- They arrive to an angry lieutenant who gets even angrier when Richard doesn't listen the first time his name is called. (Rookie mistake.) On the bright side, they hop into the truck and Jenkins does a perfect imitation of the lieutenant, making everyone laugh.
- At headquarters, the men are assigned to Alpha Company and told to load a pump onto a trunk. Between them, they can't live the heavy pump, so the other guy, named Johnson, is sent over and lifts it like it's a can of beans. That's gotta be good for the ego.
- Richard realizes he's being treated like all the other soldiers—like, no desk job in sight. He asks if his medical profile arrived, but the captain tells him to take it up with his company commander. Translation: I couldn't care less.
- The guys get to know each other a little more. Jenkins has a colonel father who wants him to be in the infantry and then go to Officer Candidate School. Johnson's from Georgia, which Peewee, a Chicago guy, gives him a hard time about.
- When they reach Alpha Company, a captain promises Richard he'll look up his medical records. He tells them to stay with the squad for a few days, and that the war's almost over, so they'll probably ship out to Hawaii soon. You can practically taste the piña colada.
- They pick out bunks and Richard thinks about how in high school, he was just an observer most of the time. On the basketball court, he had been good, but sometimes he felt pressure to give in and just lose.
- Bummer.
- A sergeant named Simpson meets the new guys and calls them cherries. He says he'd rather fight the enemy than deal with them. Encouraging. Then the men are sent to patrol and loaded into a chopper.
- In the chopper, Richard thinks about how he had the choice to either go into intelligence or play ball for the infantry. He chose basketball, then messed up his knee during a game.
- This chapter isn't exactly a ray of sunshine, is it?
- When the chopper lets the men down, they walk for awhile but don't see anyone. Finally, they're taken back to camp. They have to follow a path because there are mine fields and flares.
- They hear a whooshing noise. Perry gets down on the ground with the other men, then runs back to camp. Someone was wounded, but he can't see who it is.
- It's Jenkins. He has a shard of metal through his chest. Perry watches him take his last breath.
- If you were expecting something more cheerful, we hope that you've learned your lesson.