Philip Caputo’s book, A Rumor of War, is a memoir of his experiences during the Vietnam War. In his book he describes his life before he joined the Marine Corp, his days of training, and his service in Vietnam. This essay will explore the nature of the war that he and his men fight and how it affects them. Two documents containing two soldier’s memories of their tours in Vietnam will also be discussed to show the consistent nature of the war. Analyzing these aspects of his book will give insight into what being a soldier during the war meant and how each was affected by their experiences. Then, readers will understand the complexities of the war and the tremendous sacrifices made.

            Caputo wrote that “the regiment’s mood began to match the weather.” (p.227) he remembered that the fighting had become more intense and that ambushes against companies were becoming more common and destructive. Both the American troops and the Vietcong guerrillas were becoming more violent and brutal against one another. If someone was captured, they were tortured and then killed. Jokes were made as if it was apparent that the man next to you would die. The VC was gaining confidence in the closing years of the war and that was evident as they began coming out of the jungles and attacking bases and nearly eliminating everything with a heartbeat. He remember that a twenty-eight man platoon led by one of his earlier classmates was attacked by two hundred VC and only two severely wounded soldiers lived to tell about it. This war had become a war of day to day survival, unlike the European campaigns of old, and that all ethics of war were thrown out of the window.

            According to Caputo, he had been spending his days counting casualties and began to feel a little guilty. He decided to volunteer to be transferred to another battalion to serve on the line. To him his motives were clear, mostly out of boredom but also the fear of going mad from seeing the dead and mutilated every day. He began to see his fellow soldiers as what they would look like dead. He began to see himself dead and having nightmares and feared with no doubt that if he remained staring at corpses he would end up institutionalized. It was also for revenge against and hatred for the VC that inspired him to place himself in harm’s way to have the opportunity to kill those trying to kill him.

            He arrived to his new battalion and took care of his usual paperwork. After all was done he was assigned a platoon. After being transported to his company’s base camp he was briefed on the situation and found out that the whole division was on the defensive. Defensive because the platoon he was assigned to and two others were without officers because they were killed and because their responsibility was to prevent another attack on the airfield. The problem he found with their defense was that they were to defend an area three times the size that a normal full scale company could be expected to defend. He gathered his platoon and started on their way to their line. He studied his new troops and noticed that although their age was young, these men were veterans of war. They had spent time fighting hunger, keeping dry, and trying to stay alive. The lack of expression and constant concentration showed Caputo that this war had changed them and it was his job to make sure they stayed that way.

            As nightfall approached he began to familiarize himself with the landscape where the other members of his platoon were on guard. He realized that they were protecting around seven hundred yards of frontage and had a lot of gaps in their defense. When night came it was impossible to see anything and the heavy rain and wind got worse with the hours of the night. He remembered around midnight one of his positions drew enemy fire but without causing casualties. Later it started again. Caputo took a soldier and ran to the position that was taking fire to try to see what was going on. They watched the tree line in front of them in hopes to see who was shooting when suddenly a flash came from about one hundred yards away. One of the riflemen fired towards his position and some grenades were thrown in hopes to kill him or make him run away. After a while and no more shooting, Caputo and his soldier went back to their post as the rain and wind died a little. He remembered that after that one night of shivering and watching for VC ambushes that he was exhausted and that he could not imagine how his men felt from doing the same thing every night for many months that preceded his arrival. He soon knew the feeling as a month passed of the same march to their line, absorbed heavy rain, and scouted for VC opposition. He did experience an intense fire fight one night as the VC held positions around his entire platoon. Caputo and his men could not see anything and if they were in sight of the VC they were pinned down and unable to lift their heads. Eventually the fire ended and they had suffered no casualties.

            After nine months of service in Vietnam, Caputo finally received his three days of R & R in Saigon as a break from the war and for a bit of a morale boost. Captain Neal had looked through his files and realized that he had not had a break and when he asked Caputo if he wanted it, he responded without hesitation, “yes, yes, yes.” After getting a room in a hotel, he took a long hot shower and slept in a real bed that he considered very long overdue. He slept for fifteen hours. The next day he ventured to a part of the town where he could no longer see another soldier, whore, or bar and for the first time his fears of dying had subsided. After eating a meal of his choice and observed the actions of the oblivious to danger Frenchmen it was time for him to make his way back to prepare to return to his company. The other soldiers on R & R at the time were in high spirits and for an instance had forgotten the perils of war that they had witness before. Those feelings lasted until the airplane to carry them back started unloading dead bodies. It was then that their war-like mentality came back with the reality of the war.

