Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in If I Die in a Combat Zone, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Evils of the Vietnam War
Courage
Duty vs. Conscience
The Enemy
Racism at War
Summary
Analysis
Captain Johansen leaves Alpha Company at the end of June, replaced by a short, fat Tennessean named Captain Smith. Smith gives his new soldiers a “pep talk” but no one in Alpha Company trusts him—he is obviously inexperienced. The Company heads back to My Lai, accompanied by a unit of transport tracks—big tank-like machines but without any weaponry attached. As they travel, Smith calls O’Brien “Timmy boy” and confides that his “daddy” wanted him to join the army. The tracks and foot soldiers move slowly through the villages, taking a group of women and children along with them so that the Viet Cong will be less inclined to shoot at them. Captain Smith is proud of himself for using civilians as shields.
Captain Smith is the exact opposite of Captain Johansen: incapable, inexperienced, and selfish. Captain Smith’s pride in using women and children as human shields suggests that he sees no value in Vietnamese civilians’ lives. This immediately bars Captain Smith from being courageous by O’Brien’s estimation, since he happily endangers others to protect himself and thus he does not possess any wisdom or good judgment.
Themes
The next day, the tracks and infantrymen keep searching villages for Viet Cong. Smith orders his men to clear out a bunker. They throw grenades in, and an old woman stumbles out, bleeding from her chest and nearly dead. When the mission is over, Alpha Company’s soldiers climb on the tracks and begin the journey back. Rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) launch out of the jungle and strike the tracks. Men jump off but they land half-sunken into the mud. The tracks reverse course, fleeing the attack and crushing several American soldiers: one man loses a foot, another has his leg shattered, and a third man is crushed to death.
Both the old woman’s death and the American soldiers crushed by their own vehicles reflect the horrific chaos of the Vietnam War, impacting both civilians and soldiers. Likewise, the sudden RPG attacks out of the jungle typify the Viet Cong’s guerrilla warfare tactics, which allow them to wage war on an enemy that is better equipped than themselves. Such guerrilla fighting make traveling in Vietnam extremely dangerous and unpredictable.
Themes
Captain Smith calls for an airstrike, and jets cover the village in napalm and burn it to the ground. Helicopters come to retrieve the wounded, and the soldiers fan out to search the mud for the man who was crushed to death. Captain Smith hangs back. Someone finds the dead body and wraps him in a poncho, preparing him to be loaded onto a helicopter. Smith refuses to help but he asks O’Brien what he thinks of everything. O’Brien advises they turn back, but Smith thinks they need to follow orders. The track commander convinces Smith to move his men into a nearby hamlet with dry ground. On the way, someone steps on a mine that kills several soldiers.
Napalm was a highly flammable chemical frequently used in airstrikes during the Vietnam War—it often coated civilians’ skin and burned them alive. The UN banned the use of napalm against civilian targets in 1980 as a result of its horrific effects in Vietnam. Captain Smith’s unwillingness to help search for their dead soldier in the mud, as well as his unwillingness to listen to a more experienced soldiers’ advice, depicts him as a selfish and foolhardy commander—the opposite of Captain Johansen.
Themes
Barney shows O’Brien a two-inch hole that the mine’s shrapnel punched in his canteen. Captain Smith shows O’Brien a miniscule hole in his shirt and claims that he’ll get a Purple Heart now, though all these dead men won’t be good for his career. Helicopters come again to retrieve the wounded and the dead. Within half an hour, Alpha Company lost 17 men. Smith and the track commander elect to retreat.
Smith’s concern for his career versus his lack of concern for all the men he’s gotten killed again suggests that he is a terrible, selfish leader. Alpha Company’s suddenly high death toll directly correlates with Captain Smith’s arrival, demonstrating how dangerous an inexperienced commander can be to his soldiers.
Themes
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When the track commander tells Smith to have his men walk in front of the tracks to check for mines, Smith complains but complies. He tries to convince his platoon leaders to march their men in front, but they laugh in his face and refuse outright. The track commander eventually relents, and the soldiers ride the tracks back out of the area. Captain Smith becomes universally despised among Alpha Company. Some soldiers even talk about possibly killing him by throwing a grenade in his foxhole while he sleeps. Everyone else is careful not to sleep too close to Captain Smith. He has no sense of direction and often gets Alpha Company lost.
The track commander’s order that Alpha Company should walk in front of his machines suggests that he’s willing to let Alpha Company’s men die if it protects his own men. The platoon leaders’ outright refusal to comply suggests that Smith should have recognized how wrong such an order was and held his ground. The soldiers’ thoughts of killing Captain Smith suggest that, like Colonel Daud, they see Smith as the greatest threat to their safety, and thus as much an enemy as the Viet Cong.
Themes
In mid-July, Alpha Company performs another Combat Assault into the middle of an ongoing firefight. First Platoon takes immediate casualties. The battalion commander, a colonel, flies in his helicopter overhead. The First Platoon’s radio operator calls him to request that he pick up their wounded. The colonel refuses, saying they should just ask for a regular medical helicopter from headquarters. When the radio man tells the colonel that their wounded will die if he doesn’t come get them, the colonel berates him for not relaying requests through his commanding officer.
The battalion commander’s unwillingness to pick up the wounded soldiers suggests that he does not want to risk his own safety to save his inferiors’ lives. Additionally, his anger at the radio operator for not relaying requests through an officer suggests that the commander cares more about military hierarchy than he does about saving lives or being of practical help. Both observations suggest that high-ranking officers are often callous leaders who don’t care about lower-ranking soldiers.
Themes
The radio operator tells the colonel that his commanding officer is bleeding and unconscious, but the colonel still doesn’t come to retrieve the wounded—now the dead—until the battle is over. The soldiers move into the empty village and wait out the night. Mortars hit them during the night, wounding two more. Captain Smith thinks he sees a Viet Cong soldier and shoots at them, but he discovers that it’s just a pig. The next day, a man dies when a piece of shrapnel slices off his nose, drowning him in his own blood. Captain Smith sends a small patrol out. They hit a landmine, killing several men. The battalion commander picks them up in his helicopter and he earns a medal for bravery.
Once again, the constant death and severe injuries demonstrate the horror of serving as an infantryman during the Vietnam War. Although O’Brien describes Alpha Company committing several atrocities toward civilians, it’s worth remembering that such soldiers find themselves in a hellish environment in a foreign country, governed by superior officers who either don’t care about their lives or, like Smith, are dangerously inexperienced.
Themes
In late July, Alpha Company is deployed to the top of a mountain, setting up in a Buddhist monastery. Captain Smith’s superiors tell him to expect a fight. The soldiers meet a monk who cares for a group of orphans in the monastery and they give him some of their rations. The monk lets them dig foxholes in the yard. They stay for a night, see nothing, and leave the next morning. In early August, Captain Smith is removed from command.
Captain Smith’s exit marks the end of O’Brien’s most difficult period in the Vietnam War. The soldiers giving the orphans some of theirs rations demonstrates that, although they felt particular hatred for the Vietnamese in Pinkville, their racial animosity is not a constant, but rather driven by the Americans’ own suffering and fear.
Themes
