Combat Hospital Episode 1.03 It's My Party

After a sleepless night, Rebecca hits the showers bright and early where she finds herself face-to-face with a local critter...a giant tarantula. She greets the peeping arachnid by shooting it with her pistol. Later, cheers echo through the hospital ward as Rebecca is awarded a fake medal for her spider combat skills. Her day can only go uphill from here, right?

Photojournalist Jessica Draycott (guest star Tia Carrere) snaps shots at Rebecca's mock ceremony. Cue Simon who swoops in for the kill-er, kiss. He apparently has an established relationship with Jessica. These infrequent lovebirds wander off to spend some "quality time" together.

Will warns Rebecca that, as Morale Officer, she better have a party planned for tomorrow night or else. Rebecca plays it cool but she's clearly unprepared. Her day just keeps getting better. Moments later, a Private Barford comes into the hospital with critical injuries. A broken CT scanner forces Rebecca and Bobby to make some tough calls. They make repairs and sew Barford up, hoping for the best.

While Barford is recovering, Grace assesses the mental state of his shaken buddy, Jenkins. After some pushing, we learn from Jenkins' sergeant that Barford was shot after turning to help a crying child. The private is being recognized as a hero, but Rebecca senses something is off about the whole story.

Barford is crashing and, before we know it, he's back on the operating table. Rebecca races to save his life until the colonel steps in. He orders the surgery to be stopped immediately. Barford's vitals aren't strong enough to use up their blood supply. The patient dies. His doctor is crushed.

It's a series of confrontations next. Rebecca confronts Colonel Marks and tells him she's filing a complaint, but he reminds her who's in charge. Grace confronts Rebecca by telling her she needs to cope better with daily trauma. Even though Simon confronts Jessica about having a husband back home, the two embrace and sign off with an "until next time" as she leaves the clinic.

Our favorite docs discover that the bullet pulled from Barford came from someone in his unit. Rebecca's outrage falls on deaf ears. The colonel knows there's more to the story. Jenkins shot his best buddy accidentally in a tragic case of friendly fire.

Colonel Marks says that Barford was killed by an enemy AK-47. He tells Jenkins that his shot went wide. He didn't kill his best friend. It's not true, but it does give a devastated soldier some solace. The private's sergeant is most grateful for the colonel's act of compassion.

Vans has been trying to fix his computer so he can receive R-rated images of a woman he met online (using the colonel's name). Marks catches Vans fussing with the clinic's printer to steal a part to fix his computer. Vans makes up for his no-no by fixing the unit's CT scanner. Marks makes nice for an earlier tongue-lashing by awarding Vans a commendation. He also warns him to stop using his name online.

Somehow, Rebecca pulled off party plans for a Western-themed bash. Everyone's enjoying the festivities but the hostess is nowhere to be found. Bobby and Grace discover her back at the bunk where she's not exactly seeing the glass half-full. Hey, no one promised life in a war zone would be easy. But it looks like Rebecca has the right support system in place to help her through.