Kovic's first glimpse of a change in attitude towards the war occurred on the battlefield in Vietnam. During a violent firefight, the corporal of Kovic's troop was shot and killed. Not only was the corporal killed, but Kovic also thought he might have been the one who shot the corporal. It was at this time that Kovic first questioned why he was in Vietnam fighting for his country. This particular incident made Kovic realize that innocent people were being killed. Killing the corporal had a strong impact on him because for the first time he had killed one of the "good" guys, and not the Communist enemy. After Kovic shot the corporal, he admitted to the major that he believed he was the one who killed the corporal. When Kovic did this, the major reassured him that it could get very confusing on the battlefield and that most likely Kovic did not kill the corporal (193). As a result, the major gave Kovic a second chance and made him feel better about what happened on the battlefield that day. In the book, Kovic states that after talking to the major, his thoughts of killing the corporal had begun to fade. That night, Kovic wrote in his diary how lucky he was to be in Vietnam fighting for America (198). Although Kovic had begun to forget about killing the corporal and was again feeling about participating in Vietnam War, he was just in a state of denial. It would only be a matter of time before Kovic would again question the war in Vietnam. The killing of the corporal would soon start to subconsciously eat away at Kovic.
Consequently, Kovic would not be able to block the killing of the corporal out of his mind for long. An incident far more severe would jog his memory and again make Kovic think twice about the value of fighting in the war. The tragic event took place one night when Kovic and his troops were out on patrol. On that particular night, Kovic's lieutenant thought they had come upon an enemy campground and he ordered them to blow up the campsite.