What are some of the examples of how inadequate the equipment and intelligence the Marines had, and how did this hinder their efforts in battle? If you were faced with the same shortages and oversights, would you react more like Oblensky or Schneider?

Pickering was enlisted by Knox because Knox could not trust his own staff to tell him the truth. What was the basis of the resentments between the Navy and the Marines? Were these differences justified? How could these animosities be addressed and resolved?

The author has a few female characters in this novel: Mary Agnes, Flo Oblensky, Barbara, Caroline, Patricia Pickering and Ellen Feller. How are they different? How are they alike? Compare especially Caroline and Mary Agnes to Patricia Pickering and Flo Oblensky.

What was the significance of Pickering's great wealth and access to private estates and vehicles from wealthy...