stated, except that Lt. Martin died in the tunnels. He was also an officer from West Point. Lt. Corson- Frequently referred to simply as the Lieutenant. He takes command of the platoon after Lieutenant Martin, the de facto leader of Berlin's squad. It is stated that he was busted down twice from a higher rank, once fairly and once not. As the story moves on the "Lt." is too old for the war and wants to go back to his country. He is always "sick", says Doc, and the sickness is called homesickness. When the squad reaches India, he is temporarily cured when he meets a woman — a married hotelier who had once studied in Baltimore, Maryland — but he becomes sick again when the squad moves on. Rudy Chassler - Dies from injuries sustained after stepping on a land mine. Jim Pederson - A religious man, who dies in rice a paddy after being shot multiple times by the door gunners in the Chinook helicopter that dropped the platoon there. As he dies, he attempts to shoot down the Chinook. He carries postcard pictures of Christ with him. Oscar Johnson - Black soldier in the Third Squad. He said that the Vietnam cold made him think of Detroit in the month of May, "lootin' weather." It is suggested that Johnson may not be from Detroit at all, despite his ghetto posturing — his mail comes from and goes to Maine, and one of his nicknames is "the nigga from Ba Haba." Ben Nystrom- shot himself in the foot to escape active duty in Vietnam. Vaught- another soldier in their Squad who loses an arm due to infection and leaves the war. Style The Famous Authors website writes, "His incorporation of metaphysical approach attributed a rich quality to his writing style. ... According to him, sometimes the fictional truth is more realistic than [the] factual one. It is because of the fact that fictional truth appeals to the emotion and feelings which makes the literature more meaningful." As a Study Guide notes, the story is told in the third person from Paul Berlin's point of view. Paul Berlin's narrative jumps from his current situation to a (possibly) imaginary observation post where he is on guard duty, to another imaginary trip from Vietnam to Paris, chasing a deserter named Cacciato. Berlin's last name suggests the divisions in his thinking, moods,