Home Summary and Analysis

Returning home from war is as "mysterious" as going to war in the first place, Marlantes writes in the opening sentences of Chapter 9. As a young man returning to the United States after serving in Vietnam, Marlantes was stationed in Washington D.C. where he found that the sight of his uniform caused many people to avoid him or even to openly taunt him. In one incident he relates he was actually spit on by an attractive young woman on a train.

When Marlantes returned to his home in the Northwest, his parents met him at the airport. He was surprised to see that a young woman he had know in high school had also come to meet him. Her name was Maree Ann and he had not seen her since high school, but she had started to send him letters...