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If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home
Librarian's Note: Alternate-cover edition for ISBN 0767904435 / 9780767904438
Over time, Tim O'Brien has used both art and artifice to shape his fictional accounts of Vietnam. Award-winning novels such as Going After Cacciato and The Things They Carried offer up a surreal view of the war: a soldier who decides to walk to Paris, leaving only a trail of M&M's in his wake; a young man who imports his high-school girlfriend to his base camp high in the jungled mountains, only to lose her to a shadowy squad of Special Forces Green Berets and to "that mix of unnamed terror and unnamed pleasure" that was Vietnam. O'Brien's first account of the war, however, was written in the raw, unfiltered months following his return from Southeast Asia in 1969. If I Die in a Combat Zone has all of the eloquence and attention to language and detail that are a mark of the author's work; what is different about it is its straightforward, unembellished depiction of his personal experience of hell.
Over time, Tim O'Brien has used both art and artifice to shape his fictional accounts of Vietnam. Award-winning novels such as Going After Cacciato and The Things They Carried offer up a surreal view of the war: a soldier who decides to walk to Paris, leaving only a trail of M&M's in his wake; a young man who imports his high-school girlfriend to his base camp high in the jungled mountains, only to lose her to a shadowy squad of Special Forces Green Berets and to "that mix of unnamed terror and unnamed pleasure" that was Vietnam. O'Brien's first account of the war, however, was written in the raw, unfiltered months following his return from Southeast Asia in 1969. If I Die in a Combat Zone has all of the eloquence and attention to language and detail that are a mark of the author's work; what is different about it is its straightforward, unembellished depiction of his personal experience of hell.
"When you are ordered to march through areas such as Pinkville--GI slang for Song My, parent village of My Lai ... you do some thinking. You hallucinate. You look ahead a few paces and wonder what your legs will resemble if there is more to the earth in that spot than silicates and nitrogen. Will the pain be unbearable? Will you scream or fall silent? Will you be afraid to look at your own body, afraid of the sight of your own red flesh and white bone? You wonder if the medic remembered his morphine."
O'Brien paints an unvarnished portrait of the infantry soldier's life that is at once mundane and terrifying--the endless days of patrolling punctuated by firefights that end as suddenly and inconclusively as they begin; the mind-numbing brutality of burned villages and trampled rice patties; the terror of tunnels, minefields, and the ever-present threat of death. Powerful as these scenes are, perhaps the most memorable chapter in the book concerns his decision to desert just a few weeks before he was sent to Vietnam. "The AWOL bag was ready to go, but I wasn't.... I burned the letters to my family. I read the others and burned them, too. It was over. I simply couldn't bring myself to flee. Family, the home town, friends, history, tradition, fear, confusion, exile: I could not run." Tim O'Brien went into the war opposing it and came out knowing exactly why.
209 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
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7596 people want to read
About the author
Tim O'Brien
128 books3,247 followersTim O'Brien is an American novelist who served as a soldier in the Vietnam War. Much of his writing is about wartime Vietnam, and his work later in life often explores the postwar lives of its veterans.
O'Brien is perhaps best known for his book The Things They Carried (1990), a collection of linked semi-autobiographical stories inspired by his wartime experiences. In 2010, The New York Times described it as "a classic of contemporary war fiction." O'Brien wrote the war novel, Going After Cacciato (1978), which was awarded the National Book Award.
O'Brien taught creative writing, holding the endowed chair at the MFA program of Texas State University–San Marcos every other academic year from 2003 to 2012.
O'Brien is perhaps best known for his book The Things They Carried (1990), a collection of linked semi-autobiographical stories inspired by his wartime experiences. In 2010, The New York Times described it as "a classic of contemporary war fiction." O'Brien wrote the war novel, Going After Cacciato (1978), which was awarded the National Book Award.
O'Brien taught creative writing, holding the endowed chair at the MFA program of Texas State University–San Marcos every other academic year from 2003 to 2012.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 656 reviews
December 30, 2021
SE MUOIO IN BATTAGLIA
La foto di copertina. La guerra in Vietnam fu per antonomasia la guerra degli elicotteri.
L’esordio narrativo di Tim O’Brien, scrittore che nella sua partecipazione alla guerra in Vietnam ha trovato una fonte d’ispirazione pressoché inesauribile.
Mi ha colpito il fatto che questo libro sia un romanzo, e invece Quanto pesano i fantasmi è una raccolta di racconti, che però a suo modo risulta più compatta, più ‘romanzo’ di questo.
Forse l’esperienza di O’Brien in Vietnam era ancora troppo recente, troppo calda, ed è mancato il giusto tempo per metabolizzare, per elaborare gli appunti.
È comunque materiale letterario notevole. E, materiale umano eccezionale.
Iniziato a scrivere in loco, O’Brien prendeva appunti quando poteva, e quando ritornò a casa aveva un’ottantina di pagine. Ma gli ci vollero comunque altri due anni per finirlo.
E alla fine capì perché voleva pubblicarlo:
Per vendetta. Volevo vendicarmi di tutte quelle casalinghe teste di legno e di tutti quei ministri che erano convinti che la guerra era una cosa da fare. Volevo sbattergli sotto gli occhi l’orrore di un conflitto che, anche se inizia per i motivi più puri, poi prosegue senza scopo.
In che modo la guerra del Vietnam è diversa da quelle che l’hanno preceduta, si differenzia e stacca da quella in Corea, dalla Seconda Mondiale eccetera, ed è invece molto più simile alle guerre che l’hanno seguita?
Nelle guerre che hanno preceduto il Vietnam, il nemico era soggetto conosciuto e riconoscibile, vuoi perché portava una divisa, vuoi perché erano chiari gli schieramenti in campo - in quelle guerre il conflitto aveva una destinazione, e terminava quando una forza espugnava il territorio altrui, arrivando a Berlino, o a Tokyo.
I soldati in Vietnam, invece, si chiedevano a chi stavano sparando.
