Summary

The chapter titled 1968 opens with Bill Houston, who has a fight with a fellow seaman just weeks before Bill is slated for discharge. He's released early. He's at his mother's home in Phoenix when James calls. They talk for a few minutes and Bill says Stevie has been by to visit. James says Bill shouldn't tell Stevie about the phone call. Bill finds work in the early spring.

James is on patrol when an officer commands the men to burn all the huts, called hooches. He and a new member of the unit wonder about the situation but are given no real information. Soon, there is gunfire nearby and soon after that, James and several others are involved in a heavy battle. For a time, James and a few others are separated from the main body of the Echo unit. Sergeant Harmon arrives and gathers...