History
485A
Devine
Fall
2011
Study
Questions: Philip Caputo, Rumor of War
Chapters to
skip: 2, 12, 13 & 14
- What does
Caputo want the reader to realize about the war and the marines whose
stories he tells?
- What drew
Caputo to the marines? Why did he
see enlisting as an act of rebellion rather than conformity?
- In what
ways were Caputo and his fellow marines trained for combat in Vietnam? Which parts of their training would
prove useful in actual combat?
- How did
basic training change the new enlistees, other than physically?
- What
impression does Caputo give of the South Vietnamese Army soldiers (ARVN)?
- What was la cafard (see p. 68) and how did
it affect the Marines during their first two months in Danang? How did the “symptoms” of la cafard change as combat
intensified? (see p. 99)
- Caputo is
critical of the “myths” about America and the mythmakers
(like JFK) who propagated them.
What were these myths? Why
were they significant and what effects did they have on the marines?
- Caputo
noted, “…we have learned that, in the bush, nothing ever happens according
to plan. Things just happen,
randomly, like automobile accidents.”
How did that affect the marines who operated under these
conditions?
- What
fears did the marines experience while on patrol off base? How would you describe their emotional
condition?
- In what
ways did fighting a war of attrition shape the way marines viewed combat
and their enemy?
- How did
Caputo react to the Vietnamese civilians?
At least during the early part of his tour, how did he want them to
react to him?
- What does
Caputo appreciate about the military?
Revere? What frustrates him? How do his experiences in Vietnam
change or intensify those attitudes?
- How did
Caputo know the American marines were learning to hate? Why is this significant? (see p. 110)
- Why is
Caputo frustrated as the platoon starts toward its first objective? (see
p. 113)
- Why did
marines experience guilt mixed with pride when they found the VC soldiers’
photos? (see p. 124)
- How did
Caputo’s men react to their first face to face engagement with the enemy?
(see p. 127)
- How does
Caputo react to the villagers’ indifference? (see p. 134)
- How does
Caputo assess the young marines after their first battle? How has his assessment of them changed?
- How does
Caputo’s “fraternizing” with the enlisted men go? What does it tell us about class
divisions?
- How do
Caputo’s experiences in combat and at headquarters shape his feelings
about death? How did Sullivan’s
death affect Caputo and the others in the battalion?
- How did
you react to the exchange (pp. 177-179) between Caputo and the
chaplain? Why do you think he chose
to include this anecdote in his book?
- How did
the terrain and weather affect the marines?
- Why
didn’t the battalion do a good job defending the airfield from the VC?
(see pp. 182-185)
- How did
Caputo’s attitude toward his own death change over time?
- Why did
Caputo believe the entire court marshall
process he went through was absurd?
How did the conduct of the trial reveal that the US
government continued to cling to myths and ignore reality?
- What do
you think motivated Caputo to write Rumor
of War and what did he hope to achieve with his work?
- In what
ways does Rumor of War
illustrate what John Hellman notes about Vietnam War literature: “When the story of America in Vietnam
turned into something unexpected, the true nature of the larger story of America
itself became the subject of intense cultural dispute. On the deepest level, the legacy of Vietnam is
the disruption of our story, of our explanation of the past and our vision
of the future.” (354)
- How can
the experiences of one soldier shed light on the entire US experience in Vietnam? What insights does Caputo provide to
those trying to understand the “big picture”?