Si chiedevano dov’erano diretti: ‘ripulivano’ un villaggio, e il mese dopo lo facevano daccapo – conquistavano una posizione, la perdevano appena la abbandonavano, e di nuovo dovevano riconquistarla. Hamburger Hill.
Si chiedevano chi era il loro nemico: se quel/quella vietnamita che stava sorridendogli era amico/a o nemico/a.
Dal Vietnam in poi si è cominciato a sparare a tutto, quantità di munizioni sterminate.
Adesso, si vince davvero una guerra? L’Afghanistan e l’Iraq insegnano qualcosa, il Vietnam aveva cominciato a spargere il dubbio, a generare la frustrazione.
La guerra in Vietnam era contro i vietcong: ma anche contro il paese, contro il territorio, le risaie, le sanguisughe, il sole. Una guerra totale, il nemico era l’intero paese.
Un soldato dopo il Vietnam, e dopo le guerre che sono seguite, è in condizioni di sapere se ha ucciso qualcuno? Sa per certo se ha sparato: ma l’effetto, le vittime non sono più chiaramente identificabili.
Dalla guerra in Vietnam in poi, le guerre hanno cominciato a diventare azioni di rastrellamento, casa per casa.
Tim O’Brien dice che è stato in Vietnam, ha premuto il grilletto, e che dopo quel gesto, ha poca importanza se ha ucciso qualcuno o meno: è comunque responsabile.
PS
Se muoio in battaglia, mettimi in un sacco e spediscimi a casa, recita il titolo originale (If i die in a combat zone, zip me up and ship me home).
La foto di copertina. La guerra in Vietnam fu per antonomasia la guerra degli elicotteri.
L’esordio narrativo di Tim O’Brien, scrittore che nella sua partecipazione alla guerra in Vietnam ha trovato una fonte d’ispirazione pressoché inesauribile.
Mi ha colpito il fatto che questo libro sia un romanzo, e invece Quanto pesano i fantasmi è una raccolta di racconti, che però a suo modo risulta più compatta, più ‘romanzo’ di questo.
Forse l’esperienza di O’Brien in Vietnam era ancora troppo recente, troppo calda, ed è mancato il giusto tempo per metabolizzare, per elaborare gli appunti.
È comunque materiale letterario notevole. E, materiale umano eccezionale.
Iniziato a scrivere in loco, O’Brien prendeva appunti quando poteva, e quando ritornò a casa aveva un’ottantina di pagine. Ma gli ci vollero comunque altri due anni per finirlo.
E alla fine capì perché voleva pubblicarlo:
Per vendetta. Volevo vendicarmi di tutte quelle casalinghe teste di legno e di tutti quei ministri che erano convinti che la guerra era una cosa da fare. Volevo sbattergli sotto gli occhi l’orrore di un conflitto che, anche se inizia per i motivi più puri, poi prosegue senza scopo.
In che modo la guerra del Vietnam è diversa da quelle che l’hanno preceduta, si differenzia e stacca da quella in Corea, dalla Seconda Mondiale eccetera, ed è invece molto più simile alle guerre che l’hanno seguita?
Nelle guerre che hanno preceduto il Vietnam, il nemico era soggetto conosciuto e riconoscibile, vuoi perché portava una divisa, vuoi perché erano chiari gli schieramenti in campo - in quelle guerre il conflitto aveva una destinazione, e terminava quando una forza espugnava il territorio altrui, arrivando a Berlino, o a Tokyo.
I soldati in Vietnam, invece, si chiedevano a chi stavano sparando.
Si chiedevano dov’erano diretti: ‘ripulivano’ un villaggio, e il mese dopo lo facevano daccapo – conquistavano una posizione, la perdevano appena la abbandonavano, e di nuovo dovevano riconquistarla. Hamburger Hill.
Si chiedevano chi era il loro nemico: se quel/quella vietnamita che stava sorridendogli era amico/a o nemico/a.
Dal Vietnam in poi si è cominciato a sparare a tutto, quantità di munizioni sterminate.
Adesso, si vince davvero una guerra? L’Afghanistan e l’Iraq insegnano qualcosa, il Vietnam aveva cominciato a spargere il dubbio, a generare la frustrazione.
La guerra in Vietnam era contro i vietcong: ma anche contro il paese, contro il territorio, le risaie, le sanguisughe, il sole. Una guerra totale, il nemico era l’intero paese.
Un soldato dopo il Vietnam, e dopo le guerre che sono seguite, è in condizioni di sapere se ha ucciso qualcuno? Sa per certo se ha sparato: ma l’effetto, le vittime non sono più chiaramente identificabili.
Dalla guerra in Vietnam in poi, le guerre hanno cominciato a diventare azioni di rastrellamento, casa per casa.
Tim O’Brien dice che è stato in Vietnam, ha premuto il grilletto, e che dopo quel gesto, ha poca importanza se ha ucciso qualcuno o meno: è comunque responsabile.
PS
Se muoio in battaglia, mettimi in un sacco e spediscimi a casa, recita il titolo originale (If i die in a combat zone, zip me up and ship me home).
May 23, 2013
For me, Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried is the most powerful book that I have every read and it's the standard against which I judge all things O'Brien. In The Things They Carried, O'Brien utilizes a nonlinear and fragmented narrative structure, magical realism, and the power of storytelling to capture the visceral truth that telling the real story can't quite capture. For O'Brien, we must sometimes turn to fiction to capture what is "emotionally true" and, in doing so, be less concerned with an objective reality. In a way, If I Die in a Combat Zone makes this point for him. Written 15 years before Things, If I Die is a memoir of Tim O'Brien's experience in the Vietnam War. There is no metafiction razzle-dazzle, but rather a straight-forward, linear narrative that begins when O'Brien is drafted and ends as he boards the Freedom Bird headed toward home. It's powerful stuff, but not nearly as powerful as his fiction work. Despite that, anything by Tim O'Brien is better than almost anything else out there--fiction or non-fiction.
