Comparing War And Philip Caputo's A Rumor Of The Vietnam War

The United States has been tied up in various wars over the past few decades. One war that taught the U.S. that it cannot win every war is the Vietnam War. Although reasons for fighting in the war were invalid, some people still supported the idea that troops should be drafted. Despite losing the war, the United States continued to carry on in the warfare with other countries. Although reasons for entering warfare became different, war itself stayed the same. With this constant warfare mind set that the United States has maintained, it was not very shocking that there was engagement in the Afghanistan War while reasons for entering were valid. In Sebastian Junger's War and Philip Caputo's A Rumor of War, the effects of war, transformations

Junger talks about a group of men who are about to get deployed and they take a train to the bar. After the men got drunk, their thoughts start to be revelead. Repstrepo's thoughts are clearly seen as he walks next to O'Byrne and starts gloating about going to war. He says, "'We're loving life and getting ready to go to war," Restrepo said, his arm around O'Byrne's neck. His face was so close there was almost fish-eye effect. "We're goin' to war. We're ready. We're goin' to war...we're goin' to war" (15). The theme of the romanticized idea of war becomes important because it is later broken down by combat views and actually serving in the war. The ideals that the soldiers once has become passions about war or even make it where they cannot hate the war like others can. The idea of a romanticized war, that ends up getting crushed quickly after arriving is what starts to shape the soldiers' ideals about war. This also helps to shape most of them into the men they become post-war. Once this romanticized dream of war is broken down, the men start to change and deal with the harshness of wars in different ways, which could include getting into fights with fellow

While the soldiers would get their frustrations out by fighting, the outlet seemed to have a different effect on the soliders. The men still had altercations that lef to them fighting with each other, yet others would jump into help. "Jumping someone was risky because everyone was bound by affiliations that broke down by platoon, by squad, and finally by team. If a man in your squad got jumped by more than one guy you were honor-bound to help out, which meant that within seconds you could have ten to fifteen guys in a pile on the ground," (Junger 23). The outlet of the men in Afghanistan seemed to relieve the burden that war had created on them. The fighting in both wars helps to connect that a brotherhood can be experienced while in a war. The brotherhood is shown because even though the men fight with each other during the battles, they are still willing to help each other when times get rough. The soldiers have each other's backs through it all and are willing to give their life to save one