Summary: Chapter 7
Jamal, a medic, informs Richie that Captain Stewart has
reported three kills for the patrol despite the fact that really
only one enemy was killed. Richie wonders about the dead soldier’s
family, his life, and his hopes for the future. Walowick, another
member of the squad, urges him to stop worrying about the dead soldier;
the only thing that matters is that Richie himself is still alive.
Richie comes down with a terrible intestinal disease and spends
several days recovering. Johnson and Walowick get into a racially
charged fight when Walowick calls Johnson a “cootie.” Peewee asks
Richie to write a letter to Earlene on his behalf, since it is too
painful for him to write it himself. Because Richie misses a patrol
with his own squad while he is sick, he is sent on patrol with another
company.
Summary: Chapter 8
During a patrol with a different company, Richie’s squad
accidentally opens fire on one of its own platoons, killing more
than a dozen American soldiers. Richie is distraught that so many
people are dead because of this sheer carelessness. Later, Richie
approaches Lieutenant Carroll to ask where he can buy a knife to
send as a birthday present to Kenny. Lieutenant Carroll gives Richie
a beautiful silk jacket to send to Kenny instead. Haunted by the
scenes of chaos and confusion that he has witnessed, Richie asks
Brew to show him where the Lord’s Prayer can be found in the Bible.
Brew lends Richie his Bible.
Summary: Chapter 9
I didn’t like having to convince anybody
that I was the good guy. That was where we were supposed to start from.
See Important Quotations Explained
The bossy Corporal Brunner tells the squad that it is
going on a pacification mission to another village. The squad members
must convince the villagers that they, and not the Communists, are
their allies in the conflict. Richie is disturbed that there is
any doubt about which side is good, but he needs to believe that
his side is unquestionably in the right. He is further bothered
by the fact that the villagers are afraid of him and his friends.
Richie does not want to think of himself as a frightening killer
and cringes when Lobel compares the squad to outlaws from cowboy
movies. During an otherwise uneventful mission, Peewee buys several
homemade remedies from a villager, including a potion that is supposed
to encourage hair growth. Back at the base, the squad members are
happy to learn that they are going on another pacification mission
the following day. Hours later they find out that this mission has
been assigned to another group: Captain Stewart does not want his
soldiers going on pacification missions because these relatively
safe missions do not add to the enemy body count.
Peewee receives an apologetic letter from Earlene, telling
him that she plans to name her next child after him. Lobel receives
an angry letter from his father that is filled with antiwar sentiment. Lobel
laments the irony of his situation: he joined the army to please his
father by proving that he is not a homosexual, and now his father
hates him for becoming a soldier in what he regards as an unjust
war. Richie receives a letter from Kenny, who wants to join a basketball
league but does not have enough money to enroll. Richie sends the
money immediately. He feels good that Kenny still needs him.
Two female American Red Cross workers come to the camp,
and one of them asks Richie what he is going to do when he gets
home. The question mortifies him and sends him into a painful recollection of
an episode in high school when a guidance counselor laughed at him
for saying he wanted to be a philosopher. Ever since then, he reflects,
the question of his future has made him feel uncomfortable.
Analysis: Chapters 7–9
