In this chapter, we learn that Sergeant Red's collar has been torn, as if it were tied tightly around his neck. This is the first time we've heard of this happening, and we're not sure what to make of it. Sergeant Red tells us that he used to be so indifferent to love, but now he's torn between his duty and his feelings. He's worried that his fellow soldiers are spreading rumors about him, and he tells them to stop talking about him. He also tells them that the commander of the 707th regiment, who won the battle against the Volks, was delighted with the victory. The soldiers, he says, lost their minds after the battle and began to run away without caring for their fallen comrades. They're just "cowardly bastards" who wouldn't run away if the commanders tried to stop them. The narrator says that most of the commissioned officers in the regiment are sick, and that's why they can't do anything about it. He reminds us that when he was younger, he was like this, too, but after seeing him with someone else, he realized that he was being taken away from him. So, he asks her to forget her, and let him take her place as her lover. He tells her that he'll do his best, but that she'll have to come back and tell him that she likes him when she gets back. He doesn't know how to face her when he comes back, because they went from being enemies to being comrades.