Skip Sands
William "Skip" Sands has big shoes to fill, because his uncle, who is reverently known as The Colonel, is one of the most respected military leaders ever to serve in the Air Force. He intends to make a name for himself in Vietnam and to honor his uncle's legacy, but grows frustrated when he realizes that the roles set out for him do not allow for much of anything, let alone greatness. He decides to carve out a role for himself, and develops a double agent. Skip is a good operative but often his desire to rise about his uncle's legacy and prove himself create more dangerous situations than he is equipped to handle.
It shortly occurs to Skip that his role in Vietnam is to to take the blame for any transgressions or errors committed by his uncle, because the Colonel's name and reputation cannot be sullied. He feels betrayed by his uncle both for this, and for doubting his ability to recruit and train a double agent. He flees Vietnam and changes his name after the war.
Colonel Francis X. Sands
Francis X is a retired Air Force colonel but is so respected that he is still nicknamed "The Colonel". He has given his nephew a hard act to follow, but paradoxically also gives him a number of tasks and roles that seem to amount to nothing in particular. Francis is completely obsessed with out-thinking the Vietcong and winning the war by cerebral methods. He is convinced that the key to their military strategy can be found in their traditions and folklore. He is slowly going mad because of the war, and his complete obsession to "solve" it.
James Houston
James is a Marine Private, and a member of Echo Reconnaissance of Delta Company. This means that although he does not report directly to the Colonel, his unit reports to Psy Ops, which Colonel Sands runs. Although he intends to send his military salary home to his family, he is emotionally crumbling under the weight of the things he is seeing in Vietnam and spends most of it on drink and prostitutes. He is the second of the Houston brothers to return home, and starts to fall foul of the law on his return. He is imprisoned, much to the frustration of his brother who had hoped his own difficulties might be a warning to his brother.
Bill Houston
Naval man Houston was first introduced in Johnson's debut novel, Angels. He is James Houston's brother. He and his brother are both disgusted by the violence that they see during the war and try to focus on the money they are able to send home to their family. Bill returns home first and struggles to re-integrate. He commits some petty offenses and goes to prison for a time.
Kathy Jones
Jones is an NGO worker and a Canadian national. She works in both the Philippines and Vietnam. She is widowed young, when she has not been married for very long. She works for a company that coordinates the adoption of Vietnamese orphans to families in North America. She has a brief fling with Sands, and also suffers a crisis of conscience whilst in Vietnam, which she manages to overcome by turning to religion.
Nguyen Hao
Sands utilizes Hao as both a personal driver and an operative on the ground in Vietnam. He is a native Vietnamese and is a respected businessman.
Minh
Nguyen's nephew is a helicopter pilot in the Vietnamese air force, but seems to work more directly for Colonel Sands than he does for his own commanding officers.
Thu
Nguyen's nephew Thu suffers a gruesome death by his own hand, committing suicide by setting fire to himself as an act of political protest.
Father Carignan
Carignan is a priest in Manila, but he is also suspected to be a gunrunner working primarily with the Communists. He is assassinated because of this.
Dietrich Fest
Carignan is assassinated by professional hit-man Fest, who is a German national working for the highest bidder. He also attempts the assassination of Trung Than, Sands' double agent.
Trung Than
Than has known Nguyen Hao since childhood. He is a member of the Vietcong, but is persuaded by Nguyen to work for Skip Sands as a double agent. After he is placed in a hotel by the Colonel, who strongly believes that he is still working for the Vietcong, there is an assassination attempt on him, but he manages to escape into the shadows of the night.
