Summary

Chapter 13: A few days before Christmas, 1967, Richie and Peewee discuss whether they should try to have sex with a foreign woman before the end of the war. Word was a truce was going to be reached in time for the Vietnamese New Year. Richie wonders if he will be ready to face the world again, especially since he knows there has been a lot of racial tension while he has been deployed. The squad eats their regular meal of roast beef, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots and carrot cake for Christmas dinner.

Word comes to the camp that an established Vietnamese Army was joining the fight against the Americans. Worrying about Vietcong guerrilla fighters was one thing, but an organized army was a totally different thing. Richie can hear the booming of artillery fighting in the distance and knows a truce is not even close...