Fields of Fire

I read this book in high school, and I really enjoyed it. After we were finishing reading the book we had a guest speaker who was a Vietnam war vet come into our class and speak on different parts of the book. I picked this short story to do my paper on because I felt like I had the most connection to this story because of my prior knowledge from reading the book. I do think I am getting some parts confused with the short story and the book. I know when I read the book in high school some chapters were very dull and boring but others were exciting and interesting. After reading the short story it was just a refreshment of the interesting things that happened in the book.

I read the novel titled Soldier Boys written by Dean Hughes. This book was published in 2001 and is about a couple of boys who wanted to fight in WWII and eventually got their opportunity after a lot of hard work and slowly working their ways up in ranking. This book is a historical fiction book.

In this essay we will cover three topics centered around Vietnam Prisoners of War and will discuss two books that are, in ways, very similar, but very different due to a variety of things. One of the two books being compared in this essay is titled “Defiance” by Alvin Townley and was written quite recently in 2014. The other novel that was chosen for this essay was written in 1971 is titled “Five Years to Freedom” and it was written by James N. Rowe. These two books were focused on the capture and the treatment of American Prisoners of War during the Vietnam War, more specifically based on the lives of each of the men as they meet up in the prison camps and have to survive torture which was brought upon them because they are questioned by the Vietcong and will not give up military secrets. The Vietnam War started in 1954 and ended on April 30, 1975 totaling over twenty years. Each book has its idea of the incidents that happened and in “Defiance” there are several stories of a gang eleven American soldiers that was known famously as the Alcatraz Eleven. This essay will talk about the different accounts the American men endured, the two very different writing styles of each of the authors and the main themes we can see in each book.

It is generally recognized that Tim O’Brien’s Going After Cacciato (1978) is most likely the best novel of the Vietnam war, albeit an unusual one in that it innovatively combines the experiential realism of war with surrealism, primarily through the overactive imagination of the protagonist, Spec Four Paul Berlin. The first chapter of this novel is of more than usual importance. Designed to be a self-sufficient story (McCaffery 137) and often anthologized as one, this chapter is crucial to the novel in that it not only introduces us to the characters and the situation but also sets the tenor of the novel and reveals its author’s view of this war in relation to which all else in the novel must be

The Vietnam War was largely considered a failure, a waste of resources, time and precious lives. It was simply a war that did not need to be fought. But in order to combat the ever prevailing communist forces; the capitalists and in particular, America, decided that Vietnam would be the land where these differences would be disputed. Men were sent in to fight in this war and they came back with very different experiences. As seen in both perspectives held in “A Rumor of War” by Philip Caputo and in “We were soldiers once... and young” by Hal Moore and Joseph Galloway; they explore the varying perspectives and experienced seen and learnt within war. Whereas in “A Rumor of War”, it tackles the consequences of being sent into such harsh warfare, only because Philip Caputo saw the harsh reality firsthand as he was a soldier in the war. The former, “We were soldiers once... and young” tackles the glorification of war because it’s not solely a soldier’s account. A journalist was in company of these men and as such details get skewed for the public’s perception. Regardless, both these books share a telling tale of the war in Vietnam through their radically different views.

Taking place in the middle of the Cold War Era, the Vietnam War was a war not only over land but for many a battle to protect democracy and to fight communism. Much like any other account of a war, the details are gruesome and it is even more difficult to imagine. However, following the Vietnam War one author, who served in the war, decided to take up the task and make an historic account of one of them most grueling wars ever fought. Tim O’Brien is a Vietnam veteran who wrote the novel The Things They Carried. There is a fine line to be walked when writing the accounts of the war in a way that not only informs but also entertains; however, Tim O’Brien walks it successfully. In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried,

The Vietnam War was a controversial conflict that plagued the United States for many years. The loss of life caused by the war was devastating. For those who came back alive, their lives were profoundly changed. The impact the war had on servicemen would affect them for the rest of their lives; each soldier may have only played one small part in the war, but the war played a huge part in their lives. They went in feeling one way, and came home feeling completely different. In the book Vietnam Perkasie, W.D. Ehrhart describes his change from a proud young American Marine to a man filled with immense confusion, anger, and guilt over the atrocities he witnessed and participated in during the war.

