Welcome to Our Hooch
Set on a dusty, U.S. Army base in 1960s Vietnam, Hooch follows the daily misadventures of the rear‑area administrative and support personnel who are supposed to keep the war running smoothly—but mostly just keep getting in their own way. Boredom, bad ideas, and a chronic shortage of common sense send the unit spiraling into constant trouble, while the officers and NCOs—scramble to maintain order, dignity, and plausible deniability as the company stumbles from one fiasco to the next.
Mooch
Rank: Specialist 4
Played by: Mike Farucci
After a bad incident on patrol that left his squad shaken as well as the battalion CO questioning his judgment, Mooch was yanked from the bush and reassigned to rear‑area duties on base. Restless, sharp‑tongued, and allergic to authority, Mooch has a talent for stumbling into trouble. But he’s also the captain’s secret weapon: when the base needs sandbags filled, bunkers patched, or some impossible grunt work done fastent worse than death.
Chapstick
Rank: Specialist 4
Played by: Randy Dimand
A soldier who knows exactly which side his bread is buttered on. Polite to a fault, eager to please, and always hovering just close enough to the chain of command to be noticed, he’s the kind of guy who can produce a clipboard, a pen, and a “Yes sir, right away sir” in under three seconds. Captain, recognizing both his competence and his talent for staying out of trouble, assigns him as LT.’s aide a role Chapstick treats like a sacred calling.
Captain
Rank: Captain
Played by: Liam Wachter
Captain is deep into his third tour in Vietnam, and he’s earned every crease in his fatigues. Once a hard‑charging platoon leader, he’s decided this tour is going to be slower and quieter. Command has other plans. He’s been handed a company of lovable misfits, burnouts, and problem children, and told him to make soldiers out of them. He’s the kind of officer who’ll bend a rule to protect his troops, then take the heat with a shrug and a soda. Despite his vow to “take it easy,” trouble seems magnetically drawn to him and somehow, he and his ragtag company always stumble through it together.
LT.
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Played by: Stephen Pawlak
LT. arrives in Vietnam with a crisp uniform, a brand‑new gold bar, and the kind of optimism only someone who hasn’t been shot at yet can muster. Fresh from stateside training and eager to prove himself, he’s determined to learn how things really work in-country—even if the reality is a lot messier than the manuals promised. But the misfits under his command; equal parts talented, troublesome, and impossible to predict, quickly force him to adapt. They’ll either turn him into a real combat leader or chew him up and spit him out. Somewhere between the madness, the mentorship, and the mayhem, the LT begins to find his footing, discovering that leadership in Vietnam isn’t about rank—it’s about surviving the day with your men intact.
Gully
Rank: Private
Played by: Alexander Strampp
Gully is fresh in-country, still smelling faintly of stateside starch and optimism. Good‑natured and soft‑spoken, he’s the most gullible man on base, hence the nickname that stuck before he even finished in‑processing. Gully is the kind of soldier who genuinely wants to get along with everyone. He follows orders, keeps his head down, and would never dream of starting trouble. Unfortunately, trouble has a way of finding him anyway—usually in the form of Slick, his best friend and the company’s resident schemer. Gully believes every word Slick says, every time, and often ends up knee‑deep in some half‑baked plan he never fully understood. Even so, there’s a sweetness to him that makes it impossible for the others to stay mad.
Slick
Rank: Specialist 4
Played by: Christopher Cassidy
Slick is a Southern boy through and through—polite drawl, easy charm, and a knack for making people underestimate him. But he’s no backwoods stereotype. Slick prides himself on being the smartest guy in the room… even if reality doesn’t always agree with him. Forever scheming, Slick is constantly on the lookout for a shortcut: a way out of work, a way into better chow, or a way to get just a little more than everyone else. His plans are clever in theory and catastrophic in practice, but that never stops him from trying again. His closest friend on base is Gully, a big‑hearted lug who believes every word Slick says. Slick takes advantage of him more often than he should, but deep down he feels responsible for the guy—like it’s his personal duty to keep Gully from getting steamrolled by the world.
Sarge
Rank: Sergeant First-Class
Played by: Joseph Sabia
Sarge is the backbone of the company—the one man who still believes regulations matter, standards exist, and clipboards are sacred instruments of order. A by‑the‑book NCO through and through, Sarge spends most of his days hustling across the base, barking reminders, checking task lists, and trying (usually in vain) to keep the company’s misfits from turning the place upside down. He respects the chain of command with almost religious devotion and genuinely loves the Army—its structure, its purpose, its predictability. Unfortunately for him, he’s been assigned to a unit where predictability goes to die. Despite the constant headaches, he cares deeply for his men. Beneath the stern exterior and the ever‑present clipboard is a leader who wants his soldiers to succeed—even if they make that job nearly impossible.
Mouth
Rank: Specialist 6
Played by: Robert Wikander
Mouth is Captain’s radio telephone operator, always a step behind the Captain with an antenna poking over his shoulder. Quick‑witted, fast‑talking, and impossible to shut up, Mouth earned his nickname within minutes of arriving in-country and has worn it like a badge ever since. When he’s relaying messages, he’s out stirring up hijinks with the other rear‑area troublemakers. His two great loves are the Wet Cat Steambath, a local bathhouse where he’s practically a VIP, and Poppy Star, a glamorous singer whose posters decorate every inch of his hooch. Underneath the jokes and the antics, he’s fiercely loyal to the Captain and the company. When the radio crackles and things get serious, Mouth snaps into focus, proving that even the biggest clown in the unit can be the most reliable voice on the net.
Poppy Star
Rank: Singer
Played by: Brittany Simmons
Poppy Star is the breakout darling of the USO tour circuit—a sparkling, big‑voiced entertainer whose posters hang in hooches from Da Nang to the Delta. With her signature blonde hair, form fitting dresses, and a smile that could stop a firefight, she’s become the unofficial sweetheart of half the men in-country. She’s best known for her novelty hit “You Sat on My Cat,” a goofy, toe‑tapping tune that somehow became the anthem of bored GIs everywhere. Poppy performs it at every show, complete with a wink, a hip sway, and a dramatic final note that sends the crowd roaring. Despite the glitz, Poppy has a genuine warmth that makes her beloved by the troops. She jokes with them, listens to their stories, and brings a little piece of home to the middle of a warzone.
The Major
Rank: Major
Played by: James Lennon
The Major is a seasoned officer with enough time in uniform to know exactly what he likes—and what he can’t stand. At the top of that list: Captain’s company of misfits. To The Major, they’re a constant headache masquerading as a military unit, a rolling circus of minor disasters that somehow fall under his command. Experienced, competent, and deeply allergic to nonsense, the Major prefers a clean TOC, a predictable schedule, and subordinates who don’t require daily damage control. Unfortunately, Captain’s outfit delivers the opposite. The Major usually leaves them to their own devices, hoping distance will keep his blood pressure down. But when upper command leans on him, he reluctantly issues orders—always with the weary look of a man bracing for whatever chaos they’ll unleash next. He avoids their TOC whenever possible, treating it like a quarantined zone of unpredictability.
SP4 Jimmy Bunker
Jimmy Bunker is the fast‑talking, wisecracking voice of WHRD “The Herd” Radio 50.3 FM, spinning records and rattling off jokes that keep every GI in earshot feeling a little less far from home.
Colonel Footjoy
Colonel Footjoy, a grizzled Korean War veteran with zero patience for nonsense, despises the antics of Captain’s company almost as much as he hates being responsible for them.