Answer one question from each section.  (Questions adapted from the Owl Book's/Henry Holy reading guide.)

Section A

PROLOGUE
1. Why does the author write, “America seemed omnipotent then”? (p. xiv) He also allows that he and his fellow soldiers thought they were champions of “‘a cause . . . destined to triumph.’” (p. xiv) Why did they have such faith in the American cause?

2. What do we learn from the Prologue about the author’s view of the Vietnam War? What are his attitudes toward combat?

PART ONE: THE SPLENDID LITTLE WAR
CHAPTER ONE
3. “At the age of twenty-four, I was more prepared for death than I was for life.” (p. 3) Why do you think the author opens the first section with this statement? What is he foreshadowing?

4. Why did Caputo join the Marine Corps? (pp. 5-7) Do you imagine his instincts toward heroism were common among young men at that time? How do you think this compares to today’s outlook?

5. He writes, “Throughout, we were subjected to intense indoctrination.” (p. 12) Describe this process. Why do you believe marines are trained in this manner?

CHAPTER TWO
6. What are the author’s memories of his first command? (pp. 25-30) What problems does he face? (pp. 31-33)

7. How are the young soldiers and officers further indoctrinated in the art of war on Okinawa? (p. 36)

CHAPTER THREE
8. What illusions did Caputo have about war when he was sent to Vietnam? (p. 43)

9. Do you believe this was typical of soldiers at the time? Why or why not?
4
10. What are the author’s first impressions of Vietnam? (p. 54)

CHAPTER FOUR
11. What is the author’s view of the counteroffensive staged by the ARVN? (p. 62)

12. The author describes the Viet Cong as phantoms. Why?

13. “Since the landing, we had acquired the conviction that we could win this brush-fire war, and win it quickly, if we were only turned loose to fight.” (p. 69) The author makes this assertion about his and his fellow soldiers’ views at the time. Do you think Caputo still believes this? What was holding them back?

CHAPTER FIVE
14. The author writes, “When the helicopters flew off, a feeling of abandonment came over us.” (p. 83) Why? How was this different from the previous firefight? What did they face?
5

15. Describe the village of Hoi-Vuc. (pp. 87-89) How is it unusual?

CHAPTER SIX
16. Chapter Six opens with a description of the war as initially experienced by the author. How does he describe it? How does he describe camp life? How does he describe the fighting?

17.  “We have learned that, in the bush, nothing ever happens according to plan. Things just happen, randomly, like automobile accidents.” (p. 106) What do you suppose causes the author to make this observation?

Section B

CHAPTER SEVEN
18. How does Caputo react the first time he sees the body of an enemy while on patrol? Describe and explain this reaction. 

19. The author ends this chapter, which describes his first major firefight, thus: “Finally, the sun dropped below the notched rim of the mountains, the Asian mountains that had stood since the beginning of time and probably would still be standing at the end of it.” (p. 131) Why do you think he chose this image to end the chapter?

CHAPTER EIGHT
20. Caputo describes his soldiers as “fairly ordinary men who sometimes performed extraordinary
acts in the stress of combat, acts of bravery as well as cruelty.” (p. 137)  Is this how they seem to you? Defend your answer.

PART TWO: THE OFFICER IN CHARGE OF THE DEAD
CHAPTER NINE
21. How is life at headquarters different from the front lines? (pp. 153-55)

CHAPTER TEN
22. Where does Caputo get the title for Part Two, “The Officer in Charge of the Dead”?
(p. 175) What does this position entail? (pp. 165-66) How does he describe (and
feel about) his new job? (p. 169)

CHAPTER ELEVEN
23. Describe the attack on the airfield. (pp. 186-90) What impact do you think it had on the soldiers stationed at Danang?

CHAPTER TWELVE
24. Caputo goes to the hospital to identify three bodies from C Company. What does he discover? (pp. 198-99) Describe the dream he has in the wake of this experience. (p. 199) What does it show about his state of mind?

PART THREE: IN DEATH’S GREY LAND
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
25. How has the war changed since Caputo first landed at Danang? (pp. 211, 218) Is anything different at headquarters? (pp. 211-15) What, exactly?

26. Amid all the killing, why does Levy’s death affect the author so much? He even steps out of the narrative to address Levy directly: “As I write this, eleven years after your death, the country for which you died wishes to forget the war in which you died.” (p. 223) What is the author trying to achieve in this passage?

Section C

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
27. Caputo talks about the unwritten rule, “‘If he’s dead and Vietnamese, he’s VC’.” (p. 229) What does this tell us about the war? He says, “The fighting had not only become more intense, but more vicious. Both we and the Viet Cong began to make a habit of atrocities.” (p. 228) Why do you suppose this was the case?

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
28. The author’s platoon is assigned to clear the village of Hoi-Vuc. How does the author feel at the start of this mission? He says he had “a sudden and mysterious recovery from the virus of fear.” (p. 260) What does he say accounts for this? Why?

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
29. Caputo writes, “Perhaps that is why some officers make careers of the infantry . . .
just to experience a single moment when a group of soldiers under your command
and in the extreme stress of combat do exactly what you want them to do, as if they
are extensions of yourself.” (p. 268) Comment on what he is describing here.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
30. Caputo talks about crossing that line between “stability” and the “unstable.” (p.293) What does he mean by this? What does this distinction say about the war? 

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
31. Caputo writes, “And so I learned about the wide gulf that divides the facts from the truth.” (p. 329) What does he mean by this? What are the facts of the case? What is the truth of it? How do, and how should, facts and truth apply to men at war?

EPILOGUE
32. What purpose does the Epilogue serve? How has Caputo changed since his time as
a soldier?

POSTSCRIPT
33. What does Caputo tell us about the difficulty of writing this “intensely personal
and private experience?” (p. 352)