Fallen Angels

After a sergeant puts out the lights, Peewee asks Perry what he did “back in the World.” Perry says he joined up after he graduated from high school because it seemed “like a good idea at the time.” He doesn’t say that he couldn’t afford college even though he got good grades. He joined the army hoping to make enough money to support his family while Kenny finishes school. He joined the army because he’s competitive and likes winning, and not being able to go to college and become a writer like James Baldwin—his dream—seemed like losing. Joining the army was a way to escape the questions of his friends and neighbors who assumed he was going to college. A way to look like he was walking away from his childhood “with [his] head raised high, a winner.”

In the morning, Perry asks Peewee if he likes the army. Peewee replies that he likes having the exact same stuff as everyone else—the same boots, the same weapon, the same bad food. During the day, Perry realizes that he sees more Black soldiers than he had expected. One of them, unable to “trust no whitey,” tries to get Perry and Peewee to swear an oath with their “common African” blood with him. But Peewee and Perry want to keep their shared African blood in their own veins. Another Black soldier tells them about getting in trouble for being high on duty. He says he hasn’t seen much fighting during his nine months there.

Nine days after he arrived, Perry still hasn’t gotten an assignment. He and Peewee hang out on base, trying to avoid guard duty, playing checkers and ping pong and watching movies in the day room. They hear that the fighting is practically over anyway. They hear that a truce is being negotiated in Paris or somewhere. Perry’s nervousness fades and although he’s not particularly “gung ho,” he feels ready to do his part in stopping the North Vietnamese from taking over South Vietnam—the mission as he understands it.

New soldiers arrive, including an absolutely terrified man called Jenkins. Peewee has some fun at Jenkins’ expense, claiming to have been in Vietnam for eight months. He says that he’s going to go home early, as soon as he kills one “Cong” for every pound of his weight. Peewee insists he only has eight to go until he gets his 240. He also tells Jenkins that he likes to sneak up from behind and slit their throats. The army only gives soldiers so many bullets per week, and they will pay a quarter for each they return. Jenkins finally gets mad when he realizes that Peewee is joking.

Finally, the soldiers receive their orientation lecture. A youthful lieutenant warns them to stay away from the natives (especially the women, who are rife with venereal diseases), take their malaria pills, avoid the black market, not smoke dope, and try to stay out of the way of RPGs. In response to a soldier’s question, he clarifies that RPGs are rocket-propelled grenades. Their unit commanders will tell them anything else they need to know. As they leave the briefing, swarms of mosquitos attack the soldiers. The lieutenant forgot to mention their army-issued insect repellant. Perry, Peewee, Jenkins, and another guy will go north to join the 196th at Chu Lai. An easy assignment, a sergeant assures them: they just look around for Northern Vietnamese forces or the Vietcong—known as “charlies,” “Victor Charlies,” or “Congs” in army slang—then call in the marines when they find them.

Peewee swears he’ll be the first one to kill a “Cong,” and Perry says Peewee can have them all. He admits he’s scared. Peewee says he isn’t; he’s surprised to find out there’s any fighting going on at all. Then he tells Perry how he got into the army. He went with a friend to the recruitment office, and when the army rejected his friend for having already shot four or five people, Peewee figured the army was “cool.” Now he thinks he may have been tricked. He doesn’t understand why the army doesn’t want “[rowdy] suckers from the projects” if it wants killers. Perry and Peewee spit in their palms and shake hands—a lighter version of a blood oath. It feels good. And as they climb into the truck to the airport, Perry’s mouth goes dry with anxiety. Jenkins cries softly.