Perry Chappelle
Full Name: Perry Martin Chappelle. For info on the rest of his platoon, click here.
Age: Deployed at 21, discharged at 22, dies at 24
Physical Notes: His facial structure is important! Moderately aquiline nose, large mouth, squared-off chin, round eyes, triangle/rectangle face, and some cheekbone showing. His frame is rather small, a bit on the short side, and strong, although without any extra muscle built up from working out. He stands at around 5'8" or so, or about 173cm. The thumb and first two fingers on his left hand are covered in scars from his knife slipping while whittling. Although mostly superficial, a few are clearly the result of more serious wounds. He picks up smoking after deployment, but he's hardly ever seen doing it because he rations himself while off-base to save cigarettes.
About: Born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he was a biology major prior to being drafted into the Vietnam War. He was forced to drop out of school and give up his draft exemption due to anxiety and paranoia issues that interfered with his studies. They weren't debilitating enough to keep him out of the service, but they were enough to make him come off as odd to the people around him. After deployment to Vietnam in 1967, the problems intensified until he was unable to perform his duties, and he was finally sent to Saigon for several months of recovery. Instead of being discharged, however, he was put back into the field after the stint of R&R. During his time with his second platoon he picked up whittling as an obsessive compulsive method of dealing with his mental issues. Although still very jumpy and suspicious about most people around him, he manages to function more or less normally.
However, unknown to him, his turn to whittling was also in part because of the influence of an unseen supernatural force generated by the war. His sculptures are strange, half-abstract shapes that at first glance may appear familiar, but are in fact incredibly disconcerting to look at. His pack and pockets eventually fill up with them because he knows that if he stops creating, he'll lose control of himself. The force - in addition to the "normal" horror of war - was why he deteriorated so quickly upon initially arriving in Vietnam. After he's reintegrated into his second platoon extremely strange things start happening, with people disappearing and reappearing changed at a later time, day/night cycles seeming to warp, platoon members turning on one another, and so forth. However, the group cannot afford to be caught off-guard in the hostile environment of the Vietnamese jungle. The force eventually becomes manifest through actions Perry takes under its influence, driving the story to its climax. He ultimately suffers a gunshot wound to the chest and is discharged for good, dying several years later in an institution in the States.
During his time in his second platoon, although doubtful of the intentions of everyone to some extent, he's most friendly towards Eddie, Bits, and Pim. Hirschfield just gets on his nerves, and he's most closed while dealing with Brockman and Darren. His story could be described as being in the genre of "slipstream fiction."
Art Suggestions: Whittling, spaced out on a cot in Saigon, interacting with his platoon mates, bandaging his left hand, madly attacking someone with a machete, pulling Pim away from a mine explosion, younger and in a college class.
Age: Deployed at 21, discharged at 22, dies at 24
Physical Notes: His facial structure is important! Moderately aquiline nose, large mouth, squared-off chin, round eyes, triangle/rectangle face, and some cheekbone showing. His frame is rather small, a bit on the short side, and strong, although without any extra muscle built up from working out. He stands at around 5'8" or so, or about 173cm. The thumb and first two fingers on his left hand are covered in scars from his knife slipping while whittling. Although mostly superficial, a few are clearly the result of more serious wounds. He picks up smoking after deployment, but he's hardly ever seen doing it because he rations himself while off-base to save cigarettes.
About: Born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he was a biology major prior to being drafted into the Vietnam War. He was forced to drop out of school and give up his draft exemption due to anxiety and paranoia issues that interfered with his studies. They weren't debilitating enough to keep him out of the service, but they were enough to make him come off as odd to the people around him. After deployment to Vietnam in 1967, the problems intensified until he was unable to perform his duties, and he was finally sent to Saigon for several months of recovery. Instead of being discharged, however, he was put back into the field after the stint of R&R. During his time with his second platoon he picked up whittling as an obsessive compulsive method of dealing with his mental issues. Although still very jumpy and suspicious about most people around him, he manages to function more or less normally.
However, unknown to him, his turn to whittling was also in part because of the influence of an unseen supernatural force generated by the war. His sculptures are strange, half-abstract shapes that at first glance may appear familiar, but are in fact incredibly disconcerting to look at. His pack and pockets eventually fill up with them because he knows that if he stops creating, he'll lose control of himself. The force - in addition to the "normal" horror of war - was why he deteriorated so quickly upon initially arriving in Vietnam. After he's reintegrated into his second platoon extremely strange things start happening, with people disappearing and reappearing changed at a later time, day/night cycles seeming to warp, platoon members turning on one another, and so forth. However, the group cannot afford to be caught off-guard in the hostile environment of the Vietnamese jungle. The force eventually becomes manifest through actions Perry takes under its influence, driving the story to its climax. He ultimately suffers a gunshot wound to the chest and is discharged for good, dying several years later in an institution in the States.
During his time in his second platoon, although doubtful of the intentions of everyone to some extent, he's most friendly towards Eddie, Bits, and Pim. Hirschfield just gets on his nerves, and he's most closed while dealing with Brockman and Darren. His story could be described as being in the genre of "slipstream fiction."
Art Suggestions: Whittling, spaced out on a cot in Saigon, interacting with his platoon mates, bandaging his left hand, madly attacking someone with a machete, pulling Pim away from a mine explosion, younger and in a college class.