History 474B

Devine

Fall 2014

 

Study Questions: Philip Caputo, Rumor of War

 

Chapters to skip:  2, 12, 13 & 14

 

 

  1. What does Caputo want the reader to realize about the war and the marines whose stories he tells?

 

 

  1. What drew Caputo to the marines?  Why did he see enlisting as an act of rebellion rather than conformity?

 

 

  1. 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?

 

 

  1. How did basic training change the new enlistees, other than physically?

 

 

  1. What impression does Caputo give of the South Vietnamese Army soldiers (ARVN)?

 

 

  1. 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)

 

 

  1. 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?

 

 

 

  1. 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?

 

 

 

  1. What fears did the marines experience while on patrol off base?  How would you describe their emotional condition?

 

 

 

  1. In what ways did fighting a war of attrition shape the way marines viewed combat and their enemy?

 

 

  1. 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?

 

 

 

  1. What does Caputo appreciate about the military?  Revere?  What frustrates him?  How do his experiences in Vietnam change or intensify those attitudes?

 

 

 

  1. How did Caputo know the American marines were learning to hate?  Why is this significant? (see p. 110)

 

 

 

  1. Why is Caputo frustrated as the platoon starts toward its first objective? (see p. 113)

 

 

 

  1. Why did marines experience guilt mixed with pride when they found the VC soldiers’ photos? (see p. 124)

 

 

 

  1. How did Caputo’s men react to their first face to face engagement with the enemy? (see p. 127)

 

 

 

  1. How does Caputo react to the villagers’ indifference? (see p. 134)

 

 

 

  1. How does Caputo assess the young marines after their first battle?  How has his assessment of them changed?

 

 

 

  1. How does Caputo’s “fraternizing” with the enlisted men go?  What does it tell us about class divisions?

 

 

 

  1. 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?

 

 

 

  1. 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?

 

 

 

  1. How did the terrain and weather affect the marines?

 

 

 

  1. Why didn’t the battalion do a good job defending the airfield from the VC? (see pp. 182-185)

 

 

 

  1. How did Caputo’s attitude toward his own death change over time?

 

 

 

  1. 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?

 

 

 

  1. What do you think motivated Caputo to write Rumor of War and what did he hope to achieve with his work?

 

 

  1. 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)

 

 

  1. 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”?