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
O’Brien’s first month in Alpha Company seems strange, like a “vacation.” They wander up and down the beaches around Chu Lai, never seeing Viet Cong or facing combat. Vietnamese women and children follow them, offering to clean weapons or give back rubs to soldiers in exchange for rations. O’Brien learns that Alpha Company doesn’t care about the war or the reasons for it—they only think about killing when they need to and not getting killed themselves. O’Brien learns Alpha Company’s language: F.N.G means “fucking new guy,” R.E.M.F. means “rear echelon motherfucker,” and “wasting” someone means killing them. Everyone has a nickname, and when one of them dies, using the nickname instead of their real name makes it hurt a little less.
Alpha Company’s disregard for the actual reasons behind the war suggests that none of the soldiers believe the war is morally righteous or justified, or even that they need to win—their only concern is how not to die. “Rear echelon” refers to every soldier in Vietnam that works in headquarters or support bases but does not fight in combat with the infantry. Alpha Company’s use of nicknames to minimize the pain of losing comrades again suggests that they cope with the horrors of war by choosing not to directly acknowledge what happens, instead distancing themselves from the suffering and death all around them.
Themes
Mad Mark, a Green Beret, leads O’Brien’s platoon. Mad Mark isn’t insane as his name might suggest, but rather strangely calm at all times. He carries a shotgun as his primary weapon—this is against regulation but it marks him as an excellent fighter, since he has to get very close to his enemy to use the gun. Mad Mark is neither obsessed with battle nor frightened by it. He treats fighting like any other profession and does it well, without taking it too far or putting his men at unnecessary risk. He smokes with the men and flirts with the Vietnamese girls like the rest of the soldiers.
The Green Berets are a division of special forces fighters with advanced training. Mad Mark embodies a neutral stance to war, neither opposed to it as O’Brien is nor passionately eager for it as Sergeant Blyton or Chaplain Edwards are. Like Johansen, Mad Mark demonstrates an easy rapport with his men, suggesting that the distance between officers and enlisted men is becomes insignificant during combat.
Themes
O’Brien states that the war isn’t “bad” until a patrol enters a village called Tri Binh 4 one night. Mad Mark leads five other men into the village, and within an hour the rest of the platoon hears gunfire and sees flashes in the village. The patrol returns, reporting that they killed some Viet Cong soldiers standing by a well. The Kid excitedly recounts the story and shows off an ear that Mad Mark cut off one of the dead. Everyone marvels at the ear and passes it around, holding it in their hands. The night patrol found some money on the Viet Cong too, which they divide among themselves. Mad Mark calls an airstrike on the village, which appears empty. In the morning, they burn what’s left to the ground.
Mad Mark’s taking an ear off a dead body and the Kid’s excited recounting of killing other soldiers demonstrates that in the Vietnam War, American soldiers do things that are at least as morally dubious as anything that the Viet Cong or North Vietnamese Army do. Such behavior contradicts the chaplain’s ardent belief that America is a morally superior country and is always in the right, since the conduct of its soldiers is questionable at best. Mad Mark’s seemingly unnecessary order to burn the village down reiterates this.
Themes