Having grown up in the post-World War II glow of American military might, O'Brien was raised in the ask-no-questions patriotic culture of the Midwest. Real men were expected to fight. Real men were supposed to look forward to war. Real men craved the opportunity to serve their country and protect their families. O'Brien doesn't reject these values, but these views are complicated by his own philosophical inclinations. He questions the nature of bravery, as well as how American intervention in Vietnam is protecting the average American's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In the aftermath, he's left with no certain answers: "Now, war ended, all I am left with are simple, unprofound scraps of truth. Men die. Fear hurts and humiliates. It is hard to be brave. It is hard to know what bravery is. Dead human beings are heavy and awkward to carry . . . Is that the stuff for a morality lesson, even for a theme? . . . Can the foot soldier teach anything important about war, merely for having been there? I think not. He can tell war stories."
And that's what O'Brien does in the novel--he tells war stories. He tells of the tedious days of repetition, punctuated by brief bursts of action; he tells of military incompetence and the frustration of not knowing who the enemy is in a land where farmers by day picked up guns at night; he tells of how cruel being sent on R&R was, knowing the brief return to normality would not last. And he does all of this without being preachy; he simply shows us what life was like for the average soldier and leaves us to draw our own conclusions. His language is at once poetic and precise, getting to the heart of all things. No one can capture the peculiar mix of fear, adrenaline fed excitement, and remorse of a soldier's most introspective moments like O'Brien.
At one point, O'Brien ruminates on Ernest Hemingway's fascination with war: "Some say Ernest Hemingway was obsessed by the need to show bravery in battle. It started, they say, somewhere in World War I and ended when he passed his final test in Idaho. If the man was obsessed with the notion of courage, that was a fault. But, reading Hemingway's war journalism and his war stories, you get the sense that he was simply concerned about bravery, hence about cowardice, and that seems a virtue, a sublime and profound concern that few men have." It's a concern that permeates all of O'Brien's work and his treatment of it is indeed sublime.
Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder and at Shelf Inflicted
Having grown up in the post-World War II glow of American military might, O'Brien was raised in the ask-no-questions patriotic culture of the Midwest. Real men were expected to fight. Real men were supposed to look forward to war. Real men craved the opportunity to serve their country and protect their families. O'Brien doesn't reject these values, but these views are complicated by his own philosophical inclinations. He questions the nature of bravery, as well as how American intervention in Vietnam is protecting the average American's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In the aftermath, he's left with no certain answers: "Now, war ended, all I am left with are simple, unprofound scraps of truth. Men die. Fear hurts and humiliates. It is hard to be brave. It is hard to know what bravery is. Dead human beings are heavy and awkward to carry . . . Is that the stuff for a morality lesson, even for a theme? . . . Can the foot soldier teach anything important about war, merely for having been there? I think not. He can tell war stories."
And that's what O'Brien does in the novel--he tells war stories. He tells of the tedious days of repetition, punctuated by brief bursts of action; he tells of military incompetence and the frustration of not knowing who the enemy is in a land where farmers by day picked up guns at night; he tells of how cruel being sent on R&R was, knowing the brief return to normality would not last. And he does all of this without being preachy; he simply shows us what life was like for the average soldier and leaves us to draw our own conclusions. His language is at once poetic and precise, getting to the heart of all things. No one can capture the peculiar mix of fear, adrenaline fed excitement, and remorse of a soldier's most introspective moments like O'Brien.
At one point, O'Brien ruminates on Ernest Hemingway's fascination with war: "Some say Ernest Hemingway was obsessed by the need to show bravery in battle. It started, they say, somewhere in World War I and ended when he passed his final test in Idaho. If the man was obsessed with the notion of courage, that was a fault. But, reading Hemingway's war journalism and his war stories, you get the sense that he was simply concerned about bravery, hence about cowardice, and that seems a virtue, a sublime and profound concern that few men have." It's a concern that permeates all of O'Brien's work and his treatment of it is indeed sublime.
Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder and at Shelf Inflicted
April 9, 2020
Since I am finally viewing the Ken Burns Vietnam documentary I have dreaded seeing, I decided to listen to this memoir O'Brien began writing in Nam thru his journal and letters. He actually published pieces of it soon after he returned to Minnesota. Like me, O'Brien read deeply into the war and took a principled stance against it, but unlike me he actually went, citing cowardice as his main reason for finally agreeing to go. In his story he is almost matter of fact about the horrors these young men experience, and as he says in an interview, forty years later he is stilling dealing with the trauma of watching his friends lose body parts or get blown to bits over a war he knew even as a young man was based on misjudgments and lies. And lies to cover the lies: Johnson, McNamara, Westmoreland, even Kennedy, just extending the colonialist impulses of the French in that country.
And the racism, misogyny, the ignorance and arrogance fostered by military leaders in these young men who just wanted to either 1) kill as many of the "enemy" as possible, not knowing why they were even the enemy besides being Communist, and 2) just wanting to go home. Most of them 18 and 19.
At one point he suggests that maybe the thing we might learn from that war is to allow no more Liars as leaders, but the lies of Iraq, the daily lies now, a young man's optimism. I liked the debate O'Brien has with a hawk chaplain justifying My Lai, where women and children and the elderly were slaughtered.
I like how greater books emerged out of this like the incomparable The Things They Carried and Going After Cacciato (that escape fantasy was there in Combat Zone) and the My Lai madness novel In the Lake of the Woods that almost drove him to suicide, that book began in a sense while he was already there.
While Ken Burns is no radical, we can see the deep and howlingly mad critique of O'Brien, one of the consultants on the series, throughout the film series. Already in the first episode I cried 3-4 times, thinking of my cousin Berg killed there and so many young men-just boys, really, a children's campaign, as are most wars--who died there senselessly. Domino theory, indeed. A portrait in courage.
And the racism, misogyny, the ignorance and arrogance fostered by military leaders in these young men who just wanted to either 1) kill as many of the "enemy" as possible, not knowing why they were even the enemy besides being Communist, and 2) just wanting to go home. Most of them 18 and 19.
At one point he suggests that maybe the thing we might learn from that war is to allow no more Liars as leaders, but the lies of Iraq, the daily lies now, a young man's optimism. I liked the debate O'Brien has with a hawk chaplain justifying My Lai, where women and children and the elderly were slaughtered.
