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Essay on
Rumor of War by Caputo
The Vietnam War was responsible for widespread protests and demonstrations throughout the late 1960s. The United States' involvement in Indochina was an issue that pitted friend against friend and generation against generation. Indeed, America was torn between sharply divergent opinions. For those young Americans who were drafted into service against their will, the thought of Vietnam, even years later, sent chills of anger and fear through their bodies. For those who sought the opportunity to fight, the vision of heroism and accomplishment swelled their chests with pride. When U.S. involvement ended in 1973, however, it was the anguish of defeat that haunted the souls of those who participated as well as the bitterness of a nation conflicted by wounded pride and relief. A 1980 movie, A Rumor of War, based on Philip J. Caputo's book by the same title, reflects much of the pain and ambivalence the nation came to know too well (Stoessinger, 102-111).
This book does not pretend to be history. It has nothing to do with politics, power, strategy, influence, national interests, or foreign policy; nor is it an indictment of the great men who led us into Indochina and whose mistakes were paid for with the blood of some quite ordinary men. In a general sense, it is simply a story about war, about the things men do in war and the things war does to them.
Caputo is one of the first Marines ashore in Vietnam and is part of the initial process of escalation that led to our massive commitment to that country. He first guards an airbase, and then makes limited patrols into the surrounding countryside to route out snipers. Eventually he is part of the first massive search and destroys operations of the war.
Caputo's book chronicles the sixteen months of the war, or at least what he saw of it.....
