Chapter 10: Souvenir Summary and Analysis

The battalion set up in a house that formerly belonged to a local mandarin. Captain Kale was a newly arriving infantry officer awaiting assignment to a permanent battalion. He would be replacing Wolff until a permanent artillery man could be assigned. Kale hinted that Wolff had not trained the Vietnamese soldiers to have the killer instinct, that he'd babied them. Kale had big plans for the battalion he would eventually be assigned to. Kale was looking for a sling because he had orders to move a howitzer. Kale wouldn't take Wolff's advise to make the transfer in an open field. Kale had no experience in moving such a large weapon and his know-it-all demeanor would soon get him in trouble. He was very argumentative with Wolff and treated him disrespectfully. Finally, Wolff decided to let Kale find out the...