Going After Cacciato: Chapter 16 Summary & Analysis

The chapter begins in July of 1968, with the soldiers moving through the villages along a great river, the Song Tra Bong. Frenchie Tucker is still alive, and Paul Berlin keeps busy writing letters to his parents. He writes that life is good and easy—the river is beautiful, and he has no complaints.

One day in July, the soldiers arrive at a small village, Thap Ro. There, Eddie Lazzutti takes a woman’s basket and converts it into a basketball hoop. Life is dull, and the soldiers have nothing to do all day except play ball.

The soldiers play pickup basketball with each other. Paul Berlin enjoys the games, but feels a deep sense of unease. The village seems calm, but the soldiers continue searching for tunnels and bunkers. They find a few tunnels, though they’re always empty. The soldiers sense that “the enemy” is very close by, waiting for them to let their guard down. Doc Peret compares the squad to a group of blindfolded children trying to pin the tail on the donkey.

July turns into August, and the soldiers begin fighting with one another. Stink and Bernie Lynn have an argument about basketball, and after a few moments of shouting they begin wrestling and clawing at each other. Yet even this fight concludes, and the lull persists—there’s no sign of danger anywhere in the village. Lieutenant Sidney Martin tells his troops that they’ll have to begin searching more tunnels and bunkers. Cacciato enjoys playing basketball, and seems strangely unconcerned by the uncertainty of the soldiers’ situation. Oscar Johnson mutters that Cacciato is “Trouble with a capital T.”

The days drag on, uneventfully. The lull becomes so oppressive that the soldiers privately wish for combat of some kind. They leave the village and proceed through the jungles. One day, Rudy Chassler stumbles onto a land mine, and the explosion kills him instantly. Secretly, the soldiers are relieved.