Fallen Angels

Time passes, and anticipation for the war’s end grows. Perry gets a letter from Mama, full of complaints about her swollen feet. Peewee says that happened to his mother, too; the doctors couldn’t fix it and she finally got desperate enough to go to a “mojo” lady. While they talk, Walowick bursts in, full of indignation that one of the soldiers in from Chu Lai is smoking pot like a “damn white hippie.” Peewee wants to know why Walowick called out white hippie, since he imagines all hippies as white. Perry says that New York has Black hippies, but Peewee retorts that all New Yorkers are white, that even Perry can “pass.”

For two glorious days, the squad does nothing—no formations, no patrol, nothing. They watch a new movie. A new supply of insect repellant comes in, which Carroll notes makes great Molotov cocktails. Peewee wants to know why they’d need to make those, since the camp already has so many explosives. They eat roast beef, mashed potatoes, and carrots for the second time in a week. They re-re-watch the movie, and then they watch it without sound while they make up their own dialogue. They listen to the radio news reports about peace treaty negotiations and how the Americans are winning. They hear stories of other units fighting, and Perry wonders what it feels like to shoot a Vietcong fighter.

Perry mostly wants to shoot an enemy in the abstract, so that he can say he did when he gets home. He wants to impress Kenny. Kenny looks up to Perry, maybe because Perry’s always been better at sports and school, maybe because Perry became Kenny’s primary caregiver after their dad left and while Mama was drinking. Perry lays awake at night listening to the rats and the mosquitos and thinking about Kenny.

At breakfast, Peewee asks for more roast beef. Overhearing him, Brunner begins to harass the cook about it; the cook spits in a cup and hands it to “skinhead” Brunner as his breakfast ration. Captain Stewart steps in just as two jets fly overhead and begin to make bombing runs on a site a few miles away. Then someone calls Stewart to the HQ tent, and everyone starts running, except for Lieutenant Carroll. When Perry points out that the other officers went to HQ, Carroll quietly remarks that they know where to find him. He walks slowly toward his hooch.

But the choppers arrive before Carroll can make it to his hooch. Perry’s stomach tightens with fear, and he wills himself to relax. Sergeant Simpson rounds up Alpha Company as Carroll asks what’s going on. Simpson tells him that Vietcong forces have pinned down Charlie Company a few miles away. Alpha Company must rescue them because the marines have been reassigned to fight a battalion of VC fighters elsewhere. Carroll finally heads for the HQ tent. Simpson explains the mission: two of the company’s four platoons will protect the landing zone, while the other two clear “hostiles” so Charlie Company can escape.

As they prepare to board the choppers, Peewee whispers to Perry that Charlie Company must have been out in the jungle all night. In the rush to board, Brunner hits Peewee in the head with his rifle and Perry bangs his bad knee. As they fly, Carroll calls out instructions and Perry wishes he knew a prayer. Peewee offers one of his own: “Flying into combat, ’bout to have a fit, Lord, if you listenin’, Please get me out this shit!” The pilot drops the chopper into the landing zone so abruptly that at first Perry thinks they’ve been hit.

Monaco, with a last-minute prayer, leaps out of the door, followed by Carroll and Johnson. Perry realizes to his surprise that they’re still 10 feet above the ground. He jumps and lands on Johnson, and the next two soldiers land on him before he can get up. Keeping low to the ground, the company spreads out. Then they wait. They wait while the choppers leave; they wait while listening to gunshots in the dense jungle; they wait while the choppers return to pick up Charlie Company and leave again. Then, they retreat to the landing zone for their own ride back to camp. Back at the hooch, Simpson says Charlie Company made out well; they only lost nine people. But he’s worried by their reports that they faced uniformed Northern Vietnamese troops.

Lieutenant Carroll pulls Perry aside to talk about his medical profile. Perry explains that his knee isn’t bothering him on patrols or anything; he just doesn’t want to get “messed up” if it gives out on him at the wrong moment. The squad depends on each and every member, Carroll says, but he doesn’t want to push Perry too hard. Perry says he’ll wait for his medical profile to come though before he puts in for a transfer. When Peewee finds out, he tells Perry not to be a hero. But Perry thinks the knee will be okay. He now realizes that the real question is what any of them are doing in Vietnam.