Mad Mark is a platoon leader in Alpha Company. Mad Mark earns his nickname by being unnaturally calm under pressure. O’Brien describes him as an excellent warrior who neither shies from combat nor seeks it out. Rather, Mad Mark views fighting as a profession like any other and he resolves to do it well.
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Mad Mark Character Timeline in If I Die in a Combat Zone
The timeline below shows where the character Mad Mark appears in If I Die in a Combat Zone. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4: Nights
...O’Brien and several others dive into a foxhole. When the noise settles, a soldier shows Mad Mark his bleeding hand, where a piece of grenade shrapnel hit him. Mad Mark thinks he’ll...
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Chapter 8: Alpha Company
Mad Mark , a Green Beret, leads O’Brien’s platoon. Mad Mark isn’t insane as his name might...
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...war isn’t “bad” until a patrol enters a village called Tri Binh 4 one night. Mad Mark leads five other men into the village, and within an hour the rest of the...
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Chapter 9: Ambush
Mad Mark announces that they’ll be setting up an ambush tonight. He explains the details to his...
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Mad Mark arranges the soldiers along two trails that intersect in an L-shape. He gives O’Brien a...
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After another hour, Mad Mark calls off the ambush, and they pack everything up and leave. Although this ambush led...
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Chapter 13: My Lai in May
...the ground, but after losing their friends, the Americans no longer cared. Presently, in Pinkville, Mad Mark perches a sniper rifle on a rock and shoots a farmer—but he tells O’Brien to...
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