The Bridges, p. 15-62, Sept. 8th to Oct. 5th Summary and Analysis

The author, Lt. Frederick Downs is surprised that the lights are blazing at the airfield when he arrives in Vietnam, on September 8th, 1967. It does not look like an airfield in the middle of a war zone. Still, there is a foreboding notion that there is a war out there, and men will die, and be wounded and crippled. The author, Lt. Frederick Downs, is a Lieutenant, fresh out of OCS, Officer Candidate School. Lt. Downs sees he is going to the 4th Division, based in Pleiku, in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam, and he hears that there is plenty of fighting there. The truck driver who is transporting the Lieutenant, tells him about Pleiku. There are many Vietnamese working there, who are called...