If I Die In A Combat Zone Summary

America is well known and hated across the globe for its involvement in foreign conflicts and affairs. The self proclaimed police of the world, America often goes too far when it comes to its involvement overseas. Many times the outcomes of these conflicts is overlooked and the effect it will have on america and other countries. Often times the American news media and politicians will claim that America 's goal is to bring freedom and liberty to other countries. However, this is a ploy to get the public on board and in reality war is used to make politicians and corporations richer. Tim O’Brien experienced this firsthand when he was shipped off to Vietnam in 1969. When he came back he finished his education at Harvard and was inspired to write a memoir about his experiences. “If I Die in a Combat Zone Box Me Up and Ship Me Home” tells his story as a foot soldier and the effects it had on himself and other soldiers physically, emotionally, and mentally. The books starts with O’Brien as a child playing war games and then moves to when he was drafted. In the bootcamp O’Brien had contemplated deserting but ultimately decided not to so that his family would not be disgraced. He was then sent off to Vietnam where he was placed in the Alpha company. O’Brien talks about things like his involvement in ambushes to his interactions with locals. With this piece O’Brien was trying to show the horrors of war and and how it affected the soldiers sent to fight in

The author, Tim O'Brien, is writing about an experience of a tour in the Vietnam conflict. This short story deals with inner conflicts of some individual soldiers and how they chose to deal with the realities of the Vietnam conflict, each in their own individual way as men, as soldiers.

O’Brien casts doubt on the veracity of the story to let you experience what the war felt like for him. When him and his fellow soldiers would sit around the campfire telling stories some where obviously made up for entertainment while others actually were authentic. This is how you have to view the book as like you are there with the troops listening to these war stories and deciding for yourself whether or not you believe them. The underlying theme isn’t really the vietnam war in itself, its the act of storytelling.

The story “In the Field” by Tim O’Brien, is about a platoon of eighteen soldiers in the Vietnam war who are searching a shit field looking for a dead solider by the name of Kiowa. Throughout the story we as readers can see that the author uses the thoughts and actions of the soldiers to show that the Vietnam war was an unnecessary war. In addition, Tim O’Brien uses their thoughts to also show how soldiers felt about fighting the Vietnam War.

Tim O’Brien’s book “The Things They Carried” epitomizes the degradation of morals that war produces. This interpretation is personified in the characters who gradually blur the line dividing right and wrong as the motives for war itself become unclear. The morality of soldiers and the purpose of war are tied also to the truth the soldiers must tell themselves in order to participate in the gruesome and random killing which is falsely justified by the U.S government. The lack of purpose in the Vietnam War permanently altered the soldier’s perspective of how to react to situations and in most cases they turned to violence to express their frustration.

Prior to learning he was drafted into a war he hated, we are told that he had recently graduated from college (38). O’Brien says, “I was twenty-one years old. Young, yes, and politically naive, but even so the American war in Vietnam seemed to me wrong” (38). The previous quote shows his confusion towards the war, he then goes on questioning the war by saying, “Was it a civil war? A war of national liberation or simple aggression?” (38) which furthermore provides an example of his uncertainty towards the war. While facing confusion, O’Brien also believed he was “too smart, too passionate” (39) for the war, he claims his drafting was “a mistake, maybe— a foul-up in the paperwork” (39). Both of the quotes show man vs. society conflict. Since O'Brien had recently graduated and received a full scholarship at Harvard, he felt like he was on top of the world, like any other person would if a war was not going on then, society was focused on something he didn't believe so he did not want to accept the harsh reality that he had just been drafted. The narrator also faces man vs self conflict, O’Brien wants to get out of the draft but, he says, “There was no happy way out...my health was solid; I didn't qualify for CO status — no religious grounds, no history as a pacifist” (41). O’Brien knows that it would be illegal to not follow the law of the draft but he also knows that he does NOT want to

20) O’Brien tells how these young men were drafted which were constantly in fear, they wished to be there obliviously but war takes up all of one’s attention; it played a big role in their life, changing their tactics, personality and becoming a new person. O’Brien uses this to show the stressful moments in war where one has pressure to be alive and in this case to fit in with everyone else and feel part of something, in a lonely place such as the war.