I like how greater books emerged out of this like the incomparable The Things They Carried and Going After Cacciato (that escape fantasy was there in Combat Zone) and the My Lai madness novel In the Lake of the Woods that almost drove him to suicide, that book began in a sense while he was already there.
While Ken Burns is no radical, we can see the deep and howlingly mad critique of O'Brien, one of the consultants on the series, throughout the film series. Already in the first episode I cried 3-4 times, thinking of my cousin Berg killed there and so many young men-just boys, really, a children's campaign, as are most wars--who died there senselessly. Domino theory, indeed. A portrait in courage.
November 12, 2023
In memory
If I die in a combat zone
Box me up and ship me home
Pin my metals on my chest Tell my mama I did my best.
If I die in a combat zone
Box me up and ship me home
Pin my metals on my chest Tell my mama I did my best.
March 31, 2016
These fought, in any case,
and some believing, pro domo, in any case ..
Some quick to arm,
some for adventure,
some from fear of weakness,
some from fear of censure,
some for love of slaughter, in imagination,
learning later ...
some in fear, learning love of slaughter;
Died some "pro patria, non dulce non et decor" ..
walked eye-deep in hell
believing in old men's lies, then unbelieving
came home, home to a lie,
home to many deceits,
home to old lies and new infamy;
usury age-old and age-thick
and liars in public places.
Daring as never before, wastage as never before.
Young blood and high blood,
Fair cheeks, and fine bodies;
fortitude as never before
frankness as never before,
disillusions as never told in the old days,
hysterias, trench confessions,
laughter out of dead bellies.
- from Ezra Pound's, 'Hugh Selwyn MauberAnnotateley (Part One) Life and Contacts'
I have a younger brother who served in Afghanistan and an older brother who served multiple times in Iraq and Afghanistan. War memoirs are important to me. They give me some peek, some window to the full burden I carry as the brother who didn't see combat and wasn't changed forever during or killed after a war that was impossible to fully justify as a soldier. Only one percent of us (in the US) serve. And only a small fraction of the military serves on the tip of the spear. So, we need help. We need good writers who have served to comeback and give us a peek at the ugly cost we don't feel, to expose us to the loss that we can never really understand, to give us a moment's exposure to the weight we left for others.
Anyway, O'Brien (one of the best known writers seasoned by the Vietnam war) wrote a solid war memoir. Things I liked: the cover, Plato, Eric as mirror, dialogue, etc. Things I didn't: O'Brien didn't add much to the combat veteran memoir, repetitious, risk-free, light. Sure it was updated with the particular nuances of the Vietnam experience, but it was rather safe (a bizarre thing to say about a memoir of a combat vet).
Don't get me wrong. I liked it. I appreciated it, and will read more of Tim O'Brien. I just didn't think this was on par with Robert Graves, Michael Herr, Guy Sayer, Artyom Borovik, Bob Kotlowitz, etc. Good but just not great. I say this realizing I'm reading this 40+ years after it was first published. I allow that I may think the book is safe only because the road of Vietnam war memoirs was built with a helluva lot of O'Brien's own bricks and blood.
___________________
July 5, 2017
An awesome piece of writing. Harrowing, thought provoking, raises many questions about humanity. Why wasn't this book on the school syllabus when I was growing up?
July 17, 2023
I am listening to this book in the audible version over 12 years after I first read it, and I am bumping it up an additional star after experiencing it again. I am not quite sure why I am thinking. It was a better book than I thought. It was the first time. But I do know that as I listened to the beginning of the book, as the author was struggling with the decision of whether he was going to allow himself to be drafted And sent to Vietnam that I thought I was identifying very closely with his struggle. I ended up not going to Vietnam, because I became the father of my first son, and therefore obtained a additional exemption from the draft. It is one of those situations where I will never know what I would’ve done, if I would have actually been drafted. In retrospect, I imagined that I would have gone to Canada or to jail but of course I am not certain of that because I never faced that ultimate decision.
The author spent a good deal of his time in Vietnam, in the same area, where the My Lai incident occurred, although he was there after that famous incident. His description of events gives a good deal of strangely similar experiences to those presented as reasons why soldiers at that time reacted violently against many apparently non-combatant people in Vietnam.
The audible version that I listened to includes a interview with the author about 40 years after the book was first published.
———————————
Tim O’Brien’s war story could have been me. A 1968 college graduate, Tim accepts being drafted in spite of his opposition to the war. He goes to basic training then infantry training, decides to desert to Sweden when it is clear that he is headed for Vietnam, changes his mind mid-desertion and goes off to war. As they say, the rest is historical fiction.
This war story is If I Die in a Combat Zone Box Me Up and Ship Me Home, lines from a training marching cadence. He tells a compelling story when he isn’t trying to quote Socrates or Plato or to philosophize about courage. Regarding courage, I suggest skipping chapter 16 where he says, “Whatever it is, soldiering in a war is something that makes a fellow think about courage, makes a man wonder what it is and if he has it.” And “I thought about courage off and on for the rest of my tour in Vietnam.” There is plenty to think about in his descriptive writing.
After the requisite experiences of friends being wasted or losing arms and legs, O’Brien tells about how most soldiers in the Vietnam war zones, including him, worked hard to be transferred to the rear to a desk job.(1) He succeeded and spent the last months of his 365 days in Vietnam processing casualty reports and writing a book.
Although he was not in Vietnam until a year after My Lai (2), the publicity and investigations were in full bloom during his time in the rear. He relates his experiences with one of the officers managing the army spin of the incident. The fictional character Major Callicles represents the old guard of the military whereas O’Brien is the new guard. The line differentiating war and war crimes (3) is as muddy as a rice paddy.
Spin doctors have gotten a lot more skillful in the ensuing years and wars. Regrettably, they have had plenty of practice. And the fact that Callicles is the name of a character in one of Plato’s Dialogues must have some relationship to the selection of the name by O’Brien.
My next Tim O’Brien book will be his novel In the Lake of the Woods. I just requested a copy through GR Bookswap. I am also intrigued by the book A Trauma Artist Tim O'Brien and the Fiction of Vietnam.
