Chapter 5, Part I Colleagues Summary and Analysis

Herr begins with a devised scene from World War II. A silver-haired war correspondent types a story in a bunker by candlelight. Two soldiers observe and the young one, the Kid, asks the Colonel why the correspondent does this by choice. The Colonel speculates that the correspondent might feel he has a job to do and that he truly cares.

Referring to war correspondents as "Those Crazy Guys Who Cover The War", Herr describes the complex relationships that develop among reporters, photographers, and different kinds of soldiers. Most of the reporters also haul cameras along with them, but Herr does not. He prefers to do his scenes in words and rejects the added burdens of cameras. The reporters and photographers treat each other as colleagues, fellow professionals who understand each other's motivations and feelings toward...