The Classic Vietnam Memoir (40th Anniversary Edition)

Very interesting the way he covered the war but actually did not get into or bog down with specifics. While reading you could actually feel his attitude toward the war changing to the idea of "What am I (We) doing here and where is this going to end. I started reading and really couldn't put the book down until I fell asleep while reading. You felt like you were there from his descriptions especially if you had been there. Very well done.

Mr. Caputo speaks for a generation of young men who were subjected to a pointless war and came away forever marked by the experience. This memoir is unforgettable and heartbreaking and a must read for anyone who cannot understand what all the angst was about regarding the Vietnam war.

Those who know Iraq and Afghanistan are certain to find a surprising connection to Philip Caputo's "A Rumor of War." In a candid, powerful retelling of his time as a Marine in Vietnam, Mr. Caputo captures the frustration of a modern war. Unlike those who before him who served in World War II, Caputo describes a war colored by the random nature of its violence, an invisible enemy, and limited opportunities for heroics.

Caputo delivers an account of the Vietnam war seldom heard; that is, he speaks of the emotional impact of the war as opposed to the usual details of day to day life and missions frequently recounted in such works. He helps you to understand the mental highs and lows and the harsh realities of combat as it impacts the psyche of the soldiers involved.

Caputo puts you right in the jungle, walking the patrols and enduring the anxiety and futility that became the Vietnam war for so many. Regardless of your point-of-view about the Vietnam War, this is an excellent study of its effect on the everyday soldier and America.

Philip Caputo's "A Rumor of War" is a masterpiece. Inside, he shows how a soldier fighting in the jungles in Vietnam is progressively transformed- and damaged. At the beginning, Caputo is a young man, living with his parents, going to university, swept up by John F. Kennedy's rhetoric about giving to one's country. Even so, Caputo wishes to prove himself, and joins the Marines against his parents' wishes. He takes us through his experience at basic training and bootcamp. By the end of these experiences, Caputo is hardened, but not damaged- and he still holds his patriotic ideals close to his heart. These ideals change dramatically during his experiences during the war. Taken overseas by the escalation of troops under President Johnson, Caputo arrives as a platoon commander, expecting the American troops to mop up the Viet Cong quickly and without much effort. Caputo was by no means alone in this early assessment, but the resilience of the Viet Cong forced all views to change.

Caputo vividly describes his experience sleeping and eating during the war. Despite mosquito nets, one had to learn to sleep around swarms of mosquitos. During patrol, one would walk briefly through shallow water, and walk out of that water with leeches all over one's legs. Food was terrible. Sleep was short. But by far the most profound experience Caputo endures is the fighting itself. When Caputo sees the bodies of his men blown to little pieces, his view of the exaltation of humanity is challenged. He describes vividly how he encountered soldiers who had cut off the ears of Viet Cong as "trophies." He reacts with shock at first, but during his months in Vietnam, he finds himself becoming more and more like them. During an assault, his platoon with him included, enters into a battle frenzy as they burn down a village of 200 people- just for the hell of it. Once the frenzy is over, Caputo is disturbed, and describes how it was as if he was watching himself from outside his body, observing the carnage but unable to change it.

His tour of duty comes to an end when Caputo sends two men to capture or kill two particular Viet Cong agents. When they return, they have killed two Vietnamese- but not Viet Cong. Caputo, disturbed, orders them to stick to their stories. Suddenly, the scene changes. It is some time later, and Caputo and his two men are on trial for murder- not manslaughter, but murder, as if they had murdered two boys on the strees of Los Angeles. The potential sentence is life in prison. Caputo draws an analogy between the experience of waiting for the verdict and the experience of going into battle- a tension, almost sexual in its intensity, that one desperately wishes to relieve, even as one dreads its ultimate conclusion. He wishes to receive the verdict- though he dreads the potential verdict- just as he wishes to come to a battle, even as he dreads his potential doom. Ultimately, Caputo is acquitted, and returns home at last. An epilogue describes Caputo's experience returning as a journalist in 1975 as he see Saigon fall to the North Vietnamese. Even though the U.S. had lost, it was finally over.

A blessed definitive book about the mortal sin Vietnam was. Mr Caputo was called. He came. He is among the counted.....but the Dead who and what were they:

05/11/15 10:00 AM #5 EDIT DELETE
David Brown

I ran across this…not quite sure where. Thought it was fitting.

Nones of March

I didn't come to
visit you this year,
though I have been
faithful since the spring
that I first learned.
No longer flesh
you have become
deep letters etched
on polished stone
as dark as old blood,
as cold as our Cleveland
in January.
This stone and late winter
have become our
meeting place,
not the boisterous,
boundlessness,
placelessness of
our sunlit youth.
No more lazy afternoons
and celebratory evenings.
Now we meet early,
before the dawn,
the way that soldiers do,
cupping their cigarettes
against the waiting eyes,
before the day fills
with all that fills the days.
Before birds begin
their morning song,
while frost still glistens,
I walk the ramp slowly
until I find your name
among the others.
Softly I press bare fingers
into those diamond hard letters,
hoping my touch will resurrect
your easy laughter;
knowing that it won't
no matter how gentle.
Though I cannot hear your voice
I mark your presence
as sun rises, or rain falls,
or wind blows off the lake.
I tell you of the year
just past, knowing that
somehow you hear me.
'Happy birthday'
I say to the stone,
and whisper of the phase of life
on which you and I
are separately embarked.
But this year
there are new obligations.
Instead mysterious granite,
I will meet you
on a Midwest hillside,
just as early,
just as convinced that,
even without a memorial, you will be there in the mist.
Me on my way to work,
you held fast in
what lies beyond,
me waiting to hear again
your voice.
You speaking
without using words.

