Chapter 5 Summary

Combat training under Sgt. Zim and the battalion commander, Capt. Frankel, covers everything from bare-hand fighting to the simulated use of nuclear weapons. Shujumi serves as a martial arts instructor. Knives are Zim’s favorite and, as the ranks thin, he proves a patient instructor. When Ted Hendrick questions the value of knives against modern weaponry, Zim demonstrates it. When Hendrick persists, Zim reminds him of H&MP lessons about war being “controlled and purposeful violence,” not just killing enemies. Statesmen decide why and how soldiers will fight and generals determine when, where, and how. If Hendrick cannot accept this, he will never be a soldier.

They train with sticks, wire, “obsolete” weapons like bayonets, and modern weapons of mass destruction, learning to service and maintain equipment and to be “on the bounce” for any circumstance. Of necessity, they simulate a lot. They...