In Vietnam Book One: Sharpshooter by Chris Lynch, Ivan, a teenager, joins the army to become a sniper. To begin with, Ivan has a friend named Rudi, and he gets drafted for the Vietnam War. Soon, Ivan decides he will volunteer to become a marksman. As expected, he gets put into a group of others that are training to be snipers. He gradually learns that being a sniper can be hard.
Jeff Bussey had no idea how brutal war really was, and he certainly found out the hard way in Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith. Jeff thinks being a soldier would be fun and adventurous. He learns how cruel and brutal war really is, but he also finds love along the way. Harold Keith mixes fact with his story, and not his story with his fact. Which is a good thing.
In the novel Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, the main character is Richie Perry. At seventeen he graduated high school in Harlem, and he wanted to go to college, but his mother couldn’t afford to send him to college since she was an alcoholic. So he joined the army to escape his unfortunate future, but joining the army meant he had to leave his little brother Kenny, who saw him as a father figure since their father left when they were younger. Perry was sent to Vietnam and through his journey, he made lifelong bonds with many different people such as PeeWee, Monaco, and etc. Also in his journey, he suffers from mental and physical wounds.
I chose the book Black Hearts by Jim Frederick because it was recommended to me by First Lieutenant Smaldone. He had to read it as course material during his training at TBS (The Basic School). Officers go to TBS following Officer Candidate School where newly commissioned officers learn to lead and inspire fellow Marines. Black Hearts is a non-fiction story about the 502nd Infantry Regiment’s deployment to a region south of Baghdad, Iraq and it’s breakdown of leadership, morale, and discipline. The Unit was known as “The Black Heart Brigade.”
Men went through so many tasks during the Vietnam War physically and mentally. The beginning chapters focus on training for war and being prepared for the worst. For example, when there is a sergeant in a room with the marines. The sergeant walks to the chalk board and writes “AMBUSHES ARE MURDER AND MURDER IS FUN” (36-37). The
The Bridges at Toko-Ri The Bridges at Toko-Ri was a great novel, but it hit some rough spots along the way and it was hard for me to read this book at the beginning. The author, James. Michener, throws the reader into a random spot in the Korean War with no specific date or time. The novel was particularly good once I had gotten used to the author’s style choice of writing (detailed, but After reading this book, I have a better idea of how the men that lay down their lives every day feel when they are at war or are about to carry out an important mission. People overlook soldiers in the U.S. Military, seeing them as tough and intimidating men.
Readers, especially those reading historical fiction, always crave to find believable stories and realistic characters. Tim O’Brien gives them this in “The Things They Carried.” Like war, people and their stories are often complex. This novel is a collection stories that include these complex characters and their in depth stories, both of which are essential when telling stories of the Vietnam War. Using techniques common to postmodern writers, literary techniques, and a collection of emotional truths, O’Brien helps readers understand a wide perspective from the war, which ultimately makes the fictional stories he tells more believable.
Imagine flying through the air in a plane and below you is all gunshots and explosions. His name is Paul Shingleton, he was born in Indiana and when he graduated he went straight to the military. Paul participated in the Vietnam War. Paul said, “Experiencing the war and being in it changed my life forever.” Paul lived in Indiana with his mom, dad, and two sisters.
Rather, the significance of O’Brien’s work is his utilization of a metafictional novel as a representative vehicle for the Vietnam War. Within The Things They Carried
It is a refreshing look into the military as it has the typical military tough guy from the 1980s that most military movie heroes are made of. The novels covers the Vietnam War, the organizations of counter terrorism units in the 1970s and the author’s command and establishment of one of the best known SEAL team in the US, SEAL Team Six. The novel is an exceptional insider look into American Special Operations in the second half of the 20th century. Blood Lies the second novel in the series is deemed one of the very best ever written by Marcinko. A daughter of an ex-Navy SEAL goes missing and soon turns up held at ransom in Mexico.
The Disconnected Soldiers In “The Things They Carried,” written by Tim O’Brien, he creates images in the audience 's mind about what veterans truly experience before, during, and after the Vietnam war. Soldiers always have the strange feeling of disconnection but O’Brien brings this to the attention of people throughout his book. On the surface, the book appears to be a simple war novel, but beneath the surface it opens up into all of the struggles that war veterans face such as the disconnection from society. Disconnection occurs as a main theme in the novel and he presents this through multiple stories from different characters.
Although he learned that he had to learn to cope with every single physical, emotional and mental stress factor that came his way. He learned with every guy in his platoon, they all stuck together. This novel was a very well written book. Each story was different, and gave a different aspect on war every time. The emotions were real, and very descriptive.
This book is about three boys whose fathers are fighting in the war in Iraq. They want their fathers to come home. The boys try to get contact with them, but they do not hear from them very often. It is emotional and has a real connection to what families must feel like. It is a graphic novel, and I like that in a way.
He fought a war in Vietnam that he knew nothing about, all he knew was that, “Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons” (38). He realized that he put his life on the line for a war that is surrounded in controversy and questions. Through reading The Things They Carried, it was easy to feel connected to the characters; to feel their sorrow, confusion, and pain. O’Briens ability to make his readers feel as though they are actually there in the war zones with him is a unique ability that not every author possess.
How it was shaped: Tim allowed the draft of the Vietnam war and societal pressures get to the best of him and he slowly tore himself apart, he started off as a confident incorrigible man. His morals later then became corrupted, he gave into the pressures, his self proclaimed Lone Ranger status had been infected and debunked by his end decision of serving in the Vietnam war. Thesis: In the story, On the Rainy River, the author, Tim O’Brien demonstrates that an individual allows societal pressures and expectations to override their core values, morals, and beliefs; peer pressure forces individuals to put their beliefs aside so they can fit in with everyone else. The narrator, Tim O’Brien faces a similar situation when he get’s drafted for the Vietnam War.