            As he and his platoon marched back to the line to take their post, they passed a returning platoon that looked exhausted and once again new that at any second they could die and were fighting for their survival. As they patrolled through what had came to be known as the Purple Heart Trail, because of the constant casualties from mines, snipers, and mortars, he realized that he and his platoon was in a “permanent state of exhaustion.” (p.250) Approaching a nearby village they followed an old road that led them through flooded rice paddies and farms. They kept cover close to the edge of the river for an easy escape from sniper fire from the cross field tree lines. As they were crossing through a clearing Caputo and a soldier with him had a sniper round just miss them and hit a nearby tree. As they ducked over the river bank they began searching for the flash from his gun barrel to determine his location. After the VC sniper shot again they sprinted across the clearing while spraying the area of the sniper with their own guns to keep him suppressed. Finally out of harm’s way, they came to a village that was disserted except for four people. He interrogated a woman for information about how many VC were around and where they were and it was then that he remembered having his first violent fantasy which was a sign that he was breaking down from the strains of the war. He had been through many villages and had the same conversations with villagers and always received the same answers. They never knew any VC, never knew where they were, and somehow always never knew what they were talking about. He did not get any information out of the woman as he never did and sent her on her way.

            A couple weeks past and they were attached to another company to serve as a diversion on an assault on a VC village. They have to once again travel through the five mile long Purple Heart Trail and tread through more dangerous terrain to reach their destination. As they made their way through the jungle one of their scouts suddenly dropped and signaled for the rest to do the same. He had spotted a few VC guerrillas standing guard and heard others splashing in the river that was out of sight around the bend. The plan was to unnoticeably crawl to their position and kill them before they had a chance to fight back. As he crawled, Caputo thought that the guards would for sure hear his heart as it thumped on the ground and felt that no matter how quite they were, it seemed that they were louder than someone running through the jungle. It was the anticipation and adrenaline of the hunt that drove the men and Caputo remembered praying to God that he would be able to kill them all. All of a sudden a rifle shot broke the silence and the bullet hit right in front of Caputo’s face. They found themselves pinned down in crossfire and Caputo knew he had to do something fast or they would all be dead. He ran down a hill and had a rocket team follow. They used the rockets to make holes that could be shot through and after a second rocket the enemy fire had stopped. They had caused the VC to run and although taking a little fire did not have to worry too much about getting hit. Still consumed by adrenaline, the next time a sniper round was fired at them Caputo ordered his men to watch the tree line as he paced in the open to draw another round. After shouting obscenities and trying to get the sniper to shoot, nothing happened and his rush came down. He realized that that probably was not the smartest thing to do.

            Later that night they set up a perimeter to make camp. Caputo remembered when he about half asleep he heard someone yell “incoming” and that started a series of heavy bombings all around them. He and his radio man tried tirelessly to establish contact with someone over the radio to find out what was going on but it was no hope, it was not working. After a while the bombing stopped and after calling out to the rest of his platoon realized that there were still no casualties. They still had about seven more hours to march to reach their destination. They terrain was brutal and did not allow for a straight route and even had to place grenades to blow up a booby trapped obstacle blocking their path. Later that afternoon they reached their destination as worn out tired soldiers who had come care about nothing but survival.

            They received word of a cease-fire for Christmas and were to return to friendly lines as soon as possible. They took the Purple Heart Trail because it was the fastest and by this time, because of the constant rain, most of it was flooded. They began making their way up an embankment when Caputo felt a large sting in his back and his leg and his ears began to ring. His platoon had survived fire-fights and bombing attacks and suffered not one casualty. Now that they were on a cease fire, and making their way back to camp, an ambush mine went off and injured nine of his men. This was when Caputo lost touch with any reality, he hated everyone that was not American or in his platoon. He felt a very deep anger, they had done everything right and now, unexpectedly, they suffer loses. They found an electrical wire running towards a village and Caputo lost it. He ordered his men to launch their rockets into the hamlets. His attitude was changed. He felt no remorse or regret because they were getting what they deserved. Even so that the next operation that he took his platoon on, he lost it and lost control of his platoon. They ran through a village burning down houses and left it charred. He was reprimanded for his actions but it was not the reprimands that hurt him it was the dark emotions that he allowed to come over him. Who was he becoming and what was the war doing to him.

            This essay has shown the intensities of the war and how survival was the soldier’s number one priority. They

had to stick together and work as a team if they were to make it out alive. They had learned that the guerrilla style of

fighting displayed by the VC would leave them lying face down in the mud on the side of a river bank if they were not

alert one hundred percent of the time. The nature of the war was brutal. They were not allowed to rest, if they did

then they were vulnerable to attack. The climate and environment wore their spirits and their bodies down to nothing.

It affected them in a way that they would never be the same again. AS readers saw with Caputo, he eventually lost

his composure and morality went out the door with it. A hatred for anything un-American was brew out of the sheer

fear for survival. Colin Powell wrote in a document about his two tours in Vietnam. The nature of the war had

changed dramatically from his first tour in 1962 to his seconds in 1968. He remembered Saigon being littered with

pedicabs and villagers going through day to day activities in 1962. In 1968, it was completely Americanized and

militarized. It was littered with jeeps and military vehicle as well as bars and prostitutes to entertain American

soldiers. Times had changed. Robert Conner wrote about his tour and just like readers saw with Caputo’s platoon,

Conner and the other men were tired and worn. He even remembered it being so hot during their patrols that he

prayed to God that they would not run into any VC. But they did and someone was shot or killed. It was not what t

hey thought it would be and no one could explain why they were even there. Now, readers can understand the

complexities of the Vietnam War through the eyes of Philip Caputo, and the sacrifices, physically or mentally, that he

and other soldiers made to fight for what they believed in.