A Rumor of War was just that, it discussed everything from gruesome encounters with the Viet Cong to descriptions of the horrible weather. Philip Caputo’s, the author of A Rumor of War, use of vivid language made the book come alive, as if it were a movie. Philip Caputo was not only an amazing Marine Lieutenant, but he was also a very talented writer. This book was the first book that dealt with Vietnam reasonably and it gave people a sense of what the war was like.

Philip Caputo, born in Chicago in 1941, went into the Marine Corps straight out of high school. He learned everything he needed to know at Quantico in Virginia. Caputo first landed in Da Nang in 1965 and was still as intrigued with war as he was at age 24. He, along with the other U. S. ground combat marines, expected to be there for a period of time between 30 to 90 days. However, he was on a tour of duty for 16 months and served as a Platoon leader for One-Three and lead his men through several of their life changing experiences. After a while he was assigned as the assistant adjutant because the

A Rumor of War was written not long after Caputo’s experience in this tragic war. It received numerous reviews, most of which were good. According to www.barnesandnoble.com, it was the book that shattered America's deliberate indifference to the fate of the men it sent to fight in the jungles of Vietnam, and in the years since it was first published it has become a basic text on that war. However, now in the year 2002, some critics do not feel the same way. According to The Last Thursday Book Club, Ron felt the book as a journal had no political agenda and Mike felt it was repetitious with deaths that did not move the reader - perhaps when compared with today's tragedies. There were also good reviews like the ones that were made after the book was written.

Now, he is a reporter and essayist who has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize. He was also awarded an Overseas Press Club Award as well as a finalist for the National Book Award. In 1973 Caputo was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, yet was unaware because he was being held hostage in Beirut. He found out about his award after he was released. In 1977, he left the Tribune and started writing novels. In the year 1999, he was sending his journalism to the Esquire and other magazines. He currently lives in Connecticut with his wife, Leslie Blanchard Ware.

There were two villains in Vietnam, one being the Viet Cong and the other the weather. The Viet Cong, or Charlies, were the ones that the United States was fighting. They killed most of our men with booby traps and mines. Many of the mines were called antipersonnel mines, which were there to cripple as opposed to killing. These mines crippled a few men so terribly that they were sent home. ‘Bouncing Betties’ were also mentioned. These were detonated mines that bounce out of the ground to the victim’s waist and then go off. The Viet Cong ambushed our men and sniped them as well. Ambushed detonated mines became a problem towards the end. In one incident a young man named Allen was struck in the back of the head with shrapnel from an ambushed detonated mine. Due to his shrapnel wound, or his multiple fragment laceration, Allen was evacuated. Caputo was getting fed up with the snipers and at one point he stood along the tree line and started yelling at the sniper. “C’mon Charlie, hit me, you son of a bitch, HO CHI MINH SUCKS…HIT ME, CHARLIE,” Caputo yelled into the trees at the potential sniper. However, the weather accounted for most of the deaths. Some days it got up to 110 degrees and they had to keep their positions for the entire day. “ The only valid measurement was what the heat could do to a man, and what it could do to him was simple enough: it could kill him, bake his brains, or wring the sweat out of him until he dropped from exhaustion,” (60). When the wind would blow really hard they couldn’t look anywhere because of the dust clouds and their thickness. The insects were also a problem at night. “Mosquito netting and repellents proved ineffective against the horde of flying, creeping, crawling, buzzing, biting things that descended on us,” (57).

former one, Lieutenant Schwartz, was going to take command of a rifle company. Caputo was not very thrilled about his switch, but he went with his head held high. While he was the assistant adjutant he had to count the bodies and tally them up. Not long after, he volunteered for a line

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