Vietnam War Pros And Cons

V. Conclusion O 'Brien brings up many instances that show how things went wrong in the Vietnam War, not only because important problems were overlooked at the time but also because the American public sought at first to erase the war from their collective memories. Many Vietnam Veterans felt isolated from the American mainstream after they returned from service. After the period of erasure ended, the public commemoration, through movies and stories, sought to supplant the reality of Vietnam with a more endearing story that could be cherished as much as the myths that surround World War II, “O 'Brien points out that the evils of the Vietnam War are not merely forgotten, but all but deleted from American mythology and memory” (Ooms 26). As Julie Ooms points out in her article "Battles Are Always Fought Among Human Beings, Not Purposes," O 'Brien was not merely responding to a need to set the record straight. He was also responding to the American public’s inability to exalt in any veteran who could not be viewed as a “White Knight” or the “The Lone Ranger” (Ooms 42). “This quasi-religious faith in Nation, O 'Brien 's books make clear, does

O’Brien is trying to present young warriors in war as fragile living creatures who are blood and bone, not fantasy fighters who bring glory to the cause, “This idea of the deified nation, a replacement god of abstract principle that can be honored and worshipped through war, has been gradually ousted from its place as the center of the American story” (Ooms 42) That is what the many sides of the story are in conflict while purporting to be the one true version of what happened. No one’s account is really reliable. All of the accounts are based on individual impressions including those of solidarity among the soldiers. O 'Brien demands that outdated stories of grit and valor be put aside to make room for a new kind of war story. One that may not be particularly commendable, but one that is nonetheless