Mrs. Perrin 9th period
5/18/2009
Dear Your Modest Majesty,
When I started this assignment I felt very overwhelmed. I decided that I was just going to plug away at whatever piece I thought easiest or whatever I knew how to do. The part that I did first is the character part which I decided to do on Jimmy Cross. I realized that he was not the hero of the story, and there was plenty of information on him to do a good examination. I went with the newspaper article because I thought that it would be the easiest way to talk about him.
The next part that I worked on was The Things I Carry. I worked on this part because it seemed like a good way to really get me motivated and working on the essay. It didn't work as well as I wanted it to. I had a problem mixing together my physical and emotional things the way that O'Brian did.
Next I worked on the change section. I decided to do a short story because the story seemed to have most flexibility out of all of the options. I had a very hard time deciding how I wanted to take the change section, so I ended up redoing it a few times before I was happy with my story.
After that I worked on the graph or chart which shows how horrible the war was. There were so many innocent people killed, and I believe that was the point about war that O’Brian was trying to make throughout the book.
The final section that I worked on was the hero part because I knew that would be the longest and most annoying. I started the interview at the beginning of the journey, and I thought I would just methodically work thorough it. Because of the way that the book bounces back and forth through time, it made it much harder than I expected it to be.
For the order I started off with the Things That I Carried, first because it is a nice introduction to me. Next I put the War section because it shows how vicious the war was. After that I put change because people changing are important to understand the characters and heroes. I decided on Characters next because understanding the leadership will help to understand the hero. Finally I put in the Hero portion because he has the most complex journey and this is the best way to show it.
Overall, I think that I did pretty well on the project. I think it was a very large ordeal, and I think I deserve a B+ on it. My mom thinks I deserve an A because I spent an incredible amount of time on the project. She never thought she would see the day when I would put so much effort into a project that does not directly involve politics. I do not think there are any huge mistakes in it. There are not any extended metaphors or much figurative language and that is the reason that I do not think that I should get an A on it. I think my work overall is well thought out and well executed.
Kevin Ambrose
Mrs. Perrin 9th period
5/18/2009
The Things I Carry
Many years ago, I sat in a small group on the floor in my second grade classroom. We were reading a little book that was much too easy for me. I realized that none of the kids in my group understood what the author was trying to say. I feebly raised my hand, and everyone just ignored me. I figured that no one saw my hand, so I decided to try and say something. Someone else was reading and I did not want to be rude and interrupt them, so I waited quietly in my own little world that I had made for myself. Between readers, I tried to point out what the author was saying, but everyone just talked over me. I could not believe that they were just ignoring me like that, and it made me extremely upset. I did not like people ignoring me and acting like I was not important.
The things I carry include the weight of my ego and my complex personality. My ego some days can be overwhelming and exhausting to carry everywhere that I go. Sometimes it feels like I am drowning in its depth. Other days it is as light as a raincoat, and I can easily accommodate it.
Other things that I carry include my watch that I wear everywhere I go. I have carried my watch with me since fourth grade. The one that I wear now is the second one that I have owned, and it is exactly the same style and color as my original watch. I also carry the tan line that is around my watch. It looks totally ridiculous, and because I am so used to watches I will probably carry it with me for the rest of my life. When this one dies, I will carry a new watch because time is one of the things that everyone carries.
The things that I also carry include the weight of high expectations on me. I carry the constant pressure from others to perform. I know that I have to keep working hard at whatever I am doing. Finally, there is the expectation to succeed at anything that I attempt. I also carry the weight of my unbalanced nature. I am a rather uncoordinated person, and having to deal with that is a tremendous weight that is placed on my shoulders.
I carry my 6’3”, 205 pound body around with as much agility as a sloth. I carry the weight of being a non-athletic person. Despite the lack of talent, I make up for it with my determination. I carry the weight of being a thrower on the track team and the accompanying responsibilities and the devotion that it requires for me to succeed. I also carry my track shoes and clothing almost every day because our season never really ends. I carry the weight of needing to step up because our team has some big shoes to fill, and I might need to help fill them.
Another thing that I carry is the weight of my kindness. Most of the time to most people I am very nice and caring. This can be a disadvantage because everyone expects me to be nice all of the time even if it is not in my self- interest. Another thing that I carry is being a generous person. While it sounds like a great thing, over time I tend to donate more money than I should.
Some of the other things I carry include a wad of cash, and usually my cell phone, and formerly my iPod touch. I never go anywhere without money. Money can get one out of some tight spots, so having it is important to me. It is usually crammed in my pocket so it tends to take the wad shape. I always carry my cell phone because it is necessary to keep in contact with people. Because of the ridiculous prices, it is illogical to not carry it with you. I used to carry my iPod touch around everywhere with me until it was stolen. Once I get a new one, I will again carry it around with me. It is one of the most useful things that anyone can have because with an iPod touch and Wi-Fi, you can do almost anything.
