Civilian Treatment
Tim O'Brien is If I Die in a Combat Zone is a realistic tale of day to day life in the Vietnam War. Tim is not only the author of the book, he is also a veteran of the war. Tim creates a detailed picture of what life was like for a United States soldier. Tim also shows how the soldiers were forced to treat all Vietnamese as the same person for the fear of the Viet Cong soldiers (VC). He tells how soldiers spent their days hour to hour, and minute by minute with enemies and civilians soldiers. They were torn between trusting civilians who could be the V.C. soldiers or shooting civilians in fear of them being the V.C. soldiers. If I Die in a Combat Zone is told through the eyes of Tim O'Brien. He paints a picture of the horror and the beauty that he saw living in a land of chaos. It was the late 60's and early 70's and the United States declared war against the Vietnamese. The V.C. soldiers were not a regular army. They did not wear uniforms and they looked like everyone else in Vietnam. This made trusting and working with civilians very difficult because, as a soldier, you should never let down your guard. So the only way to feel safe was to treat everyone, including the women and children, as part of
In all this chaos during the massacre on the village of My Lai there was a small sign of human decency by a helicopter pilot named Hugh Thomspon. Hugh landed his helicopter and told Calley to have his men stand down until all civilians were evacuated. He then ordered his helicopter crew chief to "open fire on the Americans"(Hersh 145) if they fired at the civilians. Later, Thomspon was to land again and rescue a baby still clinging to her dead mother. Thomspon shows that not all soldier treated the Vietnamese civilians as a lower or unequal person. Some soldiers understood that Vietnamese civilians were stuck between a rock and a hard place. The Vietnamese were stuck in the middle of a war that most of them had no idea what it was about. It is safe to say that not all of the American soldiers treated the Vietnamese with respect. After being in the country for a while, the soldiers began to trust a small number of Vietnamese civilians. In the book, O'Brien tells the reader about an old blind man who owned a well. One day O'Brien's platoon sat down to get a little rest and relaxation at the old man's well. As the old man starts to wash one of the soldiers, another "blustery and stupid soldier"(O'Brien 100) found a carton of milk and threw it at the old man's face, cutting it and spraying milk everywhere. The old man fell to the ground, licking his face clean of milk and blood; he then stood back up, smiled, said nothing, and began to wash the next soldier. This shows the disrespect that many U.S. soldiers had for the Vietnamese people. It makes me wonder that if they would treat an old blind man this way how would they treat healthy young Vietnamese adult. "you know what to do with them"(Hersh 78). What proceeded to happen next is almost unimaginable. Calley and Meadlo began to fire on the crowd of women, children,
Some common words found in the essay are:
Vietnamese VC, Seymour Hersh, Alpha Company, Mad Mark, Thomspon Hugh, Tim O'Brien, Calley Meadlo, Viet Cong, War Tim, Combat Zone, vietnamese civilians, alpha company, war tim, tim o'brien, treated vietnamese, vc soldiers, die combat zone, village lai, women children, soldiers treated, trusting civilians, soldiers treated vietnamese,
Approximate Word count = 1237
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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