Paul Berlin arrives at Chu Lai’s Combat Center for training on June 3, 1968. The next morning, he is taken to a set of wooden bleachers that face the ocean with the other new recruits. A corporal sits in the sand, stares at the sea, and says nothing for an hour. He then looks at the men and says, “That completes your first lecture on how to survive this shit. I hope you paid attention” (37).

They use the nearby village to train for search-and-destroy missions, and Paul interrogates a small girl. The soldiers receive instruction in various survival methods, weaponry, and enemy tactics. They travel across a pretend minefield where an officer yells BOOMO at random. “Paul Berlin, feeling hurt at being told he was a dead man, complained that it was unfair” (38). Paul dislikes being called a “twerp” and other names—he admits that he’s afraid but hopes it will go away. He writes to his father, trying to sound brave, but asking him to look up Chu Lai up on a map because he feels lost.

Six days pass in this manner, with Paul staying apart from the other men and trying to absorb his new reality.