“Welcome to the jungle, it gets worse here every day
You learn to live like an animal in the jungle where we play…”
~ Guns and Roses.
March & April 1966.
Patrick arrives “in country” and looks for Charlie once he lands at Camp Radcliff. Finally finding him in “The Jungle,” Charlie invites him to stay since one of their tent mates recently got killed. Cedric objects, but Charlie insists and shares the story about Aaliyah and their times at Theresa’s, including the story when “Lucky” carried John Lee Hooker’s guitar. Getting serious, Charlie adds how they avenged Ali’s death.
Nicky, in the late stages of cirrhosis and eventual liver failure, has been in and out of the hospital for months. And each time he asks to see Lizzie. During his most recent visit, Liz finally tells him that she knows something about him and reveals the truth about Patrick. But rather than having a “moment,” Nicky laughs and admits that he probably fathered children all up and down the west coast. Deeply upset by his demeanor, she storms out of his room.
On Patrick’s first patrol, they come under enemy fire while flying above the canopy. Patrick, refusing to wear his “monkey harness” as he mans the door gun, takes in the view despite incoming rounds coming dangerously close to the Huey. When the pilot shouts at him to do his job, he blindly unleashes a burst of machine gun fire on the unseen enemy below. On reaching the LZ, Charlie and his squad dismount and disappear into a treeline.
After an uneventful patrol, Pat shares with his tent mates what Ms. Allen told him after Ali’s death, how “when you’re time’s up, it’s up” and nothing can change it. Cedric removes a revolver from under his cot and teaches “Lucky” about Russian Roulette. After loading one bullet in the cylinder and giving it a spin, he hands it to Pat. As “Lucky” puts the gun to this temple, his crew chief bursts into the tent and drags him to the flight line. Once Patrick leaves, Cedric points the pistol at the dirt floor and pulls the trigger, discharging the round.
