Lieutenant Hardman Character Analysis

Lieutenant Hardman is Colonel Riggs' primary helicopter pilot. He was once very tall and strong, though the reader never sees him this way because he has become bedridden by the beginning of the novel. He's one of the first characters to experience the disturbing dreams, and in the views of his companions, the dreams drive Hardman crazy. After spending several weeks ill, supposedly with malaria, in the sick bay, he makes a desperate escape to run south the day before Riggs and his crew are scheduled to leave for Camp Byrd. When it becomes apparent that Hardman will not allow himself to be forced to go quietly north, Riggs lets him go. Kerans finds him months later when he makes his own journey south. By then, Hardman is blind from looking at the sun, has cancer in his eyes, and doesn't recognize Kerans. He continues his journey alone after Kerans gives him water and tends to his eyes, but surely dies soon afterwards.