Philip Caputo's a Rumor of War

Philip Caputo's A Rumor of War, is a very realistic and harrowing account of the Vietnam War from a soldiers perspective. Caputo's approach to depicting the Vietnam War is very intriguing, because you see the war as he saw it. The reader grows with the author as he changes from a young starry-eyed soldier, dreaming of "bayonet charges, and desperate battles against impossible odds." (Caputo, p. 14) To a weathered warrior fighting not only an unconventional enemy, but also a battle waged in the depths of his own psyche. Being able to read an account of the Vietnam War from the perspective of a person, who was actually there, rather than some anti-war hippie or a bigwig politician, really gave me a broader picture of the war and what it did to the people involved.

Caputo begins his story reflecting on the reasons why he joined the Marine Corps. He, like many young men, joined the military out of boredom and thirst for adventure. He bought into the Kennedy idealism of "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country", believing that he would be defending his country for a cause. When Caputo gets involved in Vietnam he knows almost nothing about the country and the conflict, he leaves saying he knows too much. He loses his thirst for adventure wanting just an out from a hopeless conflict.

Throughout Caputo's experience in Vietnam you see a young lively soldier who at age 23, thought he would quite certainly live forever, change to a man whose thoughts are completely overrun with death and fear of death on a daily basis. He loses his conception of the preciousness of human life, and becomes almost bloodthirsty in his search for relief of boredom and inactivity. There are no good or heroic ways to die in war, and Caputo realizes very quickly that this war is not about heroism, but surviving. He leaves the war with his romantic expectations unfulfilled. He even changes the way he thinks about his enemy; at first he feels pity for the Viet Cong and leaves with only contempt for the people. "It was odd, I had begun the patrol with the idea of capturing the guerrilla, but now all I wanted to do was kill him." (Caputo, p. 121)

"Every generation is doomed to fight its war, to endure the same old experiences, suffer the loss of the same old illusions, and learn the same old lessons on its own." (Caputo, p. 81) This aforementioned quote really stuck