In “Prayer in the Furnace,” the chaplain visits with a Marine named Rodriguez. Rodriguez is jittery and angry, giving the chaplain a vibe that he doesn’t want to be around. Rodriguez hints that he is responsible for something that resulted in a Marine’s death. One of the men in Rodriguez’s unit, Fujita, has just died, and the chaplain wonders if Rodriguez might be referring to him. At first, he is unsure whether to treat their conversation as if it were a confession from a parishioner to a priest or a military subordinate to a superior—he outranks Rodriguez. As he learns more through subsequent conversations with Rodriguez, he becomes increasingly disturbed. He is convinced that an investigation is warranted, but when he approaches his superiors, he is rebuffed harshly each time. The Marines are not interested in investigating anything to do with their unit, Charlie Company, which has produced more kills than any other squad.

The chaplain eventually writes to one of his mentors from the seminary, hoping for advice. His mentor replies that the only thing he can do is to make sure that the Marines know that they do not suffer alone and also that their suffering is inevitable.