Week 7 Open Topic

The Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong was a particularly interesting story within Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. At face value, the story is about a young girl who visits her boyfriend in Vietnam and progressively becomes more and more fascinated with the entire experience of the war. However, I believe the transformation of Mary Anne is also symbolic of the transformation that many of the soldiers in Vietnam underwent. She steps off the plane, wearing her pink sweater and white culottes as if she is stepping off the bus into her first day of high school (90). This is very similar to the boys going off to war; they are far from home and not ready to leave behind their safety blankets. I imagine they look just as innocent and inexperienced as she did, overwhelmed by the unfamiliarity of their current situation. However, as humans are made to do, they evolve, learn the land, learn the sounds of the war, and begin embracing the experience of fighting. Mary Anne, in particular, takes interest in her surroundings, extremely curious about every nuance of the war and the countryside. She visits the village, learns how to use the weapons, and eventually goes on an ambush with the Greenies (98). This parallels the hunger for fighting that some of the soldiers develop, even though there are those who are still very ready to go back home. These natural warriors, however, don’t seem to care why they are fighting, they have simply learned that the rules of the game are kill the enemy, no further questions asked. I believe this is the point of no return, the point at which the human soul has been so significantly transformed that it can no longer return to the normalcy of the previous lifestyle. O’Brien illustrates this concept through they breakdown of Mary Anne’s relationship with Mark. He asks her to marry him, plans to send her back home to wait for him, and then she escapes because she is not capable of recapturing her former self (103-105, 112). This is a very interesting way to present an explanation of the reasons it is so difficult for some soldiers to reintegrate into society. They are at a severe evolutionary disadvantage because they are trained to fight like machines and then expected to simply slip back into their normal lives. This is yet another example of a hardship of war. “You come over clean and you get dirty and then afterward it’s never the same” (114).

Week 7- PBS topic

From the PBS website, I read the primary source Eisenhower to Ngo Dinh Diem which gave me a greater insight into the role the United States of America was playing in the Vietnam war. One line of the letter reads “It hopes that such aid, combined with your own continuing efforts, will contribute effectively toward an independent Vietnam endowed with a strong government”. This gave me an insight into understanding that the USA wanted to aid the people of South Vietnam in overcoming the communist state of North Vietnam.
In order to gain a stronger overview of the Vietnam conflict, I gathered my thoughts from the website . The United States worried about a communist takeover of Vietnam decided to enter the start sending troops over in 1950 which turned out to evolve into a full blown war. While at war in Vietnam, it was clear that the USA was very out of place. With no clear front line for the war to be fought over, the enemy could be hiding anywhere. With the growing number of casualties rising, Unites states citizens began to riot and demonstrate their conflict toward the war. The American army gradually withdrew from Vietnam with the expense of two millions lives taken. Once the last of the American troops had left, the North of Vietnam conquered the south, turning the country into a communist reign.
I was able to relate The Things They Carried to the Vietnamese website, in understanding how hard it was for soldiers to fight in Vietnam without a front line to be fought over. United States soldiers were unable to relax, as the enemy could be hiding anywhere. In the chapter “Ambush” of The Things They Carried, Tim explains to his daughter of the time he killed an innocent man who he saw walking down the path. Tim, while on night duty saw a man walking down a path and without hesitating killed him. This moment of the book goes hand in hand with the truth of American soldiers in Vietnam. With no real “Safe ground”, soldiers were continuously on the lookout and were nervous by anyone who came across there path.
In reading up on the Vietnam War I now understand that the soldiers were on continuous alert. In having no “Safe Ground” or base to relax at, the soldiers would have been pushed to there limit physically and mentally in their search for the enemy.

Week 7 Topic (PBS website)

One of the stories from Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, which I personally think that it reflects what the war was about is “The Things They Carried”. This story talks about what the soldiers literally carried in the war, from guns, to games, and photographs. But not only what they carried physically, but mentally and emotionally too. “But Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried 34 rounds when he went down…more than 20 pounds of ammunition, plus the flak jacket…plus the unweighted fear” (6). Then O’Brien goes on describing other things they carried such as ghosts (10), good luck objects (13), “the wounded or weak” (14), and “They carried their own lives” (15). Soldiers have to carry all of this around in war, while taking orders and fighting so that Vietnamese could be free of Communism.
In the PBS website, there is a letter from Kennedy to South Vietnam’s president Ngo Dinh Diem telling him “we are confident that the Vietnamese people will preserve their independence and gain the peace and prosperity for which they have sought so hard and so long”. I really do not think that these suffering soldiers, killing, and trying to survive each day, are capable of preserving Vietnam’s peace and prosperity. After all of this war going on in their land, it is going to take even more time to do so.
After reading more on the War in http://www.vietnamwar.com/, I am able to imagine more what the war was about and what the soldiers where doing there. But I really don’t see how war, killing, death, villages being destroyed, can make a country a better place.

