Question

Read this excerpt from "Not a Dove, But No Longer a Hawk."

I remember distinctly the thrill of climbing aboard a U.S. Army helicopter in the cool of the morning and taking off across the rice fields with a South Vietnamese battalion for a day’s jousting with the Vietcong guerillas. I was proud of the young American pilots sitting at the controls in the cockpit and I was grateful for the opportunity to witness this adventure and to report it. We are fighting now, I used to think, and some day we will triumph and this will be a better country.

Based on this excerpt, it can be inferred that

A) the war provides the author with his first flying experience.
B) the author once felt pride and optimism about the war.
C) the US soldiers are trained in hand-to-hand combat.
D) the author has a begrudging respect for the Vietcong.

Answer 1

By reading this excerpt form Not a Dove, But No Longer a Hawk, specially where the speaker states "...We are fighting now, I used to think, and some day we will triumph...", we can conclude that the mindset described by the speaker in retrospective is not the same mindset they now have. The speaker starts a sentence to then offer clarification by saying "... I used to think..."

Therefore, your best answer is option B.

Answer 2

The correct answer would be

B) the author once felt pride and optimism about the war.