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tributary of the Korengal. They started up through the steep holly forests of 1705, crested 5
the top, and then started down the other side.
The enemy was waiting for them. They opened fire from three hundred yards away
with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. A private named Tad Donoho section three
dropped prone and was low-crawling to cover when he saw a line of bullets stitching
toward him in the dirt. He rolled to one side and wound up near PFC Vimoto. Both men
began returning fire, bullets kicking up dirt all around them, and at one point Donoho /
saw Vimoto open his mouth as if he were about to yell something. No sound came out,
though; instead, his head jerked back and then tipped forward. He didn’t move again.
Donoho started shouting for the platoon medic, but there was so much gunfire that Lauren Kay Johnson
no one could hear him. It didn’t matter anyway; the bullet had gone through Vimoto’s
head and killed him instantly. One moment he was in the first firefight of his life, the
next moment he was dead. Donoho shot through all twelve magazines he carried and
then pulled more out of his dead friend’s ammo rack.

What does Junger communicate about the war in Afghanistan in this short excerpt, and how
does he use narrative elements to do so? How might Johnson’s piece have been different in
tone or meaning if she had included details like this?

Understanding and Interpreting

1. The first part of this narrative focuses on Johnson’s memories of the time when her mother
was deployed as part of Desert Storm. Reread paragraphs 1–6, focus on one or two scenes,
and explain what the scenes reveal about Johnson and her feelings at the time.
2. In paragraph 7, Johnson describes her braid. What does this braid represent for her?
3. Based on the details included in the first part of the narrative, what is Johnson’s mother like?
How do you think these qualities influenced Johnson?
4. Describe the setting and characterization details that Johnson provides in the scene at the
airport when she is awaiting her mother’s return. What makes these details so important to the
narrative?
5. At the end of paragraph 12, Johnson writes, “The world was whole again.” What does this
reveal about Johnson at this point in her life?
6. Johnson describes her mother’s homecoming ceremony in paragraphs 11–12. She also
describes the ceremonies she plans and attends for fellow servicemembers years later
(pars. 15–18). In what ways do these homecoming experiences differ for her?
7. When analyzing a narrative, what is not included can be as important as what is. It’s
significant, for example, that Johnson, a combat veteran, doesn’t include much about her
combat experiences in her narrative. What is the effect of this omission? How might the
narrative be different if those details were included?
8. Reread paragraph 21 in which Johnson pictures her own homecoming. Explain what the
details of her imagination reveal about her. Then, contrast this with the details she includes of
her actual homecoming, starting in the next paragraph (par. 22).
9. How is Johnson’s own return similar to and different from her mother’s return? What was
Johnson likely hoping to communicate through this comparison?

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