Chapter 1: Thanksgiving Special Summary and Analysis

Tobias Wolff, accompanied by Sergeant Benet, drove the large truck down the narrow battered road. He honked his horn to clear the road ahead of them. Peasants were gathered on the road, blocking their passage. There was a twisted mass of metal from the collision of two bikes. Sergeant Benet, a large African-American, slunk down in his seat. He knew he was the only black man in the province. The peasants stood defiantly in the way until the last minute. The truck drove over the bikes, mangling them even more. Seven months before, there was less hostility between the soldiers and the people.

They traveled through the next several hamlets with no problem. There was always the threat of snipers but the bigger threat was from mines planted in the road. Wolff had seen a two-and-a-half-ton truck...