Phillip Caputo Rumor Of War

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The Reality of War The book “A Rumor of War” by Phillip Caputo displays the reality of war. The heroic illusion of war that movies provide as being the ultimate adventure with everlasting glory was false. The reality of war forced men to become heartless killers, expect to lose friends, and lose all sense of morals except the idea of surviving. The year of 1960 young Phillip Caputo joined the marines inspired with mass patriotism with John F. Kennedy’s famous quote “ask what you can do for your country”. Phillip Caputo experienced a hatred for safety in the suburban existence and wanted to be seek the ultimate adventure of the Marines. The Caputo before recruited read a pamphlet of what battles the Marines have fought in and successfully …show more content…
The Vietnam war claimed young soldiers lives in the harsh jungle conditions. A soldier under Caputo’s company named Sullivan told Caputo that his son was recently born and that he will do whatever it takes to return back home to his newborn and wife (Page 215). Ingram a soldier who tried to be the hero got shot by a sniper after Sullivan was hit. Officers criticized him because of they realized that the way to survive the war was to not be the hero of every situation but to just do what is necessary to survive (Page 217). Caputo made realization the Vietnam war was a conflict different from all others, it was a war in the wilderness that had no rules of fighting except kill the person trying to kill you. The only thing any soldier in that war is for the survival of his comrades and himself, the soldiers were fighting in a war that was nothing compared to the civilized wars (Page 303). The murder charges against Caputo and his men were a direct result of war and the want of survival (Page 420). The soldiers had experienced the kill or be killed to survive during the murder and the war caused that idea to become a
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