Pharaoh’s Army: Memories of the Lost War

Wolff is discharged in Oakland the day he returns; he is asked if he wants to sign up for another tour and return at the rank of Captain, but he declines.

He spends a week at a hotel in San Francisco, wandering the city during the day and hitting the bars at night. He returns once to the Haight; however, the “hug patrols” have been replaced by angry, destitute people, and he does not go back. He understands that he could head back to Washington—his mother and brother are anxious for him to return, while Vera has broken things off with her new boyfriend and is looking to try again with Wolff—but he chooses to remain in San Francisco, in part due to shame.

One day, he takes the bus to Berkeley with the intent to apply to school, figuring that his father’s residence will get him a break on tuition. He stops to listen to speakers at a protest, though, and laughs out loud when one declares himself to be “in a state of unconditional war with the United States” (195). Another listener makes a condescending remark toward Wolff, and the two nearly come to blows.