In Chapter 11, the soldiers set up base in an abandoned pagoda except for two monks. The men and the monks ignored each other for the most part. However, after a day or so, Henry Dobbins befriended the two over the seven or eight days. There was a language barrier between them but they became friends anyway. Henry Dobbins did not know much of the language, but he did say one phrase to the monks after they helped him clean his weapon and after he gave them fruit and chocolate- didi mau- which means go quickly. I think that that simple display of trying to communicate with the monks in their own language really shows something about the U.S. soldiers who were fighting a war they could never win in the conditions. They are appreciative of the monk's hospitality if you will, and it is proven that in other countries that if one makes an effort to communicate with the native people in their own language that makes a difference. Henry Dobbins says at the end of the chapter, "All you can do is be nice. Treat them decent, you know?" It shows that even though the men are only nineteen and twenty years old and fighting in a war, they are not hardened to the point that they terrorize the natives like some U.S. soldiers did in My Lai massacre.
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