Footnotes:
(1) O'Brien: “GIs use a thousand strategies to get into the rear. Some men simply shoot themselves in the feet or fingers, careful to mash only an inch or so of bone."
(2) Callicles: “We’re trying to win a war here, and, Jesus, what the hell do you think war is? Don’t you think some civilians get killed? You ever been to My Lai? Well, I’ll tell you, those civilians – you call them civilians – they kill American GIs. They plant mines and spy and snipe and kill us. Sure, you all print color pictures of dead little boys, but the live ones – take pictures of the live ones digging holes for mines.”
(3) Callicles: “There’s a billion stinking My Lai 4s, and they put the finger on us.”
The author spent a good deal of his time in Vietnam, in the same area, where the My Lai incident occurred, although he was there after that famous incident. His description of events gives a good deal of strangely similar experiences to those presented as reasons why soldiers at that time reacted violently against many apparently non-combatant people in Vietnam.
The audible version that I listened to includes a interview with the author about 40 years after the book was first published.
———————————
Tim O’Brien’s war story could have been me. A 1968 college graduate, Tim accepts being drafted in spite of his opposition to the war. He goes to basic training then infantry training, decides to desert to Sweden when it is clear that he is headed for Vietnam, changes his mind mid-desertion and goes off to war. As they say, the rest is historical fiction.
Can the foot soldier teach anything about war, merely for having been there? I think not. He can tell war stories.
This war story is If I Die in a Combat Zone Box Me Up and Ship Me Home, lines from a training marching cadence. He tells a compelling story when he isn’t trying to quote Socrates or Plato or to philosophize about courage. Regarding courage, I suggest skipping chapter 16 where he says, “Whatever it is, soldiering in a war is something that makes a fellow think about courage, makes a man wonder what it is and if he has it.” And “I thought about courage off and on for the rest of my tour in Vietnam.” There is plenty to think about in his descriptive writing.
After the requisite experiences of friends being wasted or losing arms and legs, O’Brien tells about how most soldiers in the Vietnam war zones, including him, worked hard to be transferred to the rear to a desk job.(1) He succeeded and spent the last months of his 365 days in Vietnam processing casualty reports and writing a book.
Although he was not in Vietnam until a year after My Lai (2), the publicity and investigations were in full bloom during his time in the rear. He relates his experiences with one of the officers managing the army spin of the incident. The fictional character Major Callicles represents the old guard of the military whereas O’Brien is the new guard. The line differentiating war and war crimes (3) is as muddy as a rice paddy.
“Now look here, damn it, the distinction is between war and peace,” Callicles said. “This here is war. You know about war? What you do is kill. The bomber pilot fries some civilians – he doesn’t see it maybe, but he damn well knows it. Sure, so he just flies out and drops his load and flies back, gets a beer and sees a movie.” .
Spin doctors have gotten a lot more skillful in the ensuing years and wars. Regrettably, they have had plenty of practice. And the fact that Callicles is the name of a character in one of Plato’s Dialogues must have some relationship to the selection of the name by O’Brien.
My next Tim O’Brien book will be his novel In the Lake of the Woods. I just requested a copy through GR Bookswap. I am also intrigued by the book A Trauma Artist Tim O'Brien and the Fiction of Vietnam.
Footnotes:
(1) O'Brien: “GIs use a thousand strategies to get into the rear. Some men simply shoot themselves in the feet or fingers, careful to mash only an inch or so of bone."
(2) Callicles: “We’re trying to win a war here, and, Jesus, what the hell do you think war is? Don’t you think some civilians get killed? You ever been to My Lai? Well, I’ll tell you, those civilians – you call them civilians – they kill American GIs. They plant mines and spy and snipe and kill us. Sure, you all print color pictures of dead little boys, but the live ones – take pictures of the live ones digging holes for mines.”
(3) Callicles: “There’s a billion stinking My Lai 4s, and they put the finger on us.”
January 4, 2022
Tim O’Brien’s memoir about his experiences in Vietnam. O’Brien had graduated college and was not a supporter of the war. He considered going to Canada or even deserting, but eventually decided to go through with it. The reader is privy to his thought processes as he makes these difficult decisions. This book vividly describes one soldier’s tour of duty in sufficient detail to give the reader an excellent idea of what it was like to serve in Vietnam. He brings in elements of philosophy and discusses what it was like to be in the midst of another country’s civil war. It was interesting reading this book after I had already read The Things They Carried. One is fiction; one is non-fiction, but there are many obvious parallels. I count myself as a fan of Tim O’Brien’s writing and highly recommend both books.
October 26, 2014
Tim O'Brien is always haunting. Though I didn't love this quite as much as "The Things They Carried" (the ultimate Vietnam book IMO), or my all time love "In the Lake of the Woods" (words can't express the adoration I have for that chaotic beautiful mess), If I Die in a Combat Zone is disturbing and painful and written with the clarity and disdain the subject matter deserved.
March 14, 2024
Originally published in 1973, this book marks the author's debut and offers an analysis of human and moral ambiguities during the Vietnam War. The narrative stands out for its frankness and brutality, conveying a stark awareness: wars are essentially ruthless. In Vietnam, American soldiers often realized they were not defending any lofty principles, but simply wished to return home as soon as possible. They were perceived as invaders, arousing hatred rather than admiration. War is far from heroic: the group often finds itself committing atrocious acts against innocent civilians, as the threat of an enemy is constantly present, and the fear of being killed drives them to react with preemptive violence.