Week 7 Assigned Topic

In my further research on the history of Vietnam, I found contradicting information that offers two drastically different interpretations of the initial involvement of the United States in the political state of Vietnam after the Geneva Accordance was signed. In President Kennedy’s letter to the leader of South Vietnam, Kennedy claims to be merely aiding in the protection of South Vietnam from the evil communists of North Vietnam in response to North Vietnam breaking the agreements made in Geneva. The underlying motive here is to stop the spread of communism, a dangerous form of government according to the U.S. democratic leaders. However, this does not appear to be the way historical events actually took place. According to Encarta, South Vietnam began building an army, with the help of the U.S. military, which was a direct violation of the Geneva Accordance. This would suggest that the U.S. was involved in the war from the very beginning as opposed to the reactionary role as protectors of South Vietnam, as suggested by President Kennedy’s letter.
The Battlefield Vietnam portion of the PBS website depicted a far greater U.S. involvement than I realized. According to this source, the American government was so fearful of the spread of communism that they helped South Vietnam to elect a new anti-communist leader and offered military support in building a strong enough army in South Vietnam to overthrow the communist powers of North Vietnam. These efforts led to the installation of repressive laws that allowed the South Vietnam government to retain anyone in jail who was even assumed to be communist, and consequently a decrease in civilian support for the war effort. The worst of all is the fact that innocent American lives were dragged into the mess without full understanding of the circumstances. This issue is addressed in Tim O’Brien’s chapter entitled “Spin” within the novel The Things They Carried. Spin begins with examples of ways in which the soldiers expressed their frustrations with their miserable situation including the mailing of body lice to the draft office in retaliation of the draft process (31). This minor activity shows just how desperate the soldiers are to voice their distaste for the war they are fighting. As they realize their efforts to be heard are futile, the soldiers try to make the best of the situation. However, they are constantly in conflicting states of boredom and terror. They try to fill their days with normal pastimes such as checkers and practical jokes, but the fact remains that they are stuck in the middle of a war with no concept of how they managed to be placed there (32, 37). They were told they were being good Samaritans, protecting a weaker nation from a mean bully, but are now haunted by memories and stories of “the bad stuff [that] never stops happening” (32). The cultural context of how the war began helps to explain the frustration the soldiers are experiencing. As soldiers, they have no real direction, no clear purpose, and no concept of what exactly they are fighting for.

Week 7- Open Topic

How boring would war be? Painful is the answer. In class on Tuesday we briefly touched on just how boring your time at war would be. I am not very good at volleyball so I would not want to play that, a soccer ball would get flat and rugby would lead to someone getting horribly hurt. The question then is, what would I do?
A Yo Yo would be great, but what would happen if the string got tangled? My sole entertainment would be bust. A pack of cards? What would happen if I lost one card, every trick and game would be ruined. If I kept to the plan and was able to keep a hold of every card I could start to play poker, but what would I gamble on? Helmet? Nope, need that. Gun? I suppose it was getting heavy. Yo Yo? Perfect. What other forms of entertainment could you find to do while at war? I could teach myself to dance, but whom would I practice with? "Sergeant, may I ask you for a dance" may not be the best option. I took my quest to find solutions to boredom one step further and found which gave me a large list of things to do while bored. The one that stood out to me the most, was to play dead. While at war and bored, the last thing I would recommend to do would be to play dead. You could continuously yell, "Hit the deck" for enjoyment but this may also lead to your actual death. How about starting your own television show and have different soldiers every week be contestants. Which game show would work however? My personal preference would be American Gladiators. Not only would it be very patriotic, it would also enable the soldiers to do what they are all best at: run around and hurt others and have no reason why.
In all honesty, war would drive me crazy. I cannot even imagine what I would get myself into, let alone what I would find that would bring me happiness. But war is not meant to be happy or fun, and you are definitely not to spread your enjoyment if you do find it. The list of things to do while bored may look short and simple yet it has taken me a considerate amount of time to complete. What really can you do? I myself was starting to become bored just trying to think of things to do while bored, when I finally realized the answer I had been looking for. To avoid boredom while at war, bring a pad or paper, pencil and pen and start to draw. Draw the pictures that you see while traveling around and witnessing these life-changing experiences. Soldiers at war are known for writing but if you are able to express your emotions through pictures, you could even sell your art work for large funds when you get back home. For goodness sake however, if you also bring a pack of cards, don't gamble your pen or pencil away.

