The draft and Selective Service process for all U.S. soldiers as well as African-American soldiers can only be understood and recognized by those who truly cared about the lives of the young men and women sent to Viet Cong to fight the internal and external enemy. I find that the enemy is determined by the experience of the person. An enemy is more expansive than the actions of a person, the words of a foe, or the look of death from a rival. An enemy can be silent or loud, known or unknown. The Selective Service and the draft selected youthful, living beings whose souls and spirits were packaged, mailed to Vietnam, broker and lost to an enemy broader than the swamps and land of Vietnam. Through their eyes you can see the world that they became one with. Now, I understand the internal emotions of many of the Vietnam Veterans and their struggle to differentiate fact from fiction, imagination from reality and present from past.
Suddenly, you stand there with each soldier who served and understand their emotions. You are reminded of their innocence, of their youth and of their beginning maturities. The door is opened for you to see and envision the men and women who served during Vietnam, and returned home, but never returned the same again. Imagination, memories of life and death, perception, reception, appreciation, ridicule, rejection, acceptance, vision, physical and psychological changes impacted the personality and characters of groups of people who established family units in a foreign place.
You step inside their shoes and embrace their yearning for familiarity in the dangers of war and the desire to finish their duty to self, their new family, and their country. Their stories and life lessons relate to the very essence of life as we know. You can relate to their feelings, emotions, reactions, humor, serious nature, and pretending. The aura of these soldiers make you reexamine the priorities and experiences their body, mind, and spirit in every way. The relationship between the cycle of the Vietnam era and the rebirth of a new time mirrors exactly what you and I understand to be true, that war encompasses many more enemies than targets through choosing an ultimate fate for men and women who do not get to choose their service in our U.S. military.
O'Brien's book. However, you may want to explain a little about it. Alot of readers may not realize you are writing about a book.
"what kind of world would it be if we settled for being human"
Fred Friendly