The Vietnam War was an intense battle between North and South Vietnam, along with many other countries stepping in to support their allies, lasting from 1955 to 1975. Many countries were involved in this war, one being the United States. Living in the United States during the time of the Vietnam War was Michael Herr, a journalist looking for a job. After taking the position of war correspondent, he traveled to Vietnam to view exactly what was taking place in the war firsthand. When choosing to read Dispatches, the personal stories and daily life of the soldiers at war sounded interesting and seemed too good to pass up. After reading the summary and finding such great reviews of this book, it sounded fascinating and was not going to be boring …show more content…
War correspondents see everything in a war, and Herr explains how seeing all of the brutal killings didn’t seem possible or real. Herr was disgusted, but mesmerized and wanted to know more about the war. One of the first things that was introduced to Herr was the abundant supply of marijuana in Vietnam, which was used often by soldiers to relieve the stress of war and to relieve some of the pain the soldiers endured. Being in the jungle for months at a time isn’t easy for the human body to handle, and many soldiers in the Vietnam War were experiencing horrific health issues such as trench foot, malaria, and post-traumatic stress disorder. There are many of these cases in the war, but Herr talked about PTSD in depth. He talked about a man he knew who had a terrible case of PTSD due to an ambush attack. The man watched many of his friends die and he couldn’t ever fully recover from the incident, which caused him to become depressed and insane. This was the case for many soldiers, making them endure physical and mental pain daily. Michael Herr documents his experiences with the Tet Offensive, explaining …show more content…
During this attack, North Vietnam gained lots of land and killed any soldiers in their way. Herr described the constant feeling of danger with the North Vietnamese soldiers quickly closing in on him, but South Vietnam and the United States reassembled and began to take back the cities that were overrun by North Vietnam. In the middle of the Tet Offensive, Herr traveled to Khe Sanh to view and report on the United States marine base that was being attacked by the North Vietnamese Army. While there, Michael Herr watched multiple attacks on the base by North Vietnam. There were fires, shootouts, and explosive attacks on the base, which lead to the United States calling in multiple airstrikes surrounding the camp. Herr explained that the airstrikes were often and vicious, killing any North Vietnamese soldiers surrounding the military base. Both battles ended and North Vietnam had taken a beating. Their armies were no match for that of the United States, and it became clear over time. Once Herr was finished reporting on the battles, he traveled to a recuperation camp in China Beach where he finally had time to relax and forget about the war. After he leaves the camp, Herr returns back to the United States and