Lieutenant Carroll's Fallen Angels

In the novel Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, Lieutenant Carroll, the first leader the soldiers have in the novel, said, “’My father used to call soldiers angel warriors, because usually they get boys to fight wars. Most of you aren’t old enough to vote yet’” (44). The extremity of the youth of the soldiers was unbelievable. Through all they went through, one would assume that only grown men who have experienced the realities of the world were capable of handling the hardships in the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Carroll, ironically, was seen as the wise, older leader of the squad but he was only twenty-three year old. Today, a twenty-three year old is usually fresh out of college and still immature and ignorant to the true meaning of life. The
When the soldiers first got there, they were nervous because it was their first time fighting in a war. Everything was new to them. When Jenkins died, they got hit with the harsh reality of war. After the sorrow from his death had passed, they joked around with each other all the time and were carefree. They did not realize that everything they did had a consequence that could lead to them going home or not. A Vietcong questioned Peewee and Peewee told him accurate information about himself and almost got killed. The soldiers were all so young and inexperienced so they panicked when something bad happened and ended up making a mistake. Richie missed a mission, so he went with a different squad to do what they were assigned. The soldiers were so frantic that they accidentally fired on their own platoon and killed more than a dozen American soldiers. As the novel progressed, the soldiers gained more experience and learned how to handle situations better when under pressure. Perry’s squad went on a pacification mission and said, “They were supposed to think we were the good guys… I didn’t like having to convince anybody that I was the good guy… We, the Americans, were the good guys” (112). They could not comprehend that anyone would think that the Americans were not trying to help. When the village burning happened, all of the men were confused as to why anyone would do such disturbing things like cutting off a baby’s head. During that time, Richie faced his first face-to-face encounter with a Vietcong that almost shot Richie. When an icky situation actually happens, one forgets all of his/her training and panics and/or draws a blank. Richie ends up going to the recovery hospital because he was injured and he loved the experience. It was calm and relaxing. Although Perry completely dreaded going back to his squad from the recovery hospital, he was thankful that he got a “break” from the war.