December 12, 2024
VOTO = 3,5
Di film sulla guerra del Vietnam, famosi e meno famosi, premiati da statuette Oscar e da vari altri premi cinematografici, ne abbiamo visti tanti negli ultimi 50 anni con i soldati americani rappresentati dai volti sorridenti di Robert De Niro, Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe e Marlon Brando, per dire alcuni degli attori Hollywoodiani comparsi in queste pellicole che hanno fatto epoca, e abbiamo letto anche qualche libro sull’argomento come “Eravamo giovani in Vietnam” o “Vietnam, una sporca bugia”, “Matterhorn”, “Nato il 4 luglio”. Questo libro che ho appena terminato di leggere non è un’opera di fantasia o un saggio storico, ma le semplici memorie di un giovane americano che, pur fantasticando di sfuggire alla chiamata di leva che prevedeva un “soggiorno” in Vietnam a combattere i “rossi” invasori Vietcong, si fece la sua brava dose di guerra e qualche anno dopo il suo ritorno a casa scrisse questo libro in cui rivivere la sua guerra personale in Vietnam, le sensazioni, le paure, i pensieri condivisi con i commilitoni suoi coetanei, le azioni di guerra e le libere uscite: niente di sensazionale o di eclatante ma semplicemente la realtà quotidiana in un paese in guerra da parte di chi quella guerra l’ha vissuta senza sentirla “sua”.
Di film sulla guerra del Vietnam, famosi e meno famosi, premiati da statuette Oscar e da vari altri premi cinematografici, ne abbiamo visti tanti negli ultimi 50 anni con i soldati americani rappresentati dai volti sorridenti di Robert De Niro, Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe e Marlon Brando, per dire alcuni degli attori Hollywoodiani comparsi in queste pellicole che hanno fatto epoca, e abbiamo letto anche qualche libro sull’argomento come “Eravamo giovani in Vietnam” o “Vietnam, una sporca bugia”, “Matterhorn”, “Nato il 4 luglio”. Questo libro che ho appena terminato di leggere non è un’opera di fantasia o un saggio storico, ma le semplici memorie di un giovane americano che, pur fantasticando di sfuggire alla chiamata di leva che prevedeva un “soggiorno” in Vietnam a combattere i “rossi” invasori Vietcong, si fece la sua brava dose di guerra e qualche anno dopo il suo ritorno a casa scrisse questo libro in cui rivivere la sua guerra personale in Vietnam, le sensazioni, le paure, i pensieri condivisi con i commilitoni suoi coetanei, le azioni di guerra e le libere uscite: niente di sensazionale o di eclatante ma semplicemente la realtà quotidiana in un paese in guerra da parte di chi quella guerra l’ha vissuta senza sentirla “sua”.
August 23, 2016
Some veterans I know don't like O'Brien's books because they say they are not true. O'Brien's supporters say he should know. Maybe, but they are often novels. The dialogue seemed pretty true to the soldiers I knew in Vietnam. In all, a great book about being a foot soldier.
He made interesting use of expressions like FNG (Fucking New Guy) and REMF (Rear Echelon Mother Fucker).
He expressed the incredible fear of getting lost in the jungle, so you had to follow the guy in front of you with all your effort.
He spoke of the stupidity of killing domestic animals or moments of simple cruelty.
His heroes before the war were Nick Adams, Alan Ladd of Shane, Captain Vere, Humphrey Bogart of the Cafe d'Americain, and especially Frederic Henry.
Page 198: "You add things up. You lost a friend to the war, and you gained a friend. You compromised one principle and fulfilled another. You learned, as old men tell it in front of the courthouse, that war is not all bad; it may not make a man of you, but it teaches you that manhood is not something to scoff; some stories of valor are true; dead bodies are heavy, and it's better not to touch them; fear is paralysis, but it is better to be afraid than to move out to die, all limbs functioning and heart thumping and charging and having your chest torn open for all the work; you have to pick the times not to be afraid, but when you are afraid you must hide it to save respect and reputation. You learned that the old men had lives of their own and that they valued them enough to try not to lose them; anyone can die in a war if he tries."
He made interesting use of expressions like FNG (Fucking New Guy) and REMF (Rear Echelon Mother Fucker).
He expressed the incredible fear of getting lost in the jungle, so you had to follow the guy in front of you with all your effort.
He spoke of the stupidity of killing domestic animals or moments of simple cruelty.
His heroes before the war were Nick Adams, Alan Ladd of Shane, Captain Vere, Humphrey Bogart of the Cafe d'Americain, and especially Frederic Henry.
Page 198: "You add things up. You lost a friend to the war, and you gained a friend. You compromised one principle and fulfilled another. You learned, as old men tell it in front of the courthouse, that war is not all bad; it may not make a man of you, but it teaches you that manhood is not something to scoff; some stories of valor are true; dead bodies are heavy, and it's better not to touch them; fear is paralysis, but it is better to be afraid than to move out to die, all limbs functioning and heart thumping and charging and having your chest torn open for all the work; you have to pick the times not to be afraid, but when you are afraid you must hide it to save respect and reputation. You learned that the old men had lives of their own and that they valued them enough to try not to lose them; anyone can die in a war if he tries."
October 8, 2016
Outstanding attempt to portray the experience of an infantry soldier draftee in the Vietnam War. Although it is a memoir, it is so carefully crafted in its sequencing of vignettes and selection of archetypical examples, it comes across as a fictional narrative. Nevertheless, it is compelling, simultaneously tragic and beautiful. It feels honest about the numbness and ambivalence of most soldiers fighting an unwinnable war, one in which the enemy was rarely seen and blended in so well with the civilian population.
O'Brien shows great talent in alternating between examining his own personal feelings and modes of survival with coverage of the actions of others. He refrains from guiding the reader what to feel or how to judge them. There is no sense of aggrandizing O'Brien's role as a soldier. As others die or are wounded, he knows he is not brave, just lucky. Before he shipped out from training, he made detailed plans for deserting to Canada or Sweden and during his tour of duty often wondered whether scrapping that plan was an indication of bravery or cowardice.
As a college educated soldier, he is different from most of his platoon, perhaps accounting for some of his sense of isolation and inability to make close friendships (no "Band of Brothers" mentality here). As a consequence, there is a sense of distancing from the events described. In its place we get a special condensed reflection on the cruelties of war, the contrasts between wise and stupid leaders, and what it takes to survive intense terrors in the face of snipers, mortar attacks, and minefields.
