A Rumor Of War

9 Pages 2306 Words

“As wretched, awful and savage as any war can get, all wars have this element of thrill and excitement in them…” Caputo said, in an interview with CNN.
A Rumor of War was just that, it discussed everything from gruesome encounters with the Viet Cong to descriptions of the horrible weather. Philip Caputo’s, the author of A Rumor of War, use of vivid language made the book come alive, as if it were a movie. Philip Caputo was not only an amazing Marine Lieutenant, but he was also a very talented writer. This book was the first book that dealt with Vietnam reasonably and it gave people a sense of what the war was like.
Philip Caputo, born in Chicago in 1941, went into the Marine Corps straight out of high school. He learned everything he needed to know at Quantico in Virginia. Caputo first landed in Da Nang in 1965 and was still as intrigued with war as he was at age 24. He, along with the other U. S. ground combat marines, expected to be there for a period of time between 30 to 90 days. However, he was on a tour of duty for 16 months and served as a Platoon leader for One-Three and lead his men through several of their life changing experiences. After a while he was assigned as the assistant adjutant because the former one, Lieutenant Schwartz, was going to take command of a rifle company. Caputo was not very thrilled about his switch, but he went with his head held high. While he was the assistant adjutant he had to count the bodies and tally them up. Not long after, he volunteered for a line company in the First Battalion. There, he was put in charge of a Platoon leader for C Company. While he was there, his platoon had many encounters with the Viet Cong. In the year of 1966, Philip Caputo’s experiences ended in a court-martial when two of his troops killed two civilians. Once he returned home, he was sent back to Vietnam, but this time he was a consultant for the Chicago Tribune.
A Rumor of War was an ama...