Matterhorn will not be an easy read but I think it will be worthwhile since the Viet Nam War was such an important “background” element for my high school and college years. Now I can read about it as an adult and a mother of a 25 year-old son.
Since I am a female I was never threatened with the draft but our male friends were consumed with the problem. I remember a Sat when our friend, Tom, came over to tell us he was filing as a conscientious objector so he had spent the morning with his priest to get a letter to put in his file. His parents were furious but I was happy to hear years later his they joined Tom at anti-war rallies. Their opinion had changed.
Before starting the novel I decided to read the 31 page glossary in the back of the book so I wouldn’t be flipping back and forth.
One thing that strikes me is each time he describes one of the fighting units, such as a squad, the numbers are always short and the officers were lower rank than required.
“Squad: Unit designed to consist of 13 Marines…usually it operated with about 10 or 11…A squad was designed to be led by a sergeant (three stripes)…in Vietnam, though most squads were led by corporals (two stripes) or even lance corporals (one stripe), most of whom were teenagers.”
Also, when he describes a “short-timer” and how when they know they are going home they begin to act strangely.
“At this time, in contrast to the previous months, they could entertain the hope that they were going to get through alive and unscathed, but this hope destroyed the earlier psychological numbness and fatalistic thinking of the combat infantryman that had made fear easier to deal with.”
Entering enemy territory. Here we go…page one.
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