Analysis Of Philip Caputo's A Rumor Of War

In the autobiography, a Rumor of War, Philip Caputo, talks about his experience in the Vietnam War. He tells us why he joins the Marines until the day he was released from active duty. A rumor for the story about war and how it changed men like Phillip Caputo, John Kerry Silvio Burgio and Tim Carey. This paper is based on Philip Caputo and how the Vietnam War changed him through his time before the war, during the war and after the war.
Philip Caputo was raised in the small town of Westchester, Illinois, full of the American dream and vision. He, like many of his peers, was inspired by the opportunity to fight for their country and to protect the ideals that America represents and like many young men of twenty years of age, was ready to prove to those around him that he was indeed coming into manhood. He had heard President John F. Kennedy's inaugural speech and felt a sense of duty and felt that this was his chance to stand up for his country. He and other young men, swept up in the "patriotic tide of the

This crucial battle proved to be the turning point for Caputo and the others. In the monsoon rains, insects, diseases, random sniper fire, and finally full out battles, the Marines charge into their notions of the war. They searched villages full of Viet Cong and crept along passages laden with explosive mines, trip wire, or ambushes. They hardly slept, ate cold food, and slashed through miles of jungle in the middle of the rain and with every step, they were running on a high that comes from staring down at death, knowing any of them could be shot by a sniper or blown to bits by a mine. This environment of high tension, however, came at a high price. Slowly, Caputo and his men begin showing signs of psychological trauma from the stress loads where his anger boils up from deep wells; they burn down villages and begin to