Summary of Frederick Downs, Jr.'s The Killing Zone

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

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#1 I was excited to be heading to Vietnam, where I would be able to find answers to my many questions about war and my role in it. I was surprised at the number of lights below. I had always thought that a war zone would be blacked out, but the jewels of lights spread haphazardly through the dark.

#2 I was waiting with my duffle bag and flight bag at the airport, long before transportation arrived to take us to the camp. Vietnamese were everywhere, on the roads and in the camp. They were in places I thought would be taboo on a military base.

#3 I was assigned to the supply sergeant for my equipment. He gave me two sets of jungle fatigues, olive-drab underwear, a towel, and a M-16 rifle with magazines. He told me to stuff all of my other junk into my duffle bag.

#4 I was transferred to the Third Brigade of the Fourth Division, located in Due Pho, Vietnam. The camp was fully developed to the west, and more units were assigned areas in a steadily encroaching circle around to the east side, toward the sea.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Apr 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669380542

IRB Media

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Insights on Frederick Downs and Jr.'s The Killing Zone

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

I was excited to be heading to Vietnam, where I would be able to find answers to my many questions about war and my role in it. I was surprised at the number of lights below. I had always thought that a war zone would be blacked out, but the jewels of lights spread haphazardly through the dark.

#2

I was waiting with my duffle bag and flight bag at the airport, long before transportation arrived to take us to the camp. Vietnamese were everywhere, on the roads and in the camp. They were in places I thought would be taboo on a military base.

#3

I was assigned to the supply sergeant for my equipment. He gave me two sets of jungle fatigues, olive-drab underwear, a towel, and a M-16 rifle with magazines. He told me to stuff all of my other junk into my duffle bag.

#4

I was transferred to the Third Brigade of the Fourth Division, located in Due Pho, Vietnam. The camp was fully developed to the west, and more units were assigned areas in a steadily encroaching circle around to the east side, toward the sea.

#5

The company area was L-shaped. Out beyond the top of the L were the bunkers and the barbed wire. Beyond that, rice paddies ran to the low sand dunes along the ocean. The company clerks were happy to tell me all about the best damn outfit in Nam.

#6

I was in an actual war zone, and the sounds of mortars, 105 recoiless rifle, and artillery guns occasionally firing a round were strange and frightening. I lay down again, unable to sleep because of the sounds of mortars and artillery.

#7

The idea was to fire