The things that I carry physically and emotionally shape who I am, and they will shape me will for the rest of my life. My pointed personality, how stubborn I am, and how assertive I can be are all determined by the things I carry. For better or for worse, the things that I carry make me who I am.
Kevin Ambrose
Mrs. Perrin 9th period
5/18/2009
The Human Costs of War
On the Side is how people died. The numbers go with the numbers underneath.
On the bottom axis is the number of people killed
- Total deaths
- Total Vietnamese civilian deaths
- Killed by indiscriminate N. Vietnamese rocket and mortar attacks
- Civilians killed intentionally by N. Vietnamese ground troops
- Killed by American bombing
- Killed by U.S. ground forces
The Slaughter of Innocence
In this graph I tried to show how cruel and vicious that the Vietnam War was.
In The Things They Carried, O’Brian shows throughout the book just how cruel the entire conflict actually was. The number of civilians killed is comparable to Hiroshima and Nagaski combined. Many Vietnamese were killed on purpose by both sides to intimidate the other side and to put a drain on the other nation’s resources by forcing them to take care of the wounded and by making them relocate survivors. The point of the book is to show how much destruction there was. The graph showing how many deaths there were shows exactly that point.
Kevin Ambrose
Mrs. Perrin 9th period
5/18/2009
How Change Hurts
It was many years ago that I met a guy named Frank. Frank was a very nice guy. He was popular and well-liked by everyone. He was a model student throughout school and graduated from college at the top of his class. While in school he never cheated. When he graduated, he received many job offers, but Frank declined every single one of them.
Frank had his own aspirations. He wanted to become a career politician. He threw his name in for the local mayoral race, and he had a massive backing from the people and local businesses. He ran a very clean campaign and won a landslide victory against the incumbent mayor. After winning by such a large margin, he decided that he should try to run for the next step, the state senate.
When he ran for senate, he had a bit less support but he still had enough to win. He had very large donations from wealthy businesses and also a lot of money from a few wealthy benefactors. When he took the money from the large businesses, he figured that there would be no strings attached. Once he started in the senate he realized how wrong that he actually was. The businesses asked him to give them kick-backs and to make sure that they got little "bonuses". Well there were not any extravagant requests, so he went along and gave it to them. His wife found out about it. When he and his wife ended up talking, he said that he would not do anything like that ever again.
Soon there was a huge bill that had just come out of committee, and it was deemed urgent enough to go right to a floor vote. Overall, it was split along party lines. Frank realized that he was going to be the deciding vote, and the way the big businesses wanted him to vote was in opposition to what he wanted. He thought of his wife, and voted for what he felt was right.
As soon as the voting was released, the big business began complaining to him, and his reelection funds suddenly dried up. Frank was thinking about running for U.S. Senate, and he realized that the empty election fund gave him a great opportunity to move up. His wife was very happy that he had made the right choice. He realized that to go national he would need a huge amount of money. He would need more cash from big business than ever before. He managed to win in a very tight race. Without the support of the businessmen, he never would have won the race.
Once he made it national he realized that the big business was in every little law he had to vote on. He loved having so much power because of his position, and he would not give it up for anything. He knew that without full reelection coffers he had no chance, so he decided he would do whatever the businesses wanted. He voted time and time again for the business, and his wife ended up divorcing him because of it. He might have kept the power, but he just became part of the bureaucratic landscape that was Washington D.C. He came as a reformer, but he just got sucked into it like so many others.
This story is very similar to “The Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong”. Both cases start out with a very strong relationship where both people love each other greatly. In both cases one of them is thrust into unfamiliar territory and tries way too hard to fit into their new surroundings. Their loved ones both try to talk them into going back to the way things used to be after they made a very bad decision.
After the little talks the couples have, it settles down for a while. Then one final thing pushes it over the edge. They go over to the opposite side, and they do one thing that is worse than anything that they did before. After that, the relationship is basically over and they just disappear into their surroundings.
This shows how horrible the entire war was. It could take good, respectable people and change every possible thing about them until their loved ones could not even recognize them. That was the point that O’Brian was trying to make about the war and change.
Kevin Ambrose
Mrs. Perrin 9th period
5/18/2009
The Story of Lt. Jimmy Cross
During the Vietnam War there were many war stories. One of the most interesting stories is about First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. His platoon had a total of eighteen soldiers in it; the whole platoon was a group of misfits. He had so many different personalities that he had to deal with in addition to contending with his own depressing personal story. He dealt with all of this, and he was still a successful leader.
