Young American men went to Vietnam to experience the challenge of danger and the chance to come home heroes. These men had known nothing but security, comfort, peace, and enlisting for some was an act of rebellion (Caputo 8). Junior officers became intrigued by the fantasy of fighting guerrillas in distant places. These officers felt that they had not accomplished what other officers had in other wars by having heroic badges displayed all over their uniforms (16-17). “N

My mind shot back a decade, to that day we had marched into Vietnam, swaggering, confident, and full of idealism. We had believed we were there for a high moral purpose. But somehow our idealism was lost, our morals corrupted, and the purpose forgotten (345).

The marines are in the same state of mind in which they feel a hatred for everything and everyone around. “There arms are tanned a deep brown, but the heat had bled the color from their faces, and their eyes have that blank expression known as the “thousand-yard stare (99). The Vietnamese huts are made of thatch, but the Americans use a new material in construction, as houses are built completely with crushed beer cans. The Viet Cong exploit the Vietnamese children by having them sell Coke to Americans after glass and poison have been injected to use as a weapon (107). Vietnam villages let the Viet Cong use them for ambush sites, as Giao-Tri did and was demolished. The marines acted out of retribution as well as learning to hate (110). When the marines were on many of their search and destroy missions, they found photographs and letters that humanized the enemy and the marines wanted to deny the enemy of human qualities (124). The Vietnamese endured the hardship of the war because they were used to bad harvests, disease, and random violence, as they attained an ability to accept and suffer what Americans would not. The survival of the Vietnamese required this (134).

At the end of May, Caputo was ordered to report back to Regimental Headquarters Company as an administrative officer. Caputo returned to the infantry battalion to get some gear he had left. Lemon, the platoon sergeant, told Caputo that Sullivan had been sniped while filling canteens a few days after Caputo left. Ingram was injured by a sniper in the back and was in a wheelchair (158-159). Caputo understood why sergeant Lemon and the other men were so distant, as men detach themselves from feeling or showing emotion in the presence of death. “They had lost there first man in battle, and with him, the youthful confidence in their own immortality. Reality had caught up with them, with all of us. As Bradley put it later that evening: “I guess the splendid little war is over” (162).

Some topics in this essay:
Viet Cong, Vietnam War, Caputo Sullivan, Purple Hearts, American Vietnam, Expeditionary Brigade, Cong Australian, War Caputo, Lieutenant Parsons, Words” Caputo, viet cong, vietnam war, expeditionary brigade, killed wounded, march 8 1965, frank reasoner, soldiers carry, war caputo, believed win, friendly fire, 9th marine expeditionary, marine expeditionary brigade, search destroy missions, destroy missions,