Where they want to see order and meaning, they find only chaos and senselessness. Where they want to see only a separation between right and wrong, they instead find moral ambiguity.

‚The unspeakable horrors around the boys force them to contemplate a world that does not conform to their childish and simplistic notions. The war soon changes the naive boys, into harden young men. Dan Myers holds this theme of innocence above all the others, race, class, or religion. In chapter four Lieutenant Carroll states ‚All soldiers are Angel Warriors‚. These young men were expected to go out and fight an enemy that many of them did not know, or know the exact reason for the fighting. Richie was nineteen, fresh out of high school, had never left Harlem, smoked a cigar, drank wine, or the most important to Riche made love to a women. When Richie enters Vietnam he was young in many ways, innocent in even more. ‚The title of the novel Fallen Angels immediately emphasizes the theme of youth and innocence‚(Spark Notes). Soldiers in Vietnam were not all grown men, insted teenagers who had not experienced the world. Racial issues made an already miserable war, even harder for Richie, being the most venerable to attack based on the color of one skin even though they belonged to the same unit, fighting for the same side shows the different issues with the Vietnam War. Early in their tour of duty, there are racial and ethnic tensions among the squad members, which frequently result in physical confrontations.‚(Spark Notes). His replacement is the racist Sergeant Donagan, who always places black soldiers in the most dangerous positions. ‚Richie learns that the old squad leader, Sargent Sampson has been sent home.

Though this made his life tough it never put him in life in the line of gunfire on a day to day bases. Richie a young black soldier from Harlem has had to deal with racism his entire life.

Fallen angels walter dean