Sergeant William Brown

Brown is an insecure young man who doubts his abilities as a soldier. He is obsessed with the thought of his wife cheating on him while he is at war.

Staff Sergeant Sam Croft

Croft leads the Intelligence and Reconnaissance platoon of Headquarters Company of the 460th Infantry Regiment and is considered by the men to be "the best platoon sergeant in the Army and the meanest." He is "efficient and strong and usually empty and his main cast of mind was a superior contempt toward nearly all other men. He hated weakness and he loved practically nothing." Croft kills for pleasure: on Anopopei he shoots a Japanese prisoner after allowing him to think he was safe, crushes a bird that one of his men had found, and coldly plans Hearn's death in an effort to regain control of the platoon. Croft loves the war for...