In February 2015, for the first time in its history, the U.S. State Department launched the
Veterans Innovation Partnership (VIP), in which veterans serve as fellows in the State
Department. The program was established to tap into the expertise and experience that
veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan bring home. VIP recognizes “a veteran’s natural
potential as a source of talent for diplomacy and development.”
But it’s fair to say that in the recent history of American foreign relations, programs such
as VIP have been conspicuously missing. With very few exceptions, veterans have not
been acknowledged nor appreciated for the insight they might bring on the wars in which
they have been engaged. For some veterans, fiction has provided the vehicle for sharing
that perspective.
In this exam you are asked to compare Tim O’Brien, If I Die in a Combat Zone: Box Me
Up and Ship Me Home (about the veteran experience in Vietnam) and Phil Klay,
Redeployment (about the veteran experience in Iraq). Both authors have been widely
lauded for the ways in which their stories seeks to reveal truth and meaning in war.
As you compare both books, you may wish to consider one of the following questions
(but you are not obliged to do so):
Can U.S. foreign policy be influenced by war stories told by veterans? If you
were asked to recommend both of these books to the President of the United States,
what would you say to describe each book, and why would you ask the President
and his staff to read them?
As students of American foreign policy, what insight is to be gained from war
stories, such as these? Do we know anything different about the Vietnam War?
Do we know anything different about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Historians search for truth, or at least we try to get as close as we can to finding
truth. After reading both books of fiction, what new truth or meaning is brought to
bear on our thinking and in our conversations about realities of war —and peace?
No matter how you structure your essay, please be as specific as possible by citing
particular passages and pages from both books.
The Exam is due to CC before midnight on Thursday, May 14.
2
I would wish this book could take the form of a plea for everlasting peace, a plea from
one who knows… Or it would be fine to confirm the odd beliefs about war: it’s horrible,
but it’s a crucible of men and events and, in the end, it makes more of a man out of you.
But, still, none of these notions seems right. Men are killed, dead human beings are heavy
and awkward to carry, things smell different in Vietnam, soldiers are afraid and often
brave, drill sergeants are boors, some men think the war is proper and just and others
don’t and most don’t care. Is that the stuff for a morality lesson, even for a theme?
Do dreams offer lessons? Do nightmares have themes, do we awaken and analyze them
and live our lives and advise others as a result? Can the foot soldier teach anything
important about war, merely for having been there? I think not. He can tell war stories.
O’Brien, If I Die in a Combat Zone: Box Me Up and Ship Me Home, p. 23
http://bigthink.com/videos/tim-obrien-tells-a-true-war-story
The weird thing about being a veteran, at least for me, is that you do feel better than most
people. Your risked your life for something bigger than yourself. How many people can
say that? You chose to serve. Maybe you didn’t understand American foreign policy or
why we were at war. Maybe you never will. But it doesn’t matter. You held up your hand
and said, ‘I’m willing to die for these worthless civilians.’
At the same time, though, you feel somehow less. What happened, what I was a part of,
maybe it was the right thing. We were fighting very bad people. But it was an ugly thing.
Phil Klay, Redeployment, p. 203
http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/jled2m/phil-klay
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