Why Soldiers Fought

The Vietnam War was in many aspects one of the lowest periods in American history, being not just a military failure, but also contribute to social unrest and extensive political change in the mainland. In many ways, ‘The Forever War’ is an analogue of The Vietnam War, that, in abundant detail, explores the vast amount of opinions the veterans of that war had towards a new society, vastly changed from the one they left.

The Vietnam War was a long, exhausting, and traumatic experience for all of the soldiers and those who came with them. The Things They Carried, by Tim O 'Brien illustrates the different affects the war had on a variety of people: Jacqueline Navarra Rhoads, a former nurse during the Vietnam war, demonstrates these effects within her own memoir in the book, The Forgotten Veterans. Both sources exemplify many tribulations, while sharing a common thread of suffering from mental unpredictability. Desensitization and unstable morals are two main themes relevant not only throughout the novel, but in Jacqueline 's personal story.

The Vietnam war was an absolutely brutal time in American history. The war lasted for the majority of the 1960s and left many young men dead. The short story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien and the film Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam give us just a glance into the war by giving using the three themes of fear, pressures, and blame/guilt to embody the concept of war and how it absolutely changes a person. War not only destroys countries, but it destroys people.

For countless of people today, the Vietnam war is just something from the past, but for Tim O’Brien, the Vietnam War will endlessly be with him. This one year in Vietnam changes the lives of this platoon from emotional pain, physical pain, as well as muscle pain will commence to cloud their vision. The weight of the things that they carried takes great effect on them that they have to continue to endure on this one year trip in Vietnam and remember these memories for the rest of their lives..

The war in Vietnam was a war against communism that tore apart the US. The United States of America plunged together with its allies and played a tremendous role as far as fight against communism is concerned. A huge number of American soldiers were deployed in Vietnam a practice that coupled with much unpreparedness. The soldiers were not aware what exactly they were up to in Vietnam. Most Americans at the time were very much against the act. It was one of the most deliberating wars America plunged herself into and the only one to have been lost. Most intriguing is the amount of publicity and media buzz created by the film industry. Vietnam War was the topic of many television networks, music and Hollywood. Journalist and veterans and scholar were never left behind and went ahead to produce tones of literature on the legacies and lessons to be learnt from the war (Hochgesang, Lawyer, and Stevenson). The exploitation of the soldiers and rejection of the veterans created just as much interest as the war had created. One such commentary came from George Kennan, who depicted the war as one of the most disastrous mission The United States has ever undertaken (Westheider 155-159).. This essay will establish the effects the war had to the US soldiers.

The Viet Nam War has been the most reviled conflict in United States history for many reasons, but it has produced some great literature. For some reason the emotion and depredation of war kindle in some people the ability to express themselves in a way that they may not have been able to do otherwise. Movies of the time period are great, but they are not able to elicit, seeing the extremely limited time crunch, the same images and charge that a well-written book can. In writing of this war, Tim O'Brien put himself and his memories in the forefront of the experiences his characters go through, and his writing is better for it. He produced a great work of art not only because he experienced the war first hand, but because he is able to convey the lives around him in such vivid detail. He writes a group of fictional works that have a great deal of truth mixed in with them. This style of writing and certain aspects of the book are the topics of this reflective paper.

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.

Why?” Ketwig realized that forcing the conscription of young men across the country was unfair when the war didn’t have a purpose itself. Was the war being fought to save the Vietnamese people, to stop communism, or to expand Americas reach in the world? The US government was never able to articulate a purpose to the soldiers nor the public and as a result lost support from both.

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

The Vietnam Conflict, spanning from November 1st, 1955 to April 30, 1975, changed the public’s perception on war, politics, and the world as a whole. Living in this time, the grandparents and senior citizens in our communities still keep the time of turmoil and fear alive in their stories. By interviewing men in the service, along with men and women at home, a comprehensive picture of the war and its effect on the United States can be painted. Two of these people graciously allowed themselves to be interviewed. Their roles, experiences, and stories of the war display the effects of the Vietnam war on United States citizens, for better or for worse.

Tim O’Brien spoke to the Lovett Upper School in a very grim and upfront manner, careful to not “sugarcoat” any of the harsh realities from the War, which veterans have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. In a sense, O’Brien’s rash visualization of his brutal war stories was a necessary evil in explaining the war to a group of uninformed individuals. He spoke to show the confusion of the war, sharing many stories of despair and triumph in the jungles and fields of Vietnam. In many ways, the student body represents what was at the time of the war the American civilian population. While draftees were thrown into battle, the people in the United States were oblivious to the treacherous nature of combat. There seemingly was no preparation for a

Tim O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried, portrays stories of the Vietnam War. Though not one hundred percent accurate, the stories portray important historical events. The Things They Carried recovers Vietnam War history and portrays situations the American soldiers faced. The United States government represents a political power effect during the Vietnam War. The U. S. enters the war to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam. The U.S. government felt if communism spreads to South Vietnam, then it will spread elsewhere. Many Americans disapproved of their country’s involvement. Men traveled across the border to avoid the draft. The powerful United States government made the decision to enter the war, despite many

If Philip Caputo’s memoir is meant to be the story of an American soldier, Trâm’s diary becomes the story of the Vietnamese people and their struggle. On May 7th 1970 Trâm recounts her feelings on the history of war in Vietnam, and how the people still remain undeterred. “Twenty-five years immersed in fire and bullets, we are still strong.” Not only after all this fighting and after all that Trâm herself has witnessed and endured she is still confident in her country. “We will persevere and be courageous and hold our heads high and take the offensive.” Trâm’s diary makes it clear that there was never any doubt in

My fascination with the Vietnam War began when I went on holidays and crawled into the tunnels tight enough to make even a small eight year old claustrophobic. I wondered how adults survived in the war by using this tunnels. This personally influenced my perspective on the Vietnam War and marked my interest in this piece of history. In my Preliminary HSC Advanced English classes I was told to choose a political perspective in poetry. I chose Levertov, who wrote about the effects of the Vietnam War on people. In my Extension One English classes I learnt about literature as a representation of the author’s culture. These two main ideas and childhood interest in the Vietnam War became the starting point for my Major Work.

It can be hard to fully comprehend the effects the Vietnam War had on not just the veterans, but the nation as a whole. The violent battles and acts of war became all too common during the long years of the conflict. The war warped the soldiers and civilians characters and desensitized their mentalities to the cruelty seen on the battlefield. Bao Ninh and Tim O’Brien, both veterans of the war, narrate their experiences of the war and use the loss of love as a metaphor for the detrimental effects of the years of fighting.