Summary of Philip Caputo's A Rumor of War

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 I was more prepared for death than I was for life when I returned from the war in 1967. I had learned how to face death and cause it, with everything on the evolutionary scale of weapons from the knife to the 3. 5-inch rocket launcher.

#2 I grew up in Westchester, Illinois, one of the towns that rose from the prairies around Chicago as a result of postwar affluence, VA mortgage loans, and the migratory urge and housing shortage that sent millions of people out of the cities.

#3 I wanted to join the Marines to prove something: my courage, my toughness, and my manhood. I had spent my freshman year at Purdue, freed from the confinements of suburban home and family, but a slump in the economy prevented me from finding a job. I had to transfer to Loyola, a commuter college in Chicago.

#4 I was elated when I enlisted and swore to defend the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. I had done something important on my own, and I was excited by the idea that I would be sailing off to dangerous and exotic places after college instead of working in an office.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822532700

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Philip Caputo's A Rumor of War

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

I was more prepared for death than I was for life when I returned from the war in 1967. I had learned how to face death and cause it, with everything on the evolutionary scale of weapons from the knife to the 3. 5-inch rocket launcher.

#2

I grew up in Westchester, Illinois, one of the towns that rose from the prairies around Chicago as a result of postwar affluence, VA mortgage loans, and the migratory urge and housing shortage that sent millions of people out of the cities.

#3

I wanted to join the Marines to prove something: my courage, my toughness, and my manhood. I had spent my freshman year at Purdue, freed from the confinements of suburban home and family, but a slump in the economy prevented me from finding a job. I had to transfer to Loyola, a commuter college in Chicago.

#4

I was elated when I enlisted and swore to defend the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. I had done something important on my own, and I was excited by the idea that I would be sailing off to dangerous and exotic places after college instead of working in an office.

#5

The training was designed to instill discipline and teamwork, two of the Corps’ cardinal virtues. It was also meant to eliminate the weak, who were collectively referred to as unsats.

#6

The training at Quantico was extremely difficult, and it was not uncommon for 70 percent of the recruits to fail. Those who passed the initial trial went back two years later for the advanced course, which was even more grueling.

#7

I was commissioned on February 2, 1964, and returned to Quantico in May for Officers’ Basic School, where new second lieutenants served a six-month apprenticeship before being sent to their first commands.

#8

I wanted the romance of war, but I got the methodology of war. I was not the only one to find this eye-glazing. During one particularly dull lecture, a classmate named Butterfield leaned over to me and whispered, The trouble with war is that there isn’t any background music.

#9

The fascination with counterinsurgency was strongest among the junior officers, who were drawn by the apparent romance of fighting guerrilla bands in far-off places.

#10

I remember the games we played in the steamy bottomlands of Virginia, as close an approximation of Asian jungles as the state could offer. Most of us were just overgrown kids playing soldier, but we thought it was serious business.

#11

The essence of the Marine Corps experience is pain. But there are moments of exhilaration that compensate for the hours