The manga follows three American soldiers in the Vietnam War named Bota, Perky and Rats. All three are in the recon team called Cat Shit One. Each mission (or chapter) shows the daily activities of the reconnaissance group in Vietnam. There are sections of the manga which give brief history and truths behind the war, such as the types of weapons used by different countries and the activities of forces in the war. At the end of volume one there is a chapter called Dog Shit One — separate from the main story — showing human characters.

In Cat Shit One '80, the story continues to follow the three main protagonists as they became involved in various low intensity conflicts in the 1980s. Perky, now a member of the elite Delta Force, was attached to the Special Air Service and was involved in various SAS operations while Rats and Bota were invovled with the US operation in Afghanistan against the Soviet invasion.

A new version of Cat Shit One was released in 2010. As of 18 July 2010 (2010 -07-18)[update] only one episode has been released.