Chapter 12: Civilian Summary and Analysis

As soon as Wolff stepped off the plane in Oakland, the personnel officer told him if he re-upped for another tour he would be promoted to captain. Wolff was not even tempted. He'd been a soldier for four years, since he was eighteen. Even though he didn't miss the Army, he had to adjust to being a civilian again. He dragged his feet about returning to Washington, DC. His mother and brother and Vera, who broke up with her boyfriend, were all anxious to see him. But he delayed going. He thought about enrolling in college in California but didn't following through with it. There were protesters on the street calling for the end of the war. He got in a fight with a fellow who was making disparaging remarks about him as he walked by.

Wolff surprised his...