Edited by Bernard Edelman, “Dear America” is a collection of letters written by soldiers during the Vietnam War. Their letters are written to love ones back home such as parents, siblings, and spouses but they are a great depiction of the Vietnam War. The soldiers would write these letters to help keep hope alive and to keep sane. Throughout the book the letters are categorize into those who are barely arriving into the war to those who have been there a long time. The stress and anxiety grows more and more as the letters continue and the soldiers begin to contemplate their situation. I’ve learned a lot of factual things about the Vietnam War throughout my life such as how it began and what the outcome was but reading this book was the

This book gave me more respect for veterans. It proved to me how hard it really is. It showed me all the hardships of being in the military. It helped me to see that war is not a game. Veterans risk everything for us.

When Marcus finally started talking about the unbelievable SEAL training camp it really pulled me in. He described in sharp detail the intensely packed training, including their 24 week BUDS training - Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL. He took me through every moment of Operation Red Wing where he witnessed each of his team members get riddled with AK 47 bullets in the head, their fingers shot off, blood gushing out of their bodies and how he alone survived the massacre. He wrote the book because he wanted to pay respects and remember his fallen brothers. He did this by telling the reader about his brothers in arms lasts moments together and what they talked about and what messages they would want delivered to their loved ones. Luttrell doesn’t want anyone to forget the unbelievable heroic actions of SEAL Team 10 as they fought for their life in an unevenly matched combat situation. The reader was put right where Luttrell was and it was impossible to stop reading. The author’s objective was to write a story about the deadly ambush of 4 Navy SEALs in the Hindu Kush Mountains in

The organization of the novel was interesting, because some segments of the book would flash back to past events, then go back to the present. The last segment changed the tone of the book and really made a focus on the nature of war, and the impact it can have on us. I think the plot device of the Catch-22 is interesting as well. Airmen that

He spoke countless times about how vulnerable being in this constant stress made him. He could convey this better than any person who had not been at war could ever possibly do. Although words can never completely show the emotions Sledge had to deal with, he shed some light on this topic for the civilians desperately wanting to understand. He showed how emotionally vulnerable even a tough warrior could be. As opposed to this, Marlantes novel Matterhorn seems to focus a little more on the political problems within war. Matterhorn focuses on the struggle between maddening doses of bureaucratic incompetence, racial conflict bordering on mutiny and junior officers caught in the middle. He wants to point out killing is about the only thing that makes sense. But the Marines in Bravo aren't quite sure whom they'd like to kill more: the enemy out there or the enemy within. The novel Matterhorn seemed to do a better job at conveying many underlying themes about Vietnam that are often lost in translation, such as the struggle the African American men had to deal with. “Now hold on.” Jackson said, obviously marshaling his words. “Don’t get all excited. I’m a racist too. You can’t grow up in America and not be a

In the summer of 2015, wildfire season was the largest in Washington state history, burning more than one million acres across the state and some regions in Idaho from June to late September. To put perspective into the severity of the fire, it burned an area larger in size than the cities of Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles combined.

Steven Pressfield is the author of several books about ancient warfare. He has penned novels about Alexander, The Amazons and strangely enough the game of golf. He was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad in 1943 to a US Navy father (website). He is a former Blue Devil and a former Devil Dog (website). His Duke days preceded his enlistment in The United States Marine Corps (website). It is his experience as a warrior in the employ of the stars and stripes that allow him to write about the hardships of combat with such inspiration. Pressfield wasn’t always an author. He has been an advertising copywriter, schoolteacher, tractor-trailer driver, bartender, oilfield roustabout and attendant in a mental hospital (website). This vast experience allows Pressfield to write such vivid fiction. Gates of Fire is on the reading lists of The Commandant of the Marine Corps, The Naval Academy, and The United States Military Academy at West Point and a favorite of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is ultimately the story of the warrior’s life style and how he conducts himself at home and in war.

Hearing readers of these books made me choose more intense and exciting. I believe I chose the perfect book for me. It was indeed beautiful writing for me. Like Ms.young had said “ I It made me love reading”, and indeed it made me love reading as well. Reading it was not only the fun part of it, writing was as well. Getting to write about its events and how it relates to today was a very interesting topic It was easy to find quotes to relate this with current events, since I was so engaged in the book. Getting to know how the word has changed since the Vietnam war was really interesting as well, but like any piece of writing I struggled. On this writing piece based on my rubric I struggles with clearly introducing my claim, and interpreting my quotes. I agree with this, and I will keep on working at it by trying to find evidence on the topic. I although did a good job at introducing background, and having relevant evidence. I believe talking over my essay and finding little pieces to fix with Mrs. Harris was the best for me. This helped me look at how much I need to improve and how i should always read my essay