After excelling in Basic Training, Frankie prepared for deployment, packing her Army-issued gear and boarding a flight from Honolulu to Vietnam. Required to travel in her uncomfortable Class A uniform, she sat beside Captain Norm Bronson, a weary soldier who warned that words could not prepare her for Vietnam. During the approach to Tan Son Nhut, ground fire forced the plane to circle amid visible explosions before landing.

On landing, Frankie was hustled onto a blacked-out bus whose driver warned her to keep away from windows due to grenades. Delivered to the Third Field Hospital complex, she met an unidentified nurse who cautioned her not to salute because officers were targeted. Shuttled to temporary quarters in a dilapidated, prison-like building, Frankie found minimal lighting and a shared bathroom; a fellow servicewoman warned her not to drink the local water.

In the night, Frankie suffered severe diarrhea from the water. Despite illness, she navigated the sprawling base in the morning in full dress uniform and reported to a female colonel in administration at the Third Field Hospital. Without answering questions, the colonel sent Frankie by helicopter to her assignment at the Thirty-Sixth Evacuation Hospital.

The helicopter flight was turbulent and frightening, with explosions and gunfire rattling the aircraft. On arrival, a medic helped Frankie out, and First Lieutenant Patty Perkins, a surgical nurse, greeted her, again warning against saluting in the open. Patty briskly oriented Frankie: the Thirty-Sixth was a 400-bed evac hospital about sixty miles from Saigon, staffed by nine female nurses plus male nurses and medics, treating very seriously injured patients for short stays and funneling them onward or back to units, with outcomes ranging from recovery to death.

Patty walked Frankie past ER, Pre-Op, two ORs, Post-Op, ICU, and Neuro, pointed out the mess hall and admin, and issued critical survival advice: take malaria and antidiarrheal pills, drink only from Lister bags or jerry cans, and shower quickly to avoid gawking helicopter crews. When helicopter traffic signaled incoming casualties, Patty rushed off, leaving Frankie to find her hooch and settle in alone.

In the stifling, sandbagged hooch shared by two absent roommates, Frankie examined personal photos she brought from home, including one with her brother Finley at Disneyland, and was overcome by grief and doubt about her decision to come to Vietnam. Still ill, she ran again to the latrines as the chapter closed.