How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
My brother, TJ, was going to war, and I was fired up hotter than a volcano. TJ and I had grown up in the Army, we were the Colonel's children, but that was not the same as being a soldier in the very heart of combat. (1.1)
Jamie is incredibly jealous of her brother and wishes she could go to war, too. Right away, we see how much Jamie loves war and admires soldiers, but we can't help but feel that she doesn't know the full story. Check out how she describes war like a kid would, full of the glory but none of the harsh realities of it.
Quote #2
"What you're talking about is philosophy," Private Hollister said. "I'm talking about feelings. Ain't no mother happy about her son going to war." (1.41)
Huh? Jamie is shocked that Hollister—a soldier himself—would speak out against war. She knows that war is necessary and important. It's never occurred to her that her parents might not be thrilled with her brother enlisting because she's thinking about it in an abstract, impersonal way.
Quote #3
We'd been playing war all our lives, and more than once TJ had said he'd like to get a taste of real combat, to see if he could handle it. (2.29)
We're not sure the best reason to go to war is to see if you can stomach it. Even so, Jamie understands her brother's decision to sign up—it's part of who they are. Here's the problem with that, though: Jamie is so focused on war being natural and normal in her life that she doesn't really stop to think about what it means. Her brother might get hurt (or worse) over there.
Quote #4
I was dying to know what the war was like. TJ's letter to my parents hadn't said much at all. […] There was nothing in it that let you taste the true flavor of war, smell the smoke of bombs, hear the helicopters as they took off from the middle of the jungle. (4.29)
Is it just us or does that sound freaky? It's no fun running from gunfire in the middle of the jungle, yet Jamie yearns for all those gory details. To her, war is like a video game or a movie, where there are no real consequences to think about. Too bad that's not how it is in real life.
Quote #5
"Isn't this amazing?" I asked him, feeling excited about the work I'd done. "I mean, it's a picture of somebody who's actually been hit by the enemy. It's the real war." (7.24)
Private Hollister doesn't want to see the pictures TJ sends over. Why? He doesn't want to see dead bodies of soldiers. There's enough of that on TV. While Jamie is ecstatic over the gruesome details of the photos, Hollister really stops and thinks about what they mean. To him, that's some guy who's been injured, not just a cool photo.
Quote #6
Was he trying to scare me? Or was he just trying to tell me that war wasn't anything like the way we'd dreamed it, playing with our little green Army men under the trees? (11.22)
At first Jamie is bummed about getting the photos from TJ—she wants a juicy letter instead—but pretty soon, she wonders why he sends the pictures. We'd like to point out that war isn'tanything like how she imagines it, so it's no wonder the photos scare her. They show what war is really like.
Quote #7
But the funny thing was, it almost made me feel sad to say it. Because I knew that if I wanted TJ home, then I had lost my good feelings about the war forever. I had lost the excitement that used to get me so wound up I could hardly calm back down again for hours. (11.38)
Ouch. The more Jamie thinks about the war, the more she comes to terms with the fact that it might not be the best thing after all. That might sound obvious, but it's quite a shock to Jamie. War has become a part of who she is because she and her family are always so wrapped up in it.
Quote #8
When TJ had come home for a few days after basic training, he'd looked like a completely different person. He looked like a soldier. I was almost scared to talk to him. (12.1)
It's interesting the effect a short amount of training can have on a guy—Jamie tells us how different TJ was when he came home from training as a way of showing us how much war changes people. Even before the guy has seen real combat, he's different. Just hearing about war in training has made him grow up.
Quote #9
"It's a worthless war?" My mouth hung open. The Colonel was calling Vietnam a worthless war? (13.26)
When the Colonel lets it slip that the war is worthless, Jamie's reaction is shock. She can't believe her dad would say something like that about a war. After all, he's an army hero and no stranger to war. It helps us realize that not all wars are the same. Sure, you might be all for fighting when necessary, but that doesn't mean you're ready to sign up for all wars.
Quote #10
On the wall behind him hung plaques in neat rows announcing his various awards and honors, and directly over his head was the 1st Cavalry insignia, needlepointed and framed by my mother. (15.12)
Her dad's desk shows off his military prowess, and frankly, intimidates us a little bit. Gulp. Jamie looks at her dad's awards and thinks of him as a colonel, not her dad. It's important that we get to see how brave and respected the Colonel is because it shows us a different side of war that Jamie is more familiar with.