Characters

Paul Berlin
The POV is third person, but we can only see into the mid of Private First Class Paul Berlin.  He's kind of a shy yet strong willed man.  A passage about one of his first missions show his non-outgoing demeanor and his ability to push through even if it means vegging out.

The road was very dry. It did not kick up dust as he climbed. Solid like summer cement. He did not want to think. The upward climb took energy from his thoughts and sent it to his legs and hips and back, and he climbed without thinking, just climbed, just kept climbing, but then he felt himself slipping. It happened first on the climb to the mountains, slipping out of himself, and, still climbing, he looked up at the summit of the small mountain, climbing but also slipping quietly out of himself, looked up to see the blond-headed lieutenant looking down.              (p 162)

Paul Berlin kept getting lost in himself in order to push himself up to the summit of the mountain to set up post.  Most of the squad were talking to each other along the trail, but PFC Paul Berlin trudged along the red dirt road alone and the Lt. noticed it.  They were all soldiers, however they weren't all good soldiers.  Good soldiers had heart and carried out every task and every mission with pride in their squad and country.  The only thing that keeps Paul Berlin down every so often is himself.  He gets lost in his thoughts of the past and wishes he were there or had done something differently and it hurts him now because the focus is no longer on his and the squad's survival, but selfish with his own actions.

As a reader, Paul Berlin is nothing special and you are confused about his love affair with a teenage girl whom he just met but is already deep in love with.  I have noticed that all other characters have a military nickname except for Paul Berlin and his former Lt. Sidney Martin.  Could this perhaps be foreshadowing Paul Berlin's successful future in which he moves up in the ranks?

Cacciato
So far, very unimportant.  However the novel is named after him for Christ sake! He's just a dumb dude who decided to go AWOL and desert his squad and to prevent future AWOLs, they are going to track him down and punish him.

Doc Peret
The smartest guy in the squad.  Does all the talking within the group and with others in each place they stop.  He is the medic, however he prescribes the new Lt. as just having Nostalgia, or "homesickness" from the war.  The Lt. has been at war so long that it has become his home and leaving it has caused his sickness and frequent spells of dysentery.