Rat Kiley Chapter Summaries
Rat Kiley often tells stories, and it's hard to know whether they actually happened or not; he believes in story-truth, not happening-truth. But the story that Rat is about to tell, he claims, is absolutely and completely true—something that he saw with his own eyes.
Mitchell Sanders says that the story—about a medic who ships his girlfriend over to Vietnam from Ohio—couldn't possibly be true. But Rat insists.
The story starts when Rat is assigned to a small medical detachment in the mountains near a village called Tra Bong and a river called the Song Tra Bong. There isn't a lot of military oversight in the medics' compound, and the security is provided by a mix of RFs (Regional Forces), PFs (Popular Forces), and ARVN (Army of the Republic …show more content…
And we couldn't possibly do the creepiness of this justice, so you should really go read it right now. Still, we'll try to give a summary.
The room is dark, lit by twelve candles. There's the stench of incense and something else. There are human bones. There are dead animals. The Greenies are all lying around on hammocks or cots, and none of them move.
Mark Fossie asks for Mary Anne, and she steps forward. She's wearing her pink sweater and her culottes. Her eyes are emotionless. Horrifyingly, she's wearing a necklace made out of human tongues.
She tells Fossie that he doesn't understand Vietnam, that she feels like she wants to eat the whole country, that she can never get enough of it.
Rat leads Fossie out of the hootch, telling him that Mary Anne is gone.
That's where Rat Kiley stops telling the story. Mitchell Sanders asks what happened to Mary Anne, and Rat says he isn't sure. He transferred to the Alpha Company a couple of days later, but he has some secondhand reports.
He also says that he'd loved Mary Anne. She's the only American girl he's met who really understood the war, because she'd been
Mitchell Sanders says that the story—about a medic who ships his girlfriend over to Vietnam from Ohio—couldn't possibly be true. But Rat insists.
The story starts when Rat is assigned to a small medical detachment in the mountains near a village called Tra Bong and a river called the Song Tra Bong. There isn't a lot of military oversight in the medics' compound, and the security is provided by a mix of RFs (Regional Forces), PFs (Popular Forces), and ARVN (Army of the Republic …show more content…
And we couldn't possibly do the creepiness of this justice, so you should really go read it right now. Still, we'll try to give a summary.
The room is dark, lit by twelve candles. There's the stench of incense and something else. There are human bones. There are dead animals. The Greenies are all lying around on hammocks or cots, and none of them move.
Mark Fossie asks for Mary Anne, and she steps forward. She's wearing her pink sweater and her culottes. Her eyes are emotionless. Horrifyingly, she's wearing a necklace made out of human tongues.
She tells Fossie that he doesn't understand Vietnam, that she feels like she wants to eat the whole country, that she can never get enough of it.
Rat leads Fossie out of the hootch, telling him that Mary Anne is gone.
That's where Rat Kiley stops telling the story. Mitchell Sanders asks what happened to Mary Anne, and Rat says he isn't sure. He transferred to the Alpha Company a couple of days later, but he has some secondhand reports.
He also says that he'd loved Mary Anne. She's the only American girl he's met who really understood the war, because she'd been