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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What happens with the ARVN scouts in the first offensive action?
(a) They are all captured and shot.
(b) They detach themselves and flee in panic.
(c) They are massacred by the Viet Cong.
(d) They take a stand between the Marines and the enemy.

2. What does Caputo say he learns later about the war in Vietnam?
(a) That nine-tenths of the time is waiting for the other one-tenth to happen.
(b) That there would be days when there is no fighting.
(c) That there is never enough time to relax.
(d) That the Viet Cong ha plants in his platoon.

3. In the evening, why are the peasant girls rushing down the road to their village?
(a) They cannot find their way after dark.
(b) The rule is that Vietnamese outside after curfew are considered Viet Cong.
(c) The Viet Cong regularly passes that way in the darkness.
(d) they are frightened by the American Marines.

4. Who seems to know what will happen better than the soldiers?
(a) The telephone operators
(b) The prostitutes
(c) The messhall cooks
(d) The chaplains

5. At what age does Philip Caputo enlist in the Marine Corps?
(a) 19
(b) 21
(c) 20
(d) 18

6. What game are Campbell and Greene playing in the NCO's tent when Caputo enters?
(a) Poker
(b) Cribbage
(c) Canasta
(d) Gin Rummy

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

8. When the Vietnamese children try to sell bottles of Coke, why do the men refuse them?
(a) In that weather the Cokes are all spoiled.
(b) Coke is a weapon often laced with poison or ground glass.
(c) They do not want to deprive the children.
(d) They have no time to drink a Coke.

9. What sobering realization does Caputo come to after his service in Vietnam?
(a) He wants so badly to be a man in the middle of danger, that he did not realize he iss toying with death.
(b) He is too young when he enlists to realize how boring the military really is.
(c) That serving your country is a greater responsibility than anyone understands.
(d) That war is the only answer to the problems of the world.

10. What happens for about twenty-five of the men?
(a) They are put on report for mistakes they made.
(b) They are trucked to Danang for liberty.
(c) They fall ill from dengu fever.
(d) They are the first to get medical exams for tropical diseases.

11. What reality soon sets in for Caputo?
(a) He will never get to see military action.
(b) Battles are fought in the jungle with Viet Cong who refuse to play by the rules learned in military training.
(c) He has not been properly prepared by the Marines.
(d) He has made a big mistake in joining the Marines.

12. What becomes of major importance to Caputo in those early days?
(a) Getting enough sleep
(b) Getting a Washington desk job
(c) Getting the approval of his superiors
(d) Drinking and partying

13. What does Caputo call the training for war?
(a) The last torture
(b) A little bit of hell
(c) The calm before the storm
(d) A subtle kind of mind control

14. What occurs as Caputo walks through the elephant grass in the jungle?
(a) He walks up on an Asian elephant.
(b) He comes face to face with a viet Cong.
(c) He is almost shot by Lance Corporal Skates.
(d) He steps on a land mine that fortunately does not detonate.

15. What famous speech inspires Caputo to join the military?
(a) Kennedy's inaugral "Ask what you can do for your country" speech.
(b) FDR's "Nothing to Fear" speech.
(c) Marc Anthony's "I came not to praise Caesar" speech
(d) King's "I have a dream" speech.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where is Caputo's first command?

2. Why does Caputo choose to enlist with the Marines?

3. When the wounded VC's trail leads around a bend in the river, what choices does Caputo have?

4. What is the change that takes place at Hill 327?

5. What change does Caputo notice in his men back at their position on the hill?

(see the answer keys)

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