O'Brien shows great talent in alternating between examining his own personal feelings and modes of survival with coverage of the actions of others. He refrains from guiding the reader what to feel or how to judge them. There is no sense of aggrandizing O'Brien's role as a soldier. As others die or are wounded, he knows he is not brave, just lucky. Before he shipped out from training, he made detailed plans for deserting to Canada or Sweden and during his tour of duty often wondered whether scrapping that plan was an indication of bravery or cowardice.
As a college educated soldier, he is different from most of his platoon, perhaps accounting for some of his sense of isolation and inability to make close friendships (no "Band of Brothers" mentality here). As a consequence, there is a sense of distancing from the events described. In its place we get a special condensed reflection on the cruelties of war, the contrasts between wise and stupid leaders, and what it takes to survive intense terrors in the face of snipers, mortar attacks, and minefields.
September 10, 2022
Using the audiobook version makes it good getting the emotional voice of a Vietnam solider/veteran.
After surviving Vietnam, it was nice to see Tim graduate from one of Boston's best... Harvard University.
The Things They Carried By Tim O'Brian work is even a more popular Vietnam work.
After surviving Vietnam, it was nice to see Tim graduate from one of Boston's best... Harvard University.
The Things They Carried By Tim O'Brian work is even a more popular Vietnam work.
November 14, 2023
If there is any writer who can be counted upon to give at one and the same time both a literary and historically accurate picture of the Vietnam War from the point of view of the Army grunt, it is Tim O'Brien. With If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home, I have now finished reading all three of his best known fiction and nonfiction works about the war.
This is his nonfiction book, which is about his own experiences, particularly fighting in "Pinkville," which is what the army jocularly called the area around My Lai, where the famous massacre took place. While O'Brien mentions it only in passing (he wasn't there at the same time as Lieutenant Calley), he depicts the dangers of fighting in the area. I was particularly impressed by the chapter entitled "Step Lively," about the many types of manufactured and improvised mines he and his fellow troopers encountered. (I was particularly awed at the famous "Bouncing Betty" mines which jumped up to waist-height before exploding.)
O'Brien managed to transfer from Alpha Company's combat activities to a clerical job before being sent home to Minnesota after his stint was up.
This is a superb book and should be read by anyone who is interested in our participation in the war in Vietnam.
This is his nonfiction book, which is about his own experiences, particularly fighting in "Pinkville," which is what the army jocularly called the area around My Lai, where the famous massacre took place. While O'Brien mentions it only in passing (he wasn't there at the same time as Lieutenant Calley), he depicts the dangers of fighting in the area. I was particularly impressed by the chapter entitled "Step Lively," about the many types of manufactured and improvised mines he and his fellow troopers encountered. (I was particularly awed at the famous "Bouncing Betty" mines which jumped up to waist-height before exploding.)
O'Brien managed to transfer from Alpha Company's combat activities to a clerical job before being sent home to Minnesota after his stint was up.
This is a superb book and should be read by anyone who is interested in our participation in the war in Vietnam.
July 2, 2025
Required reading for every American, the majority of whom now would struggle to even locate Vietnam on a map.
January 21, 2021
I love Tim O'Brien. In this book he talks a lot about bravery and courage and how most people don't have it, but what does it really mean, and is it a life-defining moment? Does one act of bravery make someone brave for life? Does one act of cowardice make them a coward for life?
Thank you, Mr. O'Brien, for having the bravery and courage to write your books sharing your experiences.
Thank you, Mr. O'Brien, for having the bravery and courage to write your books sharing your experiences.
February 28, 2025
I cannot stop consuming Vietnam War content.
June 29, 2018
Some good sketches of combat in Vietnam, but the author spends way too much time trying to convince you he's above it all -- the poetry references, the anti-war posturing, the easy sneers at boot camp and military discipline. The NEW YORKER loved this book, and the inside cover blurb describes the author as "intelligent and thoroughly nice." 'Nuff said?
April 19, 2025
It’s ok. True O’Brieners might gain from reading this one, but otherwise just reread The Things They Carried.
October 4, 2017
If you have the time, I highly recommend reading this book alongside the marvellous and gripping Ken Burns documentary about Vietnam in which the author plays a prominent role. In the documentary we get snippets of the fear, the absurdity, and at times the adrenaline rush of what being a combat soldier in Vietnam felt like. Majestic as the documentary is however, it is here in O’Brien’s memoir of his experience of the war, that it is fleshed out and truly comes to life. In these pages he loses more friends than he can count, clinically recounts the staggering number of different land mines that soldiers were likely to encounter (until he himself seemingly corrects himself halfway through the litany to laugh morbidly at how grotesque an endeavour it is).
This is not a book about battles however.
This is a very personal account of a very scared young man struggling to find bravery and some truth in what he sees around him. In retrospect, he finds very little of either:
“Now, war ended, all I am left with are simple, unprofound scraps of truth. Men die. Fear hurts and humiliates. It is hard to be brave. It is hard to know what bravery is. Dead human beings are heavy and awkward to carry, things smell different in Vietnam, soldiers are dreamers, drill sergeants are boors, some men thought the war was proper and others didn’t and most didn’t care. Is that the stuff for a morality lesson, even for a theme?”
Perhaps these are truths. Whatever these insights are, they came with a heavy cost to the author that he will probably be paying for the rest of his life. That he paid that cost and gave us this memoir to help future young men and women avoid paying it, is a service to his country that far surpasses anything he achieved in the Vietnamese jungle. With the clouds of war hanging menacingly over Asia once again, this book has become more prescient and important than ever. As the author himself so eloquently writes:
“I would wish this book could take the form of a plea for everlasting peace, a plea from one who knows, from one who’s been there and come back, an old soldier looking back at a dying war.”
This is not a book about battles however.
This is a very personal account of a very scared young man struggling to find bravery and some truth in what he sees around him. In retrospect, he finds very little of either:
“Now, war ended, all I am left with are simple, unprofound scraps of truth. Men die. Fear hurts and humiliates. It is hard to be brave. It is hard to know what bravery is. Dead human beings are heavy and awkward to carry, things smell different in Vietnam, soldiers are dreamers, drill sergeants are boors, some men thought the war was proper and others didn’t and most didn’t care. Is that the stuff for a morality lesson, even for a theme?”
