essay 4 rought draft: if i die in a combat zone

The Vietnam war faced much criticism over issues of government and imperialistic control. Why must the government call upon a draft and send thousands of soldiers, many of which are clueless to the purpose, into war? What are the goals of these soldiers? Why are they there and what do they gain? In Tim O’Brien’s war story, “If I Dies in a Combat Zone” he is searching for why it is just to fight in the war. Through his interactions with those in charge he looks for the answers, how to deal with war. The main issue he is told to deal with is that he is already at war and needs to face his fear. What the war stories tries to point out is that there is a connection between ones courage and morals. One’s morals can get in the way of being courageous because it adds the component of doubt. The leaders of the army he encounters don’t deal with that because they have realized they must strip some morals to be able to do what they do. O’Brien thinks courage is the solution for soldiers to deal with the war. Which for the most part is true. In his experiences he learns what true courage is, but it never solves the issue to why the war happened to begin with. It just goes to show that while at war, he doesn’t need to be worried about causes, but more so protecting himself and those with him.
A soldier’s initial training for war starts in basic training where the drill sergeant is supposed to show you skills and give you the drive to forward. In Tim O’Brien’s experience in basic training he had an drill sergeant Blyton. His character was cold hearted and solely on the army. He did not care for the reasons of the war. Erik had a special meeting with him and talked about his problems with the war. Blyton’s response was closed-minded as he called him a coward. Blyton’s character was one that would accept all those that conformed to the war. His responsibility was to achieve that from all the soldiers. In his training he required all in the platoon to yell chants that showed their superiority and courage over the weak. As a new soldier who still doesn’t have there questions answered are only told that they need to man of and stop being afraid, which to them means courage.
O’Brien describes him as, “He is evil. He does not personify the tough drill sergeant; rather he is the army; he’s the devil. Erik mutters that we’ll get the bastard someday. Words will kill him” (O’Brien, 41). This shows how this new soldiers are still connected to the real world. Even in his advancement into the advanced training he still had issues dealing with the question. He was signed up to have a meeting with the chaplain whose purpose is to set these people who are “afraid” of war in the right direction. After telling him his thought they ended up in an argument. They both stood their ground on the issue. They argued whether America was wrong and whether O’brien was bailing on his country. The argument grew too much that the chaplain handed it over to the battalion commander. Both conversation got him no answers. All he got was very little sympathy as they assume he is just afraid of combat; they tell him to deal with it and its not that bad. They still have their thoughts and opinions, but as soon as they go to war they will learn quickly the answers of why the war is happening is not important, but rather how to survive the war.
While in Vietnam, in the middle of the war, he realizes that he must find a way to survive. His commander, Captain Johansen, is a completely different leader. A very laid back man, that allowed his troops to lay low during the war. Never forced them into a lot of hard combat. He was a man of solitude that didn’t necessarily think the war was right or wrong, but did believe in the combat. He was a man of courage and fought for that. /*Even though he did not see that out of his soldiers, he knew he had to lead with courage for them*/ To him courage is very unique and very few possess the true courage that he believes in. Courage is more than just bravery, it is wisdom. To him courage is how you act in the face of danger. A courageous man would act wisely in those situations instead of shivering in his boots. In combining wisdom and endurance, as he explains in the conversation between Socrates and Laches, he is bringing together the issues of morals and courage. In a conversation with O’Brien he never once answered the question whether or not the war was just, he would only crack jokes. However, when he brings up the issue of courage, he is telling how he personally has been dealing with the issue. This makes O’Brien think about his own life, whether or not he has made the “proper courageous” decision. He claims he barely endured his training for war but questions whether or not it was wise. He wants to believe that the war s not just, but even so he finds himself not able to run away from it. The pressure of courage and disloyalty causes him to remain a member of the war. The sergeants call them pussies and disloyal to the US for being afraid. Those in control are not allowing him to be free and he is forced to deal with his own opinions. Also O’Brien does not want to disappoint his family as his father was a former marine and mother a member of the WAVE. If he were to skip out of the war that would just create embarrassment for his family. Johansen is trying to show O’Brien that the officers know that it isn’t easy and that the reasons for war aren’t perfectly clear and not important when you are in war. The best thing for O’Brien to do is survive the war by any means necessary, if he has fear he should not be running out onto the field alone. Who knows whether or he will be able to pull the trigger every time. The issues of courage are brought to the forefront with Captain Johansen. He is the most important leader he had in his tenure. No other officer truly sat down and opened up with and tried to answer him. Most of the other officers just knew that they had to train them to kill and not die. Johansen is where O’Brien can realize that the morals are not completely thrown out the window, but rather it is more important to worry about the lives that are still around and don’t deserve to be lost.

The leadership under Smith showed how important it is to keep troops interest in mind. Smith didn’t approve of hookers, weed, or anything that distracted the men too much from the war. He never appeared to care that those things helped the soldiers deal with the stress of the war, which only caused more stress. Will talk about how in doing so effects some of the soldiers morals, and how their focus is pulled off the war.