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If I Die In A Combat Zone Analysis

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In the book “If I Die in a Combat Zone” by Tim O’Brien, Tim O’Brien recalls his own travels from his small hometown in Minnesota to Vietnam to fight in the Vietnam War after he is drafted. This journey changes how he looks at the war, and how he thinks of the soldiers in the war.
He doesn't believe in the war, but he was drafted regardless. In the book Tim O’brien said “The war, I thought, was wrongly conceived and poorly justified” (O’Brien 18) and continues to show his displeasure in the war by creating posters of cardboard about the war. “I declared my intention to have no part of Vietnam. With delightful viciousness, a secret will, I declare the war evil, the draft board evil, the town evil.” (O’Brien 20). He later went on to basic training where he and a new friend of his expressed their opinions on the war and the Sergeant simply responded by calling them pansies.
He traveled to Vietnam as a radio man in the infantry. He marched frequently with alpha company carrying his radio gear and various other supplies along the way . He realizes that the war is …show more content…
Most soldiers do not want to be there and the author expresses the constant talk of leaving the war throughout the book. It was extremely common for the soldiers to count down their days left in the war. Receiving a “rear” desk job was a very elusive dream for many of the soldiers in the war for it was the closest thing to being able to go home without being dead or injured. Toward the end of the book Tim obtained a rear job at the base camp as a typist after he found out there was an opening. This excited Tim because he was able to escape the war that he opposed. “ In the rear area, protected from the war by rows of bunkers and rolls of barbed wire, I rejoined the real United States Army.” (O’Brien 179) Tim and all the other soldiers desired jobs in the rear because they are protected by the chaos of the Vietnam

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