Aug. 25, 2008
O’Brien Encourages Reading
Reflects on Vietnam vs. Iraq-Afghanistan
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – As freshmen lined up to have “The Things They Carried” signed by author, Tim O’Brien, more than one complemented him for writing a page turning novel that challenged their thinking. Linking the book about a platoon of American soldiers battling an unpopular guerrilla war Vietnam to the Iraq conflict, O’Brien stressed that the soldiers in Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan face a common killer --- inanimate objects of plastic and steel.
Having served as a combat infantryman in the Quang Ngai province from 1969-70, the personable writer explained how the huge death toll from land mines, road side bombs and booby traps took an emotional toll on troops of both eras. Veterans of today’s wars have told him they too have trouble determining how to talk about their service.
“You can’t shoot back at” these killers, O’Brien explained, adding about 90 percent of casualties came from land mines. “So what do you do with your anger? What do you do with your sorrow? Do you swallow it, do you take it out on a village, do you take it out on some detainee by beating up on him? There’s something about fighting inanimate objects that’s really tough on the psyche. The soldiers of Vietnam and the soldiers of Iraq and Afghanistan are dealing with a very similar enemy.”
It’s like he’s detailing the soldier’s mindset that leads to atrocities. Left unsaid, but stated in another interview, the “wickedness that soaks into your blood” from serving at My Lai, a year after the massacre. He still felt the evil from the March 16, 1968 massacre of women, chickens, old men, chicken and dogs when he returned there in 1994.
The former national affairs reporter for The Washington Post revealed other commonalities such as “no front, no rear, it’s hard to know who your enemies are because there are no uniforms. Until somebody shoots at you, you don’t know who your friends or enemies are.”
He cited a “vast cultural ignorance” too.
“Until we went into Iraq, I don’t think many Americans knew what a Shiite was, what a Sunni was… I doubt many know now. In Vietnam few Americans knew anything about the culture or history.
As a result of the type of warfare, veterans of all three conflicts have returned to the states suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in which they often relive and flashback to life threatening encounters on the battlefield. When soldiers returned from Vietnam, PTSD was kept in the don’t talk about it shadows. At least today’s returning soldiers have the benefits of a more accepting mental health system which has now recognized PTSD as coming from life threatening events, such as severe car crashes, the collapse of the trade center, or surviving a natural disaster.
“The consequences of PTSD in Vietnam were enormous. They are still being felt to this day,” O’brien stated, adding, “Soldiers who could not talk about it had no outlet.” Too, their feelings were conflicted: “[some] didn’t want to talk about it, and, even if they did want to talk about it, did not know where to start. Where do you begin? That day or that day? And, where do you end? From what I read and the veterans from Iraq I talk to, they are having the same struggle. What kind of stories do you tell? Who wants to listen to them?”
Consequences have meant that soldiers returning often used alcohol and illegal substances. Others would at the sound of a car backfiring, cringe into readiness to defend against incoming artillery. One vet from Maryland had his family lock him in the basement at night, so he could not injure anyone but himself. Night was when the flashbacks were most intense.
His novels have been finalists in the National Book Awards (an honor he won for “Going After Cacciato,” beating “The World According to Garp”), the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. One of them --- “The Nuclear Age” --- tells of a draft dodger obsessed since the Cuban missile crisis by nuclear holocaust. Thirty years later, his fear mushrooms into a hole in the back yard where his family fallout shelter would be.
Although the novel emphasizes the madness of the “bomb” during the Cold War, O’Brien does not fear another Cold War in today’s international quagmire. No, he believes the terrorist circumstances represent greater dangers.
“I don’t think we’re worried about Communist expansion today; we’re more worried about terrorism. I think things are more volatile, more complex and more dangerous today than 20 or 30 years ago,” O’Brien speculated.
He carefully separated the nuclear animation scenario from “Cold War,” which pertained to preventing Communist regimes from taking over the international landscape.
“There was a radical realignment in the world when the [Berlin] wall came down, Despite the recent events in Georgia, the Russians are pulling out.”
The War in Vietnam came from the Cold War containment of Communism theory, the Harvard educated writer explained. The dominos falling analogy was the foundation for Cold War fears.
“Fear of chaotic terrorists is driving American foreign policy than a Cold War dynamic. Probably, the terrorist fears are more difficult to deal with. They do not have nation states. They cross cultural borders.”
But, O’Brien does not sidestep the Iraq quagmire. He was quoted in October 2003 that “it’s harder and harder to get out. In Vietnam we couldn’t find the V.C., they were blended in with the population, and we’re having the same problem in Iraq…”
Many readers have told him that his was the only book they finished. That’s a compliment, but the writer wonders if too many people have abandoned books --- for television, movies, and other forms of entertainment.
O’Brien’s war stories have a blend of truth with strong fictionalization. “The Things They Carry” relate to the items carried on the backs of various soldiers during their marches in Nam. He readily admits to literary license in his works.
“Good movies --- and good novels, too --- do not depend upon ‘accurate portrayals.’ Accuracy is irrelevant. Is the Mona Lisa an ‘accurate ‘ representation of the actual human model for the painting? Who knows? Who cares? It’s a great piece of art. It moves us. It makes us wonder, makes us gape; finally, makes us look inward at ourselves,” O'Brien said in a November 2002 Texas Monthly interview.
