It is uneventful until they are 100 yards from base camp and a VC booby trap kills young Jenkins. Nevertheless, Perry's squad goes out on their first patrol in the pouring rain. Rumors of a possible truce are swirling around the barracks, and many believe that the war will be over soon. They meet the soldiers who will be fighting alongside them, including Johnson and Jenkins, as well as their superiors, Lieutenant Carroll and Sergeant Simpson. Upon landing in Vietnam, Perry and Peewee are assigned to Alpha Company, which is stationed in Chu Lai. He also befriends Judy Duncan, an army nurse from Texas. During the long journey, Perry meets Harold ' Peewee' Gates, a fellow African American private from Chicago. On the plane to Vietnam, Perry thinks about the practical circumstances surrounding his deployment - he is going into combat due to a paperwork error - His recent knee injury should prove him to be unfit for battle, but his medical profile has not yet made it through the proper bureaucratic channels. Knowing that his single mother cannot afford college, he has decided to turn to the army for answers. Since graduating from high school, Perry has been feeling uncertain about what he wants to do with his life. The novel follows the journey of seventeen-year-old Richie Perry, an African American private from New York City.
Fallen Angels takes place in 1968, against the backdrop of the Vietnam War.
