the novel begins with team yankee deployed forward towards the frontier with the german democratic republic. captain bannon is awakened by a radio check from his third platoon leader, lieutenant garger—the third straight day garger has used his radio to break radio silence. unable to go back to sleep, bannon inspects his unit and meets the other principal characters of the novel. he finds garger, berates him, and decides that with a war coming on, garger would need to be replaced as a liability.