From a friend,

A blessed definitive book about the mortal sin Vietnam was. Mr Caputo was called. He came. He is among the counted.....but the Dead who and what were they:

05/11/15 10:00 AM #5 EDIT DELETE
David Brown

I ran across this…not quite sure where. Thought it was fitting.

Nones of March

I didn't come to
visit you this year,
though I have been
faithful since the spring
that I first learned.
No longer flesh
you have become
deep letters etched
on polished stone
as dark as old blood,
as cold as our Cleveland
in January.
This stone and late winter
have become our
meeting place,
not the boisterous,
boundlessness,
placelessness of
our sunlit youth.
No more lazy afternoons
and celebratory evenings.
Now we meet early,
before the dawn,
the way that soldiers do,
cupping their cigarettes
against the waiting eyes,
before the day fills
with all that fills the days.
Before birds begin
their morning song,
while frost still glistens,
I walk the ramp slowly
until I find your name
among the others.
Softly I press bare fingers
into those diamond hard letters,
hoping my touch will resurrect
your easy laughter;
knowing that it won't
no matter how gentle.
Though I cannot hear your voice
I mark your presence
as sun rises, or rain falls,
or wind blows off the lake.
I tell you of the year
just past, knowing that
somehow you hear me.
'Happy birthday'
I say to the stone,
and whisper of the phase of life
on which you and I
are separately embarked.
But this year
there are new obligations.
Instead mysterious granite,
I will meet you
on a Midwest hillside,
just as early,
just as convinced that,
even without a memorial, you will be there in the mist.
Me on my way to work,
you held fast in
what lies beyond,
me waiting to hear again
your voice.
You speaking
without using words.

From a friend,

Personal account of early Vietnam WAR.WEll written and even in 1965 it looked to be a mess and unwinable.
First I was not in the Vietnam WAR.
Second The MARines are all volunteers. They are infantry.
Third. Not everybody is a great soldier,or lucky. or a lifer.In and out seems normal.
Four. This is not his best written book.Maybe this was the first written about VIETNAM?
Five, Countries seldom go to war for national survival. All the US wars since WW2 were optional. Since we lost all of them (or they accomplished nothing permanent) yet we still exist...
SIX Youth , ignorance, and naivete seem to run concurrently.
SEVEn For those that didnt serve,would it have been different if you had?
Eight The US powers that be seem to be too ready to make commitments when they dont share the cost.
Nine Communism-Socialism was not what the war in Vietnam was about.
Ten The US seeks stability and is not really concerned with who they prop up to get it.

A truly excellent account of a young mans experience in Vietnam on a single tour that begins almost as the first bullets are fired. The welling pride of a nation is soon replaced by the realities of war. Boredom, monotony, discomfort and sheer terror. No punches are pulled in this. What is war good for? Nothing!

Very well written memoir that puts you on the ground at the beginning of the US involvement in the Viet Nam war. Caputo vividly describes the experience of soldiers on the front in a way that transcends this war and offers a story of young men in all wars.

Wonderful literary memoir. A meditation on the morality of war and the personal and national ethical consequences of ill considered warfare. Caputo was aiming to take a place with the great 20th Century books on war and succeeds. An "All Quiet on the Western Front" of the Vietnam War.

Out of the many books written about war, this stands out in its ability to drag you into the narrative, and pose the questions that should be asked of all who contemplate war, either as a participant, or as one who would send others to do so. Brutal honesty.

This was on the required reading list for a writing class I took last spring, and I wasn't exactly looking forward to hundreds of pages on the Vietnam War. However, Caputo's compelling account of his experiences not only held my interest, but certainly gave me a more accurate account of the Vietnam "Conflict" than any history text could have.

One of the most accurate and honest books written about a war that people like to forget about. Unfortunately, by trying to forget it, it's a disservice to those who died and those who survived it, as well.

Written with candid recall of facts and emotions . Especially in this war which was inspired by men of privilege, presumed intelligence and noble intentions.
The identity of JFK cohorts is common knowledge. One of them, at least, recanted before his death. That's nice.
One can easily empathize with the aborhant behavior evolving in this book. Justified? No. Inevitable? Yes'.

The author has successfully described the human condition job the heart of darkness.

A fast read, excellent writing , if you really want to know about Vietnam, please read this book... the only small problem i had was in the ending, i would have like to know what happened to the other 3 men. otherwise a wonderful book...

This book will make you question your own humanity. It is like the book captures you and you're living in it as you read it. A very great book if you want to grasp what Vietnam was like read this book. The situations he puts you in are mind boggling.

Without a doubt, this is one of the most disturbing books that I have ever read! I received a copy of this book several years ago as a Christmas present, and it languished on my shelf as I really was not interested in ANYTHING to do with the Vietnam War. I picked it up as bedtime reading to help me sleep, and it did anything BUT help me sleep! Caputo presents a rare glimpse into the idiocy that governed the 10+ year conflict that we call the Vietnam War. He exposes the fallacy of the casualty reports that those of us who lived throught that piece of history remember so well from the reports on the evening news as well as the oxymoron known as "army intelligence". This should be required reading for anyone who now supports going to war with Iraq as it demonstrates how easily a seemingly "just" cause can degenerate into a hopeless situation with no end in sight.