Important Quotations Explained
1. My
plans, maybe just my dreams really, had been to go to college, and
to write. . . . All the other guys in the neighborhood thought I
was going to college. I wasn't, and the army was the place I was
going to get away from all the questions.
2. “My
father used to call all soldiers angel warriors,” he said. “Because
usually they get boys to fight wars. Most of you aren't old enough
to vote yet.”
3. We
were supposed to smile a lot and treat the people with dignity.
They were supposed to think we were the good guys. That bothered
me a little. I didn't like having to convince anybody that I was
the good guy. . . . We, the Americans, were the good guys.
4. We
spent another day lying around. It seemed to be what the war was
about. Hours of boredom, seconds of terror.
5. I
knew Mama loved me, but I also knew when I got back, she would expect
me to be the same person, but it could never happen. She hadn't
been to Nam. She hadn't given her poncho to anybody to wrap a body
in, or stepped over a dying kid.
