Guide Mentor

Character Role Analysis

Lt. Col. Kilgore

Kilgore's kind of a demented mentor, who teaches Willard and the audience a thing or two about how the war's being fought—with total craziness, blasting Wagner and surfing in the middle of battles. It makes Willard reflect:

WILLARD: If that's how Kilgore fought the war, I began to wonder what they really had against Kurtz. It wasn't just insanity and murder; there was enough of that to go around for everyone.

Kilgore's a warm-up for Kurtz. He's not evil, or quite as brutal, but he provides a little taste of the same madness.