Chapter Two opens with a bit of flashback to Baumer's life before the war. He recalls a hobby of writing plays and poetry. The older men, he notices, with wives and families back home seem to hold onto the former, civilian lifestyle. Life in the army has removed that enjoyment from the younger men, who have no such connections. Following this realization is the explanation, starting with what is now referred to as boot camp.
By way of explanation, a short aside explains Muller's attitude toward dying Kemmerich's boots. Though Muller would, as Baumer explains, "rather go barefoot over barbed wire" than take them from an able bodied comrade. The army has made them more practical than that.
Baumer recalls the day his class went to enlist. There stood fresh, young men, with "romantic" notions.....
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