Tim O'Brien is confused about the Vietnam War. He is getting drafted into it, but is also protesting it. He gets to boot camp and finds it very difficult to know that he is going off to a country far away from home and fighting a war that he didn't believe was morally right. Before O'Brien gets to Vietnam he visits a military Chaplin about his problem with the war. "O'Brien I am really surprised to hear this. You're a good kid but you are betraying you country when you say these things"(60). This says a lot about O'Brien's views on the Vietnam War. In the reading of the book, If I Die in a Combat Zone, Tim O'Brien explains his struggles in boot camp

Throughout Tim O'Brien's short work "How to tell a true war story" O'Brien has two reoccurring themes. One is of the desensitization of the troops during their hardship regarding the events of the Vietnam War, and the other is of the concept of truth. Truth may seem simple enough to explain, but is in fact endowed with many layers. The story is chalked full of contradictions, as well as lies, and embellishments, and yet O'Brien claims that these are the truth. The truth, whether it be war or society's, is in fact a concept that can be conveyed many times and in many ways. Whereas each is independently untrue, the combined collaboration of these half-truths is in essence the only real truth.

O’Brien first showed the revolution in himself. Before this war it was uncommon for a man to not want to fight in the war because they always had a reason to and felt it was their duty. The Vietnam War

Tim O’Brien got his inspiration from multiple instances of his time served in Vietnam. O’Brien was against the war like most of the people in the United States were at the time. He was a college student looking forward to a different future. Like many others, he received a draft noticed on June 17th, 1968. He felt he was “too good to go to war” and tried to get out of being drafted with no luck. This angered him greatly. He was drafted into the U.S. Army where he served in the 3rd Platoon, A CO. 5th Battalion, 46th Infantry, as a foot soldier. His tour of duty was from 1969 to 1970. The unit he was in deployed in with went to a part of Vietnam that they called “Pinkville”. His time in Vietnam gave him, along with others, many stories to tell.

O’Brien’s use of tone serves to immerse the audience, so they may envision the events taking place during the Vietnam War. As O’Brien details the journey he disclaims, “By telling stories, you objectify your own experience” in order to redeem a sense of validation when depicting a controversial war (152). Soldiers typically share war stories to filter information and compare their chaotic experiences. However, O’Brien directly addresses the audience, so “you know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening truth” (171). By this direct notion, O’Brien is stern and persistent to have the audience captivated by the cruelties of war. O'Brien recognizes the traumatic effects of war when stating “story-truth” in comparison to “happening truth”

The war in Vietnam was unlike many wars that the United States has become involved in with military action. The Vietnam War is one that the United States had no direct reason to become a part of the conflict. Even though we weren’t directly attacked by Vietnam to initiate American involvement in the war, the leadership of the American government, at the time, thought it was necessary for the United States to get involved to help stop the spread of communism. Many people disagreed with the decision to go to war in Vietnam and one of those people who vocalized his opposition was Tim O’Brien. As we see in the book “If I Die in a Combat Zone”, Tim O 'Brien is extremely critical of the war in Vietnam.

As a draft in the Vietnam War, O’Brien talks of a war he “hated”. He defines this event in a dreadful and confusing light. Conveying his personal dissatisfaction of the combat by stating the Five W’s, who, what where, when, why, which question the rationality and certainty, or lack thereof, of the “civil” war. Many of his own convictions were displayed by continuous questioning of events in

The Vietnam War is a tough pill to swallow, whether you were part of it, heard stories of it or only learned about it by watching ' 'Forrest Gump ' ', it is an alienating subject to most of the people on this earth. And while most of us, hopefully, will never find out what war feels like, smells like or how it is to get out of it, Tim O 'Brian 's account makes it relateable to us how dreadful it is how it is to be in a war zone.