Young or the Old (Ch. 3)

I can't help but realize that the Alpha Company form the novel is made up from mostly young men form nineteen to mid-twenties. I think that maybe the fact of them being new to war and innocent coming in caused them to be less hardened. The audience is told stories of Norman Bowker and Henry Dobbins playing checkers every night before bed. This shows that they are young and need a release from the war. It also portrays the game as a ritual, which shows that with all of the inconsistencies and nasty surprises of war, the young men need something that is consistent. The men also seemed to be kinder to the natives when they were young. I think that the war had not affected them as much as it had the older soldiers. They hugged the old poppa-san after he led them safely across the mine field and how they gave him a lot of food. I think most of the soldiers would have been to worried about staying alive than thanking the man who kept them alive. The small shred of innocence left in the Alpha Company made them better soldiers I think in times and better people too.