Norman Bowker A foot soldier in Alpha Company, Bowker embodies the effect known as "survivor guilt." He cannot forgive himself for outliving his friends who died in battle. He feels intense culpability for Kiowa's death and cannot adjust to civilian life in his small hometown after the war. He wants O'Brien to write a story about a guy like him who cannot talk about his war-related trauma. Bowker eventually commits suicide.
Rat Kiley The medic of Alpha Company, Rat represents the allure and the danger of storytelling. He is known for spinning yarns and making grotesque exaggerations. Rat helps O'Brien when he is shot for the first time. Rat's imagination eventually claims his sanity, as he begins to hallucinate in-country. He shoots himself, not to kill, but to be excused from war because of injury.
Azar A foot soldier in Alpha Company, Azar is the wild man who enjoys war. He makes jokes about death, even the death of Kiowa. He mocks the movements of a traumatized Vietnamese girl dancing for fun and helps O'Brien play a cruel prank on Jorgenson. Azar's real allegiance is to war itself, not to his friends or his cause.
Henry Dobbins Dobbins is a foot soldier in Alpha Company who symbolizes "America itself, big and strong…slow of foot but always plodding along." He is a large man with a soft heart who feels sympathy for others and anger against unwarranted cruelty. He has a keen sense of morality and treats everyone, enemies and friends, with respect.
Mitchell Sanders The radio officer of Alpha Company, Sanders is the voice of soldierly experience and practical wisdom. He tells stories about how other soldiers react to Vietnam, and he vehemently blames Lt. Cross for Kiowa's death due to his incompetence as a leader.
Ted Lavender A soldier in Alpha Company who represents emotional escapism from the war. He achieves this escapism through drug abuse and ultimately is killed.
