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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Caputo describe the descent of a helicopter?
(a) Like a run down a ski slope
(b) Like a falling brick
(c) Like a roller coaster or a canoe rushing down the rapids
(d) Like standing in a high wind

2. How does Caputo describe his platoon?
(a) They are a group of strangers and misfits.
(b) As a highly polished fighting machine that needed no training.
(c) As men who enlist, train and travel together from the beginning.
(d) They are all uneducated and street fighters.

3. Where does Caputo go for advanced training?
(a) Quantico, VA
(b) Ft. Bragg, NC
(c) Camp Pendleton, CA
(d) Fort Hood, TX

4. What is the first offensive mission?
(a) Hide and ambush
(b) Advance and wait
(c) Search and destroy
(d) Hit and run

5. What is to be the measure of victory in the battle?
(a) The cooperation of the ARVN
(b) The number of enemy corpses
(c) The cessation of sniper fire
(d) The time it takes to finish clearing the area

6. What is the feeling of the brigade as the offensive begins?
(a) That they were outnumbered by the enemy.
(b) That they would all be killed.
(c) That they could win the war alone.
(d) That it was just another drill.

7. What do Caputo and his platoon have in common?
(a) They all think they made a big mistake by enlisting.
(b) They all have the desire to stop sitting around and get to the business of war.
(c) They all have the same tattoos.
(d) They are all homesick and want to go back home.

8. What does Lemmon tell Caputo that Sullivan is doing when he gets shot?
(a) Operating the radio
(b) Patrolling the area
(c) Cleaning his rifle
(d) Filling canteens at the river

9. What are Vietnamese children doing as the Marine trucks pass through the village called Dogpatch?
(a) Dancing on the edge of the dusty road
(b) Begging for candy and cigarettes
(c) Throwing rocks at the trucks
(d) Playing rock music on radios

10. What is Big Ivan?
(a) The radio communications system needed for orders on the combat
(b) The squadron of helicopters that will take the troops into combat
(c) The radio code name for the battery of howitzers used ahead of the troop movement into combat
(d) The general who is overseeing the troop movement into combat

11. When does Caputo say is the only bearable time of day in Vietnam?
(a) Early morning
(b) Sunset
(c) Midnight
(d) Mid-morning

12. How long do Caputo and his platoon continue guarding the parameters at Danang?
(a) Over a month
(b) Six days
(c) Six months
(d) Seven weeks

13. What is the stated interest of the U. S. government for war in Vietnam?
(a) To get control of Vietnam's oil supply
(b) To abolish Communism in the world
(c) To establish a permanent military base in Vietnam
(d) To bolster the American economy

14. Why does boredom get replaced with terror on the outpost hill?
(a) The fighting begins to move up the hill.
(b) Rock apes descend on the outpost.
(c) A VC almost infiltrates the outpost.
(d) Enemy fighters fly overhead.

15. How does the Marine frontal assault look to Caputo?
(a) Like Hannibal crossing the Alps.
(b) Like a snake with two heads
(c) Like a perfect military maneuver
(d) Nothing like the practice attacks at Quantico

Short Answer Questions

1. What do Caputo and his men discover as they pursue the wounded VC?

2. Who makes up Caputo's first command?

3. What position does Battalion Headquarters take on identifying a Viet Cong?

4. Does Caputo believe the deployment is for real when he is told about it?

5. What does Caputo almost trip over going through the high grass?

(see the answer keys)

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