Week 7 Open Topic

In class on Tuesday, we talked about how to tell a true war story. As a class, we decided that a true war story had no end; it kept on going. It had no clarity; there was blending between the truth and lies. There is no moral; it is not believable and there is no meaning to the stories, and no answers to questions. A true war story is never about war; it's about love, meaning, sorrow, and sunlight. A true war story is meant to admire war; to admire its beauty and majesty. One thing we talked about in our group, though, was that it had to have gut instict. It has to make your stomach believe. I think that this is one of the main ways to tell a true war story. War is something that makes the stomach sick; the pictures and stories about war are greusome. In the story, O'Brien tells the story about the baby water buffalo and how Rat Kiley killed it in a horrible way. Rat Kiley was upset because his best friend, Curt Lemon, was dead. Rat killed the baby water buffalo because he wanted to hurt something the way that he had been hurt. He was not trying to torture the water buffalo, but get out some of his anger towards the loss of his best friend (p. 78-79). Being in a war zone is not nice to the soldiers. It makes them cruel and bloodthirsty, especially when they lose those close to them. This story is not one that could have been made up; it would take a very discusting human being to make up a story like this. We can only believe that this story is true because it does make the stomach believe in its truth. This is just one example of a true war story according to O'Brien and his ideas of how to tell a true war story. In the heat of the moment, a person sees what they want to see, and what they see is in their perspective. War stories have a tendency to lose their truthfulness when only one person is telling it; it can lose it's truthfulness also, though, by others telling the story. One must think and decide if the stories they hear are true by using the criteria mentioned above to figure it out.

The picture I posted I think fits this story great. It is a picture of a dead water buffalo who has been shot. There are 2 men with smiles on their faces; one in camo. In the story, it never said they smiled, but I'm sure that in a way the death of the water buffalo helped them cope with the death of their friend.

Week 6 Assigned Topic

I am not a history buff by any means, which only functions to further hinder my understanding of the Vietnam War. I have been blessed to have grown up in country free of war on our home soil, but this leads me to merely having an abstract conception of war. It is extremely difficult to wrap my mind around the concept of war when my only experiences with images of war have been of video game battles and scenes from movies such as Platoon and Forest Gump. This leaves war in the realm of entertainment, the world of fiction, rather than the world of reality. In a way, this is how all of history has seemed to me; stories of the past that are no more real to me than the fictional stories of the great novelists. Sadly, the war in Vietnam is no exception. Although it does not give the due respect to the soldiers, this war is just as unreal as all the others.
To me, the war in Vietnam was a war made in fear. The United States military seemed to be fighting a foreign government that they did not fully understand and certainly didn’t, or possibly couldn’t, communicate their intentions to the soldiers actually fighting their battles. Platoon presented the intentions of the soldiers as completely misguided; it seemed that each individual soldier was fighting a different battle rather than them working together as a cohesive group. I imagine this lack of unity stemmed from the breakdown of communication between the U.S. officials at home and the commanders overseas. The most uneasy part of all is the disregard the U.S. soldiers had for the civilians of Vietnam. In this website The War in Vietnam that confronts the anti-war sentiments of the American people, Nixon is quoted in continuing the war in efforts to gain “peace with honor” because he was not willing to be humiliated by the fuzzy resolution of the war. However, I feel that honor can not come to war in which civilian lives are being so irreverently sacrificed. The true humiliation of the war in Vietnam comes from the fact that so many men did not believe in the cause for which they were fighting, in fact, there may have been no clear cause at all. The image of a young boy injured as severely as his combative opponents is one such example of the irreverance the U.S. had for the civilians of Vietnam during the war. Nothing in this land was worthy of their respect.