His unit was a very diverse unit, and he had to take that into account when he interacted with his soldiers. He was loose with his men, and for a while he did not have a strict SOP. While he was in college, he enlisted in the Reserve Officer Training Core or R.O.T.C. He just joined because that was the thing that all of his friends were doing and so he could earn a few extra credits. He never thought that he would be dragged into a pointless war, but he was willing to accept the call to duty.
When he began to lead his men in Vietnam, he was very unsure about what he should be doing to lead correctly. He felt the guilt every time one of his men died in battle. He took the blame personally time after time even if was totally underserved. The first death that happened was when Ted Lavender died. The Lt. was so distracted because of his college sweetheart that he let his guard down. He blamed himself for Lavender’s death.
Another death that the Lt. took particularly hard was Kiowa’s death. Kiowa was a Native American Baptist who brought a whole new level of perspective to the platoon. Kiowa was respected and liked by the entire platoon, and his death was crushing to every last person. The Lt. took it personally because he decided to camp in an open field which is never a good idea in the middle of a war where the enemy knows no ethics. To top it off, it was in the middle of a storm and the entire field was like a swamp. It was right by a village, and with the smell he should have figured out that it was the village outhouse. Just the idea of camping in an outhouse is never good, and he should have avoided it and gone for higher ground. He was willing to go to any lengths to get Kiowa’s body out of the ground.
Lt. Jimmy Cross was the typical lieutenant in the war. He was not in it for himself. He had no ambitions to advance in the military. He just wanted to get the job done. Most important to him was the life of his men, and he took their deaths very hard. He might not have been the best leader, but his devotion to them makes him a war hero in many eyes.
Kevin Ambrose
Mrs. Perrin 9th period
5/18/2009
A True War Hero
Today I sat down with Tim O'Brian. O'Brian was a soldier in the Vietnam War and was a true war hero. He served in Alpha platoon under Lt. Jimmy Cross. He performed many heroic acts and at the same time had many brushes with what most would consider being a coward. He has a few interesting stories that he is going to share with us today.
Kevin – “So, Mr. O’Brian, tell me about how you started in this war.”
O’Brian – “Well, Kevin, I was drafted. When I first got the notice, I am not going to lie; I was scared, very scared. I did not want to go off to war, and I was happy living my peaceful life. I did not want to go to war so badly that I ended up running away. I almost made it to Canada when I stopped at a little resort, and the owner gave me some advice that made me go back. I was more scared of being a coward then I was of going off to war.”
Kevin - “Mr. O'Brian, would you care to share more of what happened at the resort?”
O'Brian – “I do not think I have too much of a choice, so I will tell you. I stayed at the resort for a few days. During the entire time I was thinking about if I run to Canada how everyone will think how much of a coward I am. In the end I came back because I was a coward. I was more scared of being deemed a coward and a traitor than I was of the war. That is why I was still a coward.”
Kevin – “I see. My next question is who at the resort helped make you make your decision?”
O’Brian – “Well, the owner, I think his name was Elroy. He seemed to know exactly why I was there and he did not try to make me feel one way or another. He was very genouras and tried to make me feel like I was at home. One of the last days I was there, he took me out fishing. When we were on the boat, he moved the boat just a few feet away from the Canadian shore. I could have easily just jumped out and swum to Canada where I would not have to fight the war that I was so scared of. Honestly though, I stayed in the boat. Once he knew what I wanted, he just took us back and I left the next morning. He helped my decisions so much, and I am still grateful for how much he helped me.”
Kevin – “What was your first experience with death?”
O’Brian – “I know this might surprise you, but my first experience with losing someone was not in Vietnam. It was in fifth grade. There was a girl, and her name was Linda. I liked her and the next thing I knew she was dead because of a brain tumor. This was the first time that I had to deal with mortality and it was something that I never wanted to repeat again.”
Kevin – “That is a very heart-wrenching story, Mr. O'Brian. Back to the war, what was the first war causality you had to contend with?”
O’Brian – “The first of my platoon to die was a guy named Ted Lavender. He was a nice guy, but he was the type that was scared of his own shadow. He always took tranquillizers just so he could keep his cool. He got shot in the head while we were guarding a tunnel that one of our guys was scouting. Lavender just went off to go to find himself a tree, and on his way back he got shot. It was such a tragedy he had to die like that.”
Kevin – “How did you and other members of your platoon handle the death?”
O’Brian – “I was not too bothered by it. I do not know why, but it really did not strike home with me. It scared me because it could have been me, and everyone else felt the same way about it. The Lt. took it the hardest because we were his responsibility, and one of us dying was basically his fault. He took it like it was. I kind of felt bad for him because he felt so bad.”
Kevin – “Could you tell me who was in charge?”
O’Brian – “Well Lt. Jimmy Cross was in charge of our platoon, and he was a pretty good leader. He cared about us, and we respected him in return. He was not a professional soldier and obviously did not want to be in the war, so we all got along. He made some mistakes but everyone does.”
