A Rumor of War

Written by Philip Caputo after his tour of duty as a Marine at the outset of the Vietnam War, A Rumor of War provides a personal account of what it was like to join in this "splendid little war" before it morphed into what some look at now as a blemish on American history. How did I come across this book? It was assigned by one of my favorite professors in college, and one I did not finish reading at the time. I was only able to get through the first few chapters before it was time to move onto the next book. But, even from those few chapters, I knew this was a book I had to return to read and give it the time and attention it merited.

Caputo entered Vietnam idealistic, ready for an adventure, prepared to answer the call President John F. Kennedy sent forth, "Ask not what your country can do for you..." These boys went out seeking adventure and glory, and were met with the invisible killers of Viet Cong, disease, and booby traps, living the nightmares found in the the confining and confusing jungle of their surroundings and minds. They began with excitement, which turned to apathy, which grew into a rage so strong that Caputo, who in the book seems a voice of reason, set aside the ideals of duty, honor, and country in order to answer that question, "why?" Why were they there? Why did his friends die? Who killed them? From these questions, Caputo and others decided any Vietnamese person they encountered was Viet Cong, and so they sought after and murdered to understand "why."

Since most of my history classes in high school took longer than expected on one era in history, and in college I focused on other times in history, most of the 20th century's history is unclear to me. In a way, I feel like 1900 arrived and everything socially, politically, and economically became more fractured and complicated. Maybe this assumption is correct, maybe it is just me. What A Rumor of War provided me was an eye not into the inner workings of the politics, history, or economics surrounding the United State's entrance into Vietnam, but a discovery of the country, adulthood, death, and hatred alongside Caputo and his buddies. A history unable to be told with policies, speeches, and posturing, but through the voices, lives, and deaths of the sons of America.