On Cover A of this issue by Declan Shalvey, the Terminator is holding a Thompson submachine gun. Cover C by Drew Moss depicts a Terminator with what appears to be an M16 assault rifle. Cover D features a Terminator firing an M134 Minigun (a la the hero Terminator in Judgment Day). These weapons were actually in use to a limited degree in the Vietnam War by both sides. Cover I by Edwin Galmon depicts military Huey utility helicopters in silhouette in the background.

The story opens in Saigon, Vietnam (officially known as Ho Chi Minh City) in 1976.

Hernandez remarks the NVA is on its way to Saigon from the north, but Edward says the ARVN can take care of them. NVA stands for "North Vietnamese Army" and ARVN "Army of the Republic of Vietnam", the ground forces of the Southern Vietnamese military. The date of 1976 given here is either in error or it indicates that the Vietnam War of 1955-1975 in our world, extended into '76 in the Terminator universe (or, at least, this particular timeline of the Terminator universe) because Saigon fell to the communists forces of North Vietnam in April 1975 in our own history.

On page 2, Edward says, "Semper fi," to Hernandez's idea that the ARVN may not be able to handle the NVA. Semper fi (Semper fidelis) is the U.S. Marine Corps motto, Latin for "Always faithful."

Hernandez goes on to add, "Our old pal Victor Charlie is still in play, too." "Victor Charlie" is the NATO phonetic pronunciation of "VC", short for "Viet Cong", the militarized communist movement in South Vietnam at the time. The VC was also often just referred to as "Charlie" by U.S. forces.

On page 3, Edward mentions that it's been "easy going since that Paris treaty." He is likely referring to the Paris Peace Accords of 1973 that was supposed to end the Vietnam War, but in reality it was not implemented due to immediate violations by the armies of both North and South Vietnam (another possible indication that the history of the Vietnam War is different in the Terminator universe.

After the Terminator has materialized in the Vietnamese village on page 6, a native militant rushes out at him with a hatchet, shouting, "Deo my!" In Vietnamese, "đéo mỹ" means "fuck America" (mỹ is a shortened form of the word "America").

On page 9, Hernandez shouts at Edward, "Duggan! Get back! Don't make me report you AWOL." AWOL is military shorthand for "Away Without Leave".

One of the MPs (military police) seen on page 9 has the name patch "Shalvey". This is in reference to series writer Declan Shalvey.

On page 10, the Viet Cong use the term "Gi Joe" for the retreating Terminator. "G.I. Joe" is a slang name for an ordinary American soldier, originating from the abbreviation "G.I." for "Government Issue" or "General Issue".

On page 11, the Terminator's OSD identifies the weapons carried by the six Viet Cong as AK-47s and a MAT-49. These are both real world machine guns in use at the time and still prevalent in battle fields today.

On pages 12-15, the Terminator takes down two 63/65 SPAAG tanks. This is a real world series of tank models. SPAAG stands for "self-propelled anti-aircraft gun".

On page 18, Hernandez uses the term FUBAR and tells Edward, "The Ambassador's holding on, but I don't know for how much longer." FUBAR generally stands for "fucked up beyond all recognition". The ambassador referred to by Hernandez may be U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam, Graham Martin, who was technically in charge of the American evacuation of Saigon and who pressed to make the evacuation as quiet and orderly as possible to prevent chaos and the possibility of the South Vietnamese turning against Americans in the city. Again, however, this would have been in 1975 for us, not '76.

The military transport helicopter seen in panel 3 of page 18 looks like a cross between a CH-47 Chinook and CH-46 Sea Knight. Both models were in use by the U.S. during the war.