pp. 144-164, Dry Rot Summary

Joe is a young Navy man stationed on a small coral island. There are eight hundred men there and two airstrips, and Joe has been on the island for twenty-seven months. He is trying to avoid the sort of trouble that has gotten other men there arrested. Some men try to escape, while others go crazy over whiskey. Joe gets skin diseases that do not respond to treatment, until a treatment makes it finally go away. All of the men have malaria and take atabrine, but there are rumors that atabrine will destroy the men's virility until they are effectively countered by island doctors. A new skipper for the island gets Joe in trouble when the men are forced to sleep under mosquito nets. Joe refuses and is threatened with court martial. He solves his problem by...