The Sons and Daughters of Marshall might consider his statement about art, impact, and feelings, instead of picking apart every composite character or non-authentic statement/scene in “We Are Marshall.”
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Reflects on Vietnam vs. Iraq-Afghanistan
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – As freshmen lined up to have “The Things They Carried” signed by author, Tim O’Brien, more than one complemented him for writing a page turning novel that challenged their thinking. Linking the book about a platoon of American soldiers battling an unpopular guerrilla war Vietnam to the Iraq conflict, O’Brien stressed that the soldiers in Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan face a common killer --- inanimate objects of plastic and steel.
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“You can’t shoot back at” these killers, O’Brien explained, adding about 90 percent of casualties came from land mines. “So what do you do with your anger? What do you do with your sorrow? Do you swallow it, do you take it out on a village, do you take it out on some detainee by beating up on him? There’s something about fighting inanimate objects that’s really tough on the psyche. The soldiers of Vietnam and the soldiers of Iraq and Afghanistan are dealing with a very similar enemy.”
It’s like he’s detailing the soldier’s mindset that leads to atrocities. Left unsaid, but stated in another interview, the “wickedness that soaks into your blood” from serving at My Lai, a year after the massacre. He still felt the evil from the March 16, 1968 massacre of women, chickens, old men, chicken and dogs when he returned there in 1994.
The former national affairs reporter for The Washington Post revealed other commonalities such as “no front, no rear, it’s hard to know who your enemies are because there are no uniforms. Until somebody shoots at you, you don’t know who your friends or enemies are.”
He cited a “vast cultural ignorance” too.
“Until we went into Iraq, I don’t think many Americans knew what a Shiite was, what a Sunni was… I doubt many know now. In Vietnam few Americans knew anything about the culture or history.
As a result of the type of warfare, veterans of all three conflicts have returned to the states suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in which they often relive and flashback to life threatening encounters on the battlefield. When soldiers returned from Vietnam, PTSD was kept in the don’t talk about it shadows. At least today’s returning soldiers have the benefits of a more accepting mental health system which has now recognized PTSD as coming from life threatening events, such as severe car crashes, the collapse of the trade center, or surviving a natural disaster.
“The consequences of PTSD in Vietnam were enormous. They are still being felt to this day,” O’brien stated, adding, “Soldiers who could not talk about it had no outlet.” Too, their feelings were conflicted: “[some] didn’t want to talk about it, and, even if they did want to talk about it, did not know where to start. Where do you begin? That day or that day? And, where do you end? From what I read and the veterans from Iraq I talk to, they are having the same struggle. What kind of stories do you tell? Who wants to listen to them?”
Consequences have meant that soldiers returning often used alcohol and illegal substances. Others would at the sound of a car backfiring, cringe into readiness to defend against incoming artillery. One vet from Maryland had his family lock him in the basement at night, so he could not injure anyone but himself. Night was when the flashbacks were most intense.
His novels have been finalists in the National Book Awards (an honor he won for “Going After Cacciato,” beating “The World According to Garp”), the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. One of them --- “The Nuclear Age” --- tells of a draft dodger obsessed since the Cuban missile crisis by nuclear holocaust. Thirty years later, his fear mushrooms into a hole in the back yard where his family fallout shelter would be.
Although the novel emphasizes the madness of the “bomb” during the Cold War, O’Brien does not fear another Cold War in today’s international quagmire. No, he believes the terrorist circumstances represent greater dangers.
“I don’t think we’re worried about Communist expansion today; we’re more worried about terrorism. I think things are more volatile, more complex and more dangerous today than 20 or 30 years ago,” O’Brien speculated.
He carefully separated the nuclear animation scenario from “Cold War,” which pertained to preventing Communist regimes from taking over the international landscape.
“There was a radical realignment in the world when the [Berlin] wall came down, Despite the recent events in Georgia, the Russians are pulling out.”
The War in Vietnam came from the Cold War containment of Communism theory, the Harvard educated writer explained. The dominos falling analogy was the foundation for Cold War fears.
“Fear of chaotic terrorists is driving American foreign policy than a Cold War dynamic. Probably, the terrorist fears are more difficult to deal with. They do not have nation states. They cross cultural borders.”
But, O’Brien does not sidestep the Iraq quagmire. He was quoted in October 2003 that “it’s harder and harder to get out. In Vietnam we couldn’t find the V.C., they were blended in with the population, and we’re having the same problem in Iraq…”
Many readers have told him that his was the only book they finished. That’s a compliment, but the writer wonders if too many people have abandoned books --- for television, movies, and other forms of entertainment.
O’Brien’s war stories have a blend of truth with strong fictionalization. “The Things They Carry” relate to the items carried on the backs of various soldiers during their marches in Nam. He readily admits to literary license in his works.
“Good movies --- and good novels, too --- do not depend upon ‘accurate portrayals.’ Accuracy is irrelevant. Is the Mona Lisa an ‘accurate ‘ representation of the actual human model for the painting? Who knows? Who cares? It’s a great piece of art. It moves us. It makes us wonder, makes us gape; finally, makes us look inward at ourselves,” O'Brien said in a November 2002 Texas Monthly interview.
The Sons and Daughters of Marshall might consider his statement about art, impact, and feelings, instead of picking apart every composite character or non-authentic statement/scene in “We Are Marshall.”
Share This Story:
Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
