David Mclean's Short Story 'Marine Corps Issue'

Pat Tillman, an NFL superstar who gave it all up to defend our country, embodied the American dream and more. Worked hard on and off the field he earned a comfortable life for him and his family. He not only achieved the American dream, but also gave the ultimate sacrifice of any American – his life. Because of his importance, Sports Illustrated created two different magazine covers to illustrate Pat Tillman's death.

In November of 1955, the United States entered arguably one of the most horrific and violent wars in history. The Vietnam War is documented as having claimed about 58,000 American lives and more than 3 million Vietnamese lives. Soldiers and innocent civilians alike were brutally slain and tortured. The atrocities of such a war are near incomprehensible to those who didn’t experience it firsthand. For this reason, Tim O’Brien, Vietnam War veteran, tries to bring to light the true horrors of war in his fiction novel The Things They Carried. The novel focuses on coping with the death and horror of war. It also speaks volumes about the true nature of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the never-ending struggle of dealing with it. In the

Since humans romanticize war, Death can strike any family. This is demonstrated in Luis Valdez, in the 1969 play,”The Buck Private” demonstrates that. Valdez supports hi argument by illustrating stock characters, by using death as a main character, and flashbacks show Johnny’s, the protagonist,reasons for enlisting to earn respect, and the consequences of his enlistment; his death.Valdez’s purpose is to entertain the audience and protest the Vietnam War so that the audience stops glamorizing war and starts recognizing its dangers. Valdez writes in a satirical tone for young adults. Johnny was young and irresponsibly drank heavily so, that makes him not be a tragic hero because his motives were not honorable since he had nothing better to do.

A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo shows the hard work and difficult tasks the men had to go through to prove themselves and protect their country. The war will change the men’s attitudes and the way they do everything. Men made sacrifices in the Vietnam War most people would never make in a lifetime, they will not just sacrifice but push themselves physically harder than most any other men. The men will also emotionally change from constantly watching other men die, or killing other men. The mens first kill was always the hardest for them, mentally they had so many thoughts of the other mans close ones back home and what they would go through and how it would be all their fault. Men went through so many tasks during the Vietnam War physically and mentally.

Human beings often claim to be searching for the truth. The truth often entails finding the right answer, choice, or formula. The search for truth develops a tendency to settle for the easiest choice—a false truth; more often than not, a false truth goes unquestioned in order to remain benighted. Concerning the false truth in The Things They Carried, information—specifically memories, must be sorted into two categories: those stories that are true and those which are simply glorified recreational war stories. It would be a near impossible task due to the extent that the tales mix. 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

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.

Regret is a powerful emotion that has the ability to scar someone for the rest of their life. Moments of regret can come from relationships, self-made decisions and life changing events. The idea of regret also applies to “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” by Bao Ninh and “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien. Although these two literary pieces are very different in many ways, both authors describe the experience of the Vietnam War as a time of regretful decisions that negatively impacted people of both the American side and the Vietnamese side. Both authors tell a story about a character that recalls of flashbacks of the war, where they grieve over the past decisions that have affected them for the rest of their life.

During the turbulent times of the Vietnam War, thousands of young men entered the warzone and came face-to-face with unimaginable scenes of death, destruction, and turmoil. While some perished in the dense Asian jungles, others returned to American soil and were forced to confront their lingering combat trauma. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried provides distinct instances of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and reveals the psychological trauma felt by soldiers in the Vietnam War.

Men have seemingly been the dominant force when it comes to jobs. However, in 1861, specific gender roles for men and women diminished due to the Civil War. As males traveled to the battlefront, women undertook masculine roles in order for society to continually thrive. Charles Frazier, the author of Cold Mountain, includes the tales women and men during the Civil War era, along with how the society's viewpoint evolved throughout the years.

“The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien, brings to light the psychological impact of what soldiers go through during times of war. We learn that the effects of traumatic events weigh heavier on the minds of men than all of the provisions and equipment they shouldered. Wartime truly tests the human body and and mind, to the point where some men return home completely destroyed. Some soldiers have been driven to the point of mentally altering reality in order to survive day to day. An indefinite number of men became numb to the deaths of their comrades, and yet secretly desired to die and bring a conclusion to their misery. Over all, this story allows us to observe changes within the mentalities of army officers.

Hidden somewhere within the blurred lines of fiction and reality, lies a great war story trapped in the mind of a veteran. On a day to day basis, most are not willing to murder someone, but in the Vietnam War, America’s youth population was forced to after being pulled in by the draft. Author Tim O’Brien expertly blends the lines between fiction, reality, and their effects on psychological viewpoints in the series of short stories embedded within his novel, The Things They Carried. He forces the reader to rethink the purpose of storytelling and breaks down not only what it means to be human, but how mortality and experience influence the way we see our world. In general, he attempts to question why we choose to tell the stories in the way we

This chapter also contain a lot of psychological lens. From the way Tim O’Brien felt when he was shot and separated from his unit to a new unit to when he wanted revenge on Bobby Jorgenson for almost “killing” him. The chapter also showed how the war shaped and changed the way Tim O’Brien thought and dealt with things.

“My Son the Marine” by Frank Schaeffer and John Schaeffer gives us a look into the life of a mother and father; and their feelings toward their son enlisting into the Marine corp. John had aspirations of joining the military to serve his country. He had spoken to recruiters from the Army, Air force, and the Navy but had yet spoken to the Marine Corp. John was taken by the appearance of the two Marines that visited his home. After he spoke with the Marines he decided that if he was going to join the military he would definitely join the Marine Corps.

“Daddy’s home. Daddy’s gone. Daddy’s home. Daddy’s gone. Daddy’s home. Daddy’s gone” (Hummert). This is the way of life for millions of Americans with parents in the military. But for some of them, Daddy comes home different. He is suffering from a condition called post-traumatic stress disorder, which is mental disease in which one has constant flashbacks to a traumatizing and life-threatening event. The articles “The Forever War of the Mind,” “Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),” and “Daddy’s Home” all share insight into this malady.

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.