How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Paragraph)
Quote #4
[…] he was a young man who had not come through the war with all his faculties intact, and for more than an hour he had been triple-reading paragraphs, and now he was doing it to the sentences. He suddenly closed the book, without marking his place. (106)
These overt clues tell us that this new character, Sergeant X, is actually our old friend, the narrator, "cunningly disguised" by the third person narrator. And we learn that in the intervening time, war has done something terrible to him. He has, in fact, not entirely survived it.
Quote #5
By driving with his windshield down, combat-style, Corporal Z hoped to show that he was not one of them, that not by a long shot was he some new son of a b**** in the E.T.O. (107)
This comment, which describes Sergeant X's comrade, Corporal Z, describes the combined feeling of pride and aggression he feels after the war – aggression, interestingly, not directed at the enemy, but at the new members of his own side.
Quote #6
He put his arms on a table and rested his head on them. He ached from head to foot, all zones of pain seemingly interdependent. He was rather like a Christmas tree whose lights, wired in series, must all go out if even one bulb is defective. (110)
This incredible description sums up the total damage the war has brought upon Sergeant X – even if he's physically OK, the "one bulb" of his mind isn't functioning right, and breaks down everything else.