A Rumor of War essays

A Rumor of War essays A Rumor of War is a personal account of Philip Caputo, a marine lieutenant who served one tour of duty in Vietnam. He began his story in 1960 with his enlistment and training, continued to 1965 with his deployment to Vietnam, and concluded in 1967 with his discharge from the marines. Through these series of events, the author evolves from a youthful innocent to a disillusioned war protestor. The gradual erosion of values that he experienced paralleled the growing frustration and disheartenment at home. It is with this disillusionment in mind that he wrote a memoir that was therapeutic for both him and the American people. The author's sweeping account from the Camelot atmosphere of the Kennedy era, a time where America felt invincible, to the growing despair that many Americans and soldiers felt in 1966, gives particular strength to this book. He and other young men, swept up in the "patriotic tide of the Kennedy era", enlisted in the service of their nation. (4) These proud young ma rines, like America, were representative of an "innocent time" before the death and destruction of Vietnam. (24) In the end, after enduring a tour of bloody skirmishes, the ravages of a hostile environment, and massive psychological and emotional attrition, he, like so many other veterans, broke down in a near emotional and physical collapse. He was no longer a man filled with the optimism and daring-do of yesteryear, but someone who believed the war to be unwinnable and a disgrace to his country. His narrative shows the loss and frustration experienced by the soldiers in the field and, largely, the nation at home. A second strength of the book is the recounting of a combination of events Caputo experienced and reflections on those events. These reflections lend themselves towards portraying an accurate depiction of "life in the trenches", thus giving a flavor and essence otherwise unknown to non-veterans of the Vietnam War. In these reflections, he often d...