Perhaps these are truths. Whatever these insights are, they came with a heavy cost to the author that he will probably be paying for the rest of his life. That he paid that cost and gave us this memoir to help future young men and women avoid paying it, is a service to his country that far surpasses anything he achieved in the Vietnamese jungle. With the clouds of war hanging menacingly over Asia once again, this book has become more prescient and important than ever. As the author himself so eloquently writes:
“I would wish this book could take the form of a plea for everlasting peace, a plea from one who knows, from one who’s been there and come back, an old soldier looking back at a dying war.”
August 20, 2021
I enjoyed this as much on my second reading as on my first. Although, I don't know if "enjoyed" is the most appropriate word, given the subject matter of the book; perhaps "appreciated" is more fitting.
This is the story of O'Brien's year serving as an infantryman in Vietnam in 1969. He tells us about his upbringing in rural Minnesota (Worthington, although he never mentions the town by name), and his moral struggles after receiving his draft card. He takes us through basic training at Fort Lewis in Washington, and then he's off to Vietnam.
The stories he tells about his experiences include the mind numbing routines, the fear of the unknown, constantly wondering where the enemy is, dealing with the local people, trying to determine who among them is friendly or deadly, the seeming lack of any military plan that characterized much of his platoon's activities, the counting down of days until your tour is over, deciding whether to re-enlist for 3 years and get a rear echelon job or take the risk of lasting out the standard one year term, dealing with the fallout of the My Lai massacre (his division had been involved in that the year before, and was still operating in that area), trying to define what courage truly is, and looking forward to the return home.
O'Brien states early in the book, "Now, war ended, all I am left with are simple, unprofound scraps of truth. Men die. Fear hurts and humiliates. It is hard to be brave. It is hard to know what bravery is. . . . Can the foot soldier teach anything important about war, merely for having been there? I think not. He can tell war stories." O'Brien tells war stories, and does it well.
This is the story of O'Brien's year serving as an infantryman in Vietnam in 1969. He tells us about his upbringing in rural Minnesota (Worthington, although he never mentions the town by name), and his moral struggles after receiving his draft card. He takes us through basic training at Fort Lewis in Washington, and then he's off to Vietnam.
The stories he tells about his experiences include the mind numbing routines, the fear of the unknown, constantly wondering where the enemy is, dealing with the local people, trying to determine who among them is friendly or deadly, the seeming lack of any military plan that characterized much of his platoon's activities, the counting down of days until your tour is over, deciding whether to re-enlist for 3 years and get a rear echelon job or take the risk of lasting out the standard one year term, dealing with the fallout of the My Lai massacre (his division had been involved in that the year before, and was still operating in that area), trying to define what courage truly is, and looking forward to the return home.
O'Brien states early in the book, "Now, war ended, all I am left with are simple, unprofound scraps of truth. Men die. Fear hurts and humiliates. It is hard to be brave. It is hard to know what bravery is. . . . Can the foot soldier teach anything important about war, merely for having been there? I think not. He can tell war stories." O'Brien tells war stories, and does it well.
January 27, 2016
a military memoir of Tim O'Brien's tour of duty in the Vietnam War.....a year as a foot soldier in Vietnam
January 3, 2024
In my personal opinion, this novel far bypasses The Things They Carried and Going After Cacciato. Tim O'Brien fully dives into the mind of a 'Nam G.I. He tells the story from behind the reticle of the rifle, as he and Alpha Company follow the footsteps of Captain Johansen. Not only does the reader get a understanding of the type of respect some men received, but better yet the story shows the heroicism that these men presented. This is not to say that the atrocities his fellow infantrymen committed were not present as well, but it shows the duality of war. How Vietnam was barely objective based, and seemed more as a mission of total destruction. How they would massacre villages in the name of war, slaughter innocents and pillage goods, with no repercussion at all. A study from Brittanica states that over 2 million innocent Vietnamese people lost their life in the war, and yet the Army only criminally charged 57 men. In the time that this book was published, O'Brien was completely countering the American norm of 'aiding foreign nations to stop the spread of communism'. His writing shows how this war was a bloody massacre, and how their feet on the ground did nothing to stop the actual spread of political ideologies. As Malcolm X said best, "You're not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it".
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 25, 2018
I would have finished this book a week ago, but I've been down with the flu. I completed the book in the throes of a relentless fever, that still persists as I write this, but that fever might have added the unknown ingredient a reader needs to embrace O'Brien's work: a sort of light-headed vulnerability. O'Brien's memoir of his tour in Vietnam, some of which was written while he was there, and the rest written immediately after he was home, is visceral and introspective, unadorned and critical. This book works well in tandem with O'Brien's brilliant THE THINGS THEY CARRIED. This book seeks fact and comprehension, but TTTC—written in excerpts during the eighties, and published in 1990—strives for truth and meaning. There is no greater purpose for any work of literature.
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June 4, 2024i read this book my junior year but i was so sleep deprived that i didn’t retain anything i read so i decided to reread & im so happy i did.
not only an a historical fiction girlie but im almost a memoir girlies. so a historical memoir???? yes, thank u.
at moments i found myself zoning out, but o’brien gained my attention back every time. i feel like i was continually entertained learning about o’brien’s experience for the Vietnam war & his courage to speak his mind about why the war was wrong.
not only an a historical fiction girlie but im almost a memoir girlies. so a historical memoir???? yes, thank u.
at moments i found myself zoning out, but o’brien gained my attention back every time. i feel like i was continually entertained learning about o’brien’s experience for the Vietnam war & his courage to speak his mind about why the war was wrong.
April 21, 2019
Insanely good! O’Briens terrifying first hand accounts are beautifully written and feel more real than any pictures or statistics of the war could. Without trying to deduct any preconceived meaning out of the events he simply tells the stories of the common soldier on the ground. Just read it.
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April 15, 2024'Do dreams offer lessons? Do nightmares have themes, do we awaken and analyze them and live our lives and advise others as a result? Can the foot soldier teach anything important about war, merely for having been there? I think not.
He can tell war stories.'
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