The book begins in the midst of a battle during the Vietnam War. The time and exact place are not specified at the outset. The narrator, Tim O'Brien, and another soldier, Barney, lie down side by side while a "volley of fire" roars overhead (2). They discuss how to view the war: as an extraordinary event, or as part of an ordinary string of days. Barney is amazed at the firefight: "You ever see anything like this? Ever?"he asks O'Brien (1). "Yesterday," O'Brien replies, apparently unfazed (1). The discussion continues in this vein: "Ever been shot at ten times in one day?" asks Barney (1). "Yesterday," says O'Brien,"[a]nd the day before that, and the day before that (1).

The efforts of O'Brien and his fellow soldiers seem somewhat haphazard, blasé, or ineffectual. O'Brien and Barney don't fire their rifles in the battle that begins the book. Their commander, Captain Johannsen, orders his men to blow up some Viet Cong tunnels, declining to make them search the tunnels first. Then they march along a trail of “empty villes. No people, no dogs, or chickens" (4). The soldiers' spirits are buoyed by the lack of casualties: "We were charmed" (9).