Kevin – “What kind of war stories do you have or ones that you have heard?”
O’Brian – “Well this one I heard second- hand, but supposedly a six-man team went up into the mountains. After a few days, they began to hear things. They supposedly heard hundreds of people and music. They ended up blowing up every single thing anywhere close. There was not actually anyone there. They just could not take the silence.”
Kevin – “I do not understand how that is important.”
O’Brian – “Well, the silence can change a man and make him go insane. We are stuck in such an unforgivable environment and if you keep listening, you will eventually hear something. This something was just a figment of their imagination. I know what it is like to want an enemy to take out my anger and sadness on.”
Kevin – “Whose death affected you the most?”
O'Brian – “I would have to say it would be my dear friend Kiowa's. Kiowa was a Native American, and he was one of the nicest guys you could ever know. We were best friends. He died when we camped in a sewage field of all places. It was in the middle of monsoon season so it was very miserable. We were attacked by mortars, and he ended up drawing in the gunk.”
Kevin – “That is tragic, but how did his death affect you that much?”
O'Brian – “It is more that his death reflects how the entire war was fought, that people died with no dignity and that every death was tragic. So many people die in disgraceful ways, and his death really upset me. It was probably the thing that I hated most about the entire war and the near death experience of my being in the same foxhole as him. Well I just about died that night, just if I sat on the other side.”
Kevin – “How did you feel about how people back at home felt about the war?”
O'Brian –“ In the field we felt it, and it was not good. We seemed to be despised. One instance is when one of my friends named Rat mailed a letter about his one friend’s death to the guy’s sister. He pours his heart out to her and she does not even write back. This kind of stuff was heartbreaking to me and made me feel less sure about the entire war.”
Kevin – “Well I guess my next question would be were you injured during the war?”
O'Brian – “Yes” I was. The first time I was shot, I literally fell into Rat’s lap. Lucky for me, Rat was the medic. He put a big bandage on the wound, then went off to fight. He was such a good guy that during the fight he would leave cover, run over to me, and check on me. It was just a little side wound, but Rat got injured while I was out of combat recovering. The new medic named Jorgenson was an incompetent greenie.”
Kevin – “What happened that made you dislike this guy so much?”
O'Brian – “Well, I got shot in the rear, and it took him over ten minutes just to work up the nerve to come over to me. He messed up the bandages which gave me a huge infection. To top it off, he did not think to treat for shock. I almost died from shock because he was so incompetent.”
Kevin – “So after the second injury healed, what happened?”
O'Brian – “Well the higher-ups took pity on me and I got sent to supply detail. It was an easy, cushy assignment where there was not too much to worry about. We had off time and it allowed me to relax and settle back into routines with decent sleep schedules. That helped me get ready for when I would head back home.”
Kevin – “Did you ever see Alpha Company again?”
O'Brian – “Yep, a couple of months later they come in for a stand down. We shared some good stories and talked about a few others that died while I was on bum duty. The whole time I did not see Jorgenson. Finally, one day he is standing by my jeep and he tried to apologize, but I still was mad.”
Kevin – “Was that the end of you and Jorgenson?”
O'Brian – “No, no way was I letting it go at that. Well Azar and I decided to scare the poor kid to death. We had homemade noisemakers, and while he was on night duty we kept making sounds. We popped off some flares too; well, we scared the kid big time. It was great payback!”
Kevin – “So what ended up happing with Rat?”
O'Brian – “Well, once Rat came back, we got deployed out in the middle of nowhere to check out reports of massive buildups, and Rat just went nuts. He began scratching his wounds till they bled. He would have nightmares about pieces of himself lying everywhere, and he just went crazy. They ended up sending him back to Japan because he just couldn't keep it together.”
Kevin – “Did your unit ever accidently or on purpose kill civilians?”
O'Brian – “Yes, one time I was out on patrol with Alpha, and we took fire from this little village. The Lt. ordered up some air support, and for a half hour we watched the entire place burn. There was an old man just lying there dead, and it really bothered me how an innocent died.”
Kevin – “Did you ever return to Vietnam?”
O'Brian – “Yes, I did. I took my daughter there. When the two of us were there, we visited the spot where Kiowa was killed. It was so hard on me. After that, I had to explain it to my daughter.”
My sit-down with Tim O’Brian shows how a hero can go through the worst possible circumstances. He was scared at times, but he was definitely a hero. His bravery and the bravery of others like him are what keep our country safe.
Work Cited Page
I used outside sources only on the “War” graph.
White, Mathew. “Death Tolls for the Major Wars and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century” November 05. <http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat2.htm>
“The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki”
<http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/MED/med_chp10.shtml>
