The next morning, Miles wakes up to find that he's studying. He's going to build a gingerbread house, which he'll eat whenever he wants to. He asks Miles if he should go to bed, but Miles says he should read more before they go to sleep. He tells Miles to knock on the door and ask the commander if he'd like to go to the noncommissioned officers' school. The commander tells Miles that the situation in the war is grim, and that he doesn't really want to become a commissioned officer. Miles is worried about the fact that the war won't break out, and he says it's not his place to worry about it. He wants to be a soldier, not a failure of one. Miles asks what he thinks about the current state of affairs in the unit, and the commander tells him that he needs to get ready to go into the school. He also tells Miles not to call him "foggy" and not to think that the unit's puppy is the reason for the gloomy atmosphere. Miles agrees that the puppy needs a new girl to erase the pain of the war. Miles says that he knows that red is like him and that she needs to learn to have fun, so he plans to introduce her to someone else. He says that the booby traps need to be installed before he leaves for the school so that he can read a magazine while he waits for his return.