Major Spring Sessions

Character Analysis

You'd think a character with the name Spring would be really perky—and, in fact, she seems that way at first. Sessions is Coles' superior, and Birdy describes her as: "cute, black, and had a smile that lit up the headquarters tent" (1.1).

But Coles warns the unit that looks aren't everything, saying:

"Major Sessions has a nice voice, a pretty face, and a very nasty disposition." (1.30)

Later, we see a flash of that nasty disposition on the one mission Sessions accompanies the unit on, when she orders Iraqis around like they're her servants. Another strike against Sessions: she gets to stay in the safe zone while sending her troops on dangerous missions. She ultimately can't handle the one mission she goes on, throwing up from the smell in the hospital morgue.

But even if she's flawed, Sessions is no unfeeling robot. She cries when Pendleton dies, and later, when the unit's about to be sent on a dangerous mission, Birdy notices she isn't thrilled about it.

"Sometimes I feel as if we're being asked to do a lot," she answered. "But I know that if we weren't doing a good job they wouldn't be asking. So…" (14.165)

Sessions is losing faith in their mission, too. She can't even finish her sentence.