User Reviews

As hard as it is to believe, out of Combat's five seasons and 150+ episodes, this is the only one in the show's lineup to feature a black actor. Creator of Twilight Zone Rod Serling once said that actors of African descent were typically overlooked by Hollywood and television, which in his eyes was regrettable since they were often as competent as their white counterparts. Not just this, but casting one in a 1960s tv program in a role that didn't have anything to do with racism was mostly unheard of. In this episode, Morrow is confronted by Terry Carter, a serviceman who doesn't want to accept the reality of war, the reality being that plans go wrong and soldiers die. The plot starts with a truck driver named Archie (Carter) attempting to drive Saunders and the rest of the squad (sans Hanley) through a formation of rocks so they can get some wounded troops to safety. The truck is ambushed by a German machine gun nest and forced to back off. Unable to move without getting shot at, Saunders and the others try to radio Hanley for help, the latter telling them a tank is on its way, but it'll be a while. Archie doesn't take the news well, as there are wounded men in the truck already on their way to dying. Saunders tells him they have no choice but to wait. After one of the men dies, Saunders starts to feel the pressure a bit more. Meanwhile, Kirby, Caje and Little John attempt to siege the german position by attacking it from a distance, but nothing seems to work. Kirby is eventually shot in the shoulder, and Archie mocks Saunders by asking him if the arithmetic of war feels different now that it's one of his own men that got hit. Saunders tries to get as close to the machine gun as he can in order to lob a grenade towards it, but ends up getting trapped. Finally, the tank pulls up. The driver says because he's using HE (high explosive) ammo, he can't fire at the germans without killing Saunders as well. Archie takes it upon himself to get smoke grenades from the tank commander and make his way towards Saunders. Instead of getting praise for attempting to save him, Saunders yells at him for disobeying orders to stay with the truck. Archie throws the smoke grenade at the base of the rocks where the germans are sitting, and then he and Saunders run off in opposite directions. By the time the smoke clears, they are out of their line of fire. The tank commander gives the order to fire and the german position is obliterated. Once the tank pulls away, Saunders and the rest go on their way. This episode was alright. It managed to be more exciting than most other ones, even if the fate of the story rests too much on the tank's arrival. True to its name, the episode is mostly about waiting and not much else. It's not like Saunders can do anything to get rid of the germans until the tank shows up, so much of the episode feels like a waste of time. I just thought it was interesting to see Saunders have his authority questioned for once.