Dave Jenson and Lee Strunk These Alpha Company soldiers demonstrate the close relationship between aggression and camaraderie. They serve as foil for one another, each bringing the other to the edge of loyalty and violence. They make an agreement to kill the other should he sustain a permanently debilitating wound.
Bobby Jorgenson The medic who replaces Rat Kiley, Jorgenson symbolizes the young, inexperienced, "green" soldier, or "FNG." When O'Brien is shot a second time, Jorgenson is too afraid to help him quickly, and O'Brien subsequently develops a hideous infection. O'Brien later gets revenge when he and Azar play mind tricks on Jorgenson.
Young soldier in the field Representing naiveté and shock, this member of Alpha Company is talking to Kiowa when the attack begins that takes Kiowa's life. The next morning he cannot think of anything but the picture of his girlfriend lost in the attack.
Mary Anne Bell Girlfriend to soldier Mark Fossie, she represents the corruption of innocence that takes place in war. She arrives wearing "white culottes and this sexy pink sweater," fresh from suburban U.S., and becomes a bestial instrument of death, scarier than even the Green Berets.
Mark Fossie Medic at Tra Bong who brings his girlfriend, Mary Anne Bell, over to Vietnam from the U.S.
Eddie Diamond Narcotic-addicted, highest-ranking officer in the Tra Bong area medic camp that Rat Kiley is temporarily assigned to with Mark Fossie and Mary Anne Bell.
North Vietnamese soldier Soldier killed by "O'Brien." "O'Brien" invents an entire personal history for this soldier and feels shock and guilt for killing him. The soldier also appears in "O'Brien's" dreams years later.
Vietnamese girl Traumatized sole survivor of a village, Alpha Company comes across this girl dancing in the midst of rubble and corpses.
Kathleen Young daughter of "O'Brien" who accompanies him back to Vietnam and to the spot where Kiowa died. She cannot understand why her father cannot put the war behind him.
