The Vietnam War was one of the most tragic wars in American history.

The
affects it had on the American people were tremendous. Even today many
Americans have the frightening, unforgettable memories of the war. The war was
accounted to be over in 1973, but Americans still suffer the aftershocks of a
national trauma that has left the nation divided and estranged from its ideals.
The painful memories will be eased, but they will never be fully healed. Many
Americans look at the Vietnam War as the most hated conflict in United States
history. It was also the first war America has not won. Many Americans started
to lose faith in their country.

It was a 13-year battle that didnt seem to have definable purpose or meaning,
yet many lives were lost. For those who are in their 50s and older the images of
17-19 year old men being sent to defend an indefinable cause will never go away,
however, for those who are college aged today, the Viet Nam conflict is one that
is touched on in history books but not truly understood. During the 1960s and
1970s many families bid tearful goodbyes to their teenage sons as they were
shipped across the ocean. While wars before the Vietnam Conflict also captured
lives at least they knew what they were fighting for. In the Viet Nam conflict
reports came back about having to hold lines without capturing, allowing
themselves to become surrounded before defending their troops and other
horrors that were inexplicable. While the government maintained the conflict
was needed there were many in the US that believed it was unnecessary and
protests broke out in record numbers. It has been over for three decades but the
mental scars and personal issues remain for those who lived it and their
subsequent families. Few authors have been able to capture the theme and
essence of the Vietnam conflict with the same accuracy and emotion of Philip
Caputo. In his book, A Rumor of War he explores and explains the war its
reasons and the controversy surrounding it. The book defines the actions of the
government, the troops and the citizens that waited at home for their loved ones
to come back.

One of the biggest issues about the Viet Nam War was what it did to the soldiers
it sent to battle. According to Caputo it ages the young men prematurely and
causes them to give up hope at a time when they should have all the hope in the
world.

Most of all we learned about death at an age when it is common to think of one as
immortal (Caputo)

There is a big change that took place with the author from the starting of the
book and the end of the book. From the starting of the story you know that
Caputo was going to change because of the war. He starts off the story saying
that he has mastered the art of killing but does not know about the simplest
thing that life is made of. The transformation takes place a month after he is sent
to Korea. Caputo changes both physically and mentally. He changes because of
the killing that he sees everyday. His minds see that the people he kills are young
like him or even younger which get his mind running with questions. Caputo felt
guilt for killing Viet Cong soldiers but as Caputos friends are killed he soon
wants revenge and does not mind killing Viet Congs. Physically Caputo is run
down from the intense heat to the night filled with mosquitoes. Nights are also
filled with Viet Cong snipers shooting which keeps soldiers at uneasiness.

When Caputo becomes The Officer of Dead this has a profound effect on Caputo
which changes him. He has to make reports on the dead soldiers and some are
his friends. From seeing his dead friends he wants to return back to the actual
war. He wants to get back out there and get in the forest to kill Viet Cong. He left
a safe job with a future to get back on the line of danger. As Caputo and his men
ransack the village of civilian Koreans looking for traces of Viet Cong Caputo
notices the villagers. He noticed that the innocent villagers had no emotions
toward the marines. Caputo could not understand why the villagers were not
showing any emotion which changed him because he wanted to keep the
American name good in the villagers eyes. He tidied up the mess that he created
trying to show that Americans were there to help them and did not want to make
life difficult for them. During the end of the novel when Caputo ambushes the
Viet Cong he becomes crazy and wants to kill any Koreans even if they are not
Viet Cong. This at the ends gets Caputo in trouble with the marines because he
might be charges with murder. The most profound event that took place was the
whole war. The war left Caputo with the inability to concentrate, a fear of the
darkness, tired easily, nightmares, cannot stand loud noises and has moods
swings of rage and depression.



Actually, the reader comes to understand the devastating impact the war had on
Americas youth from the first sentence.

At the age of 24 I was more prepared for death than I was for life (Caputo)

The author illuminates the issues of the war including the destruction of hope for
the young. It was a generation that was filled with fear, confusion and anger as
its young men went over to the rice paddies full of plans for their future and
came back with little to look forward to but nightmares and flashbacks.
The war was so vicious that the veterans suffered psychological and emotional
damages, or invisible wounds. Also many troops in Vietnam were said to have
used many different drugs.
The U.S. Army of 1969 was an army in which men escaped into marijuana and
heroin and other men died because their comrades were stoned on these drugs
that profited the Chinese traffickers and the Saigon generals. It was an Army whose
units in the field were on the edge of mutiny, whose soldiers rebelled against the
senselessness of their sacrifice by assassinating officers and noncoms in
accidental shootings and fraggings with grenades. (Morgan, 162)
Many Americans felt pain of losing someone and many died serving in Vietnam.
Every American was affected by the violent and gruesome war. Many people
hated the war, and the returning veterans were treated badly. The veterans
became drug abusers and they committed many crimes. Quite a few veterans
received a kind of trauma from the war. The American people began feeling
skeptical of the United States power. Many immigrants came to America in hopes
of creating a much better life for themselves, but the American citizens at that
time not in a good situation with the unemployed and the difficulty in finding
good career opportunities or cheaper homes. Many veterans make up part of the
homeless population in the U.S. All these aspects contribute to the fact of the
intensity of how much the Vietnam war impacted on the people the United States
and so it is a turning point in history.







War And Its Effects On Those Who Fought.

Timur Gabdrakhmanov

American Studies 206