Chapter 2 Summary and Analysis

In Chapter 2: The Marine Years, Dakota's goodbyes with his family are somber as they are naturally concerned by his desire to be a Marine. Dakota joins twenty other recruits on a bus to Parris Island, SC where they are taught that if one of them fails, they all fail. The first month is spent breaking them down, and they are built back up in the second month. After graduating, Dakota spends two months at the School of Infantry where he learns fundamental tactics, and five months after joining up, he is sent to the Third Marine Regiment in Hawaii where he is assigned to a four-man team led by Lance Cpl Daniel Kreitzer who teaches the team how to move on the battlefield together. When Dakota decides that he wants to be a sniper, he spends 80 days with Staff Sgt Mike...