Fallen Angels

Perry tries to write a letter to Kenny about killing the Vietcong soldier, because he wants Kenny to know that he is a good soldier. He finds he can’t write it down. When Peewee comes in, Perry asks if he can explain why he killed the “Cong” soldier. Peewee casually answers that killing the enemy is a soldier’s job.

The squad’s new base looks the same as their old one, but there’s no generator and almost no cover. A few guys from a watercraft unit are there, tasked with teaching ARVN soldiers how to maintain their equipment. Perry hopes that the American forces will finish training the ARVN troops soon, hand the war back over to them, and go home.

Night patrol at Perry’s first post is scary, as night patrol here is “something else.” Their first mission involves helping two squads of ARVN soldiers ambush a Vietcong road. Tall grass—a perfect hiding ground for enemy fighters—covers the landing zone. And Simpson thinks they’re being asked to cover too much ground with too few soldiers. But no one wants to upset the ARVN soldiers, whom they fear will “bug out” and abandon them if things go wrong. Perry finds himself in the middle of the squad’s formation. Lieutenant Gearhart places claymores, and they wait.

Simpson tells the soldiers not to think or daydream, but to keep alert. Perry tries, but in the darkness, he can’t stop his imagination from playing tricks on him, or from reminding him of the moment he shot the man in the village. He feels something like a finger on his wrist and he panics, only to discover it’s nothing more than a fat leech. After what seems like an eternity, he hears voices passing in the night. He can’t understand why Gearheart doesn’t detonate the claymores, and no one opens fire. Then, the clouds part, and in the light of the full moon, he sees an “endless line” of Vietcong fighters walking down the path. The woods are crawling with them. Perry begins to pray, to beg God to let him live.

It takes at least 15 minutes for the Vietcong soldiers to pass by, and the squad remains motionless for another half hour after that before Gearhart and Simpson round them up and they head back to base, where Perry overhears Gearhart calling up the chain, reporting that they’d encountered at least a battalion’s worth of men.

Eventually, Simpson gives in to Stewart’s pressure and extends his tour in Vietnam by 30 days. Most soldiers extend because it’s a quick way to get a promotion; others seem to like the thrill of mortal danger. Perry knew a kid like the thrill-seekers back home, but no one went to his funeral when his wild behavior finally caught up with him and a rival gang gunned him down.

Perry can tell that the action is picking up all over; the sounds of artillery start early in the morning and continue late into the night. ARVN forces run most of the patrols, and at least half the time, they come scurrying back quickly after encountering Vietcong in the woods, sending the whole base on alert. Perry wins $30 in the football pool and sends the money to Mama. He develops a rash on his feet that doesn’t heal, despite the drier conditions at the new base.

One day, Lobel drags Jamal into the hooch, demanding he tell the whole squad what he just overheard. Stewart and Simpson were fighting after Simpson discovered that Stewart has been volunteering Alpha Company “all over the place.” Jamal heard Stewart tell Simpson that he shouldn’t have extended if he didn’t want to fight. The news goes down hard; everyone in the squad will do his part, but none of them wants to die just so that Stewart can earn his promotion.

After nearly a week of inactivity, the squad prepares to join a company-sized sweep of a nearby hilly area. Lobel writes an apologetic letter to his father and stashes it with his other belongings in the hooch. Perry wonders if his own father would be proud of him. Vietcong forces have laced the landing zone with punji sticks—sharpened points hidden in the grass for soldiers to step on. They’re usually covered with excrement to guarantee festering, infected wounds for anyone unlucky enough to step on one. The soldiers find a mine attached to an overhanging tree branch. They proceed with caution, afraid to touch or disturb anything around them. The grass gets taller as they move uphill.  

Perry nearly panics when the dense underbrush pulls his M-15 from his hands. Then, as Simpson and some of the other company leaders investigate a spider hole—a defensive trench big enough for only one or two Northern Vietnamese soldiers—the enemy opens fire from the crest of the hill. Gearhart charges towards the fire, and Perry follows, shooting his weapon. One the crest of the hill they find a few dead and dying Vietcong but they can’t see where the attack was coming from or any retreating soldiers. Explosions rock the hilltop. Perry sees Johnson fall to his knees; he sees Brew’s leg ripped open at the thigh. As he tries to get to Brew, two bullets hit Perry. He loses consciousness as someone grabs his collar and drags him along in the company’s retreat.