When LT McDonough first arrived in Vietnam, he encountered a number of soldiers. Some of these soldiers were as green as he was, while others were experienced veterans of the bloody conflict. One of the first soldiers that LT McDonough met during his first couple of days in Vietnam was an Lieutenant who was a member of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. As LT McDonough begins to talk with him, it becomes quite obvious that this lieutenant had sustained psychological problems as a result of being in combat. It was revealed that this lieutenant was bloodthirsty and had no reservations or problems killing others; something inside of him had snapped. From this observation, it can be stated that war can sometimes have a very severe dehumanizing effect on soldiers. It is obvious that the war had changed this lieutenant for the worse. He may have survived the war, but he had lost his mind in the process.

The next individual that LT McDonough met that I want to focus on was LT Rolfe. LT Rolfe was the outgoing platoon leader for the platoon that LT McDonough was assigned to. When reading the book, it became clear rather quickly that LT Rolfe coped with the conflict in Vietnam by making himself believe that he was the only member of his platoon that was important, everybody else was expendable. LT Rolfe is not a good representation of what an Army officer should be like because he did not care about the well being of the members of his platoon, nor did he feel any responsibility for them. Essentially LT Rolfe was a coward who was only looking out for himself.

From both of these encounters, it can be concluded that soldiers cope with war differently: some are cowards who do not what is best for the platoon or the mission, but what is the best for them, while others turn into bloodthirsty savages who lose touch with reality. It is important as an army officer to understand the effects of war because we need to make sure that we do not become like the lieutenant that LT McDonough met or LT Rolfe. Officers need to control our emotions and always need to care about the platoons well-being. We need to know the warning signs of someone who is losing control of the situation, and we need to know how to take the appropriate actions to fix this situation.

Moving on, I believe that the army provides a lot of good training to soldiers who are going to war. For example, LT McDonough has over 5 years of training before going to Vietnam: 4 years at West Point, airborne school, IBOLC, Jumpmaster School, and Ranger School. Even though LT McDonough was probably prepared tactically for war, I personally do not believe that the Army prepares soldiers for the effects of war, and to be honest, I do not know how it would be possible to do so. It is hard to simulate what actual warfare is like: what it is like to lose friends in combat or killing other human beings. These are some things that the Army cannot really prepare you for.