Military Rank: Doctor, 1st medical battalion
Kia/Survivor: Rob is a survivor, he now is a writer living in Rowe , Massachusetts
Experiences: In one of Robs letters to Merle he writes ‘Being in the medical battalion, I find myself curiously suspended from “sides” or causes and can only feel the human loss and terror which can never be measured in pretty medals or sweet, patriotic speeches.’ Being a doctor in the war Rob was confronted by this feeling every single day. In his letter to his family he tells them about a 16 year old girl who was brought in, she was walking along with her mother when she was struck by an American vehicle. ‘The girl fortunately died, but the grief of the mother was the like of which I had not witnessed here...’
Feelings and point of view:
-‘The longer I am here, the more my hatred of war grows, but curiously enough I’m more a pacifist then I ever was, though I know I have stronger leanings in that direction than most.’
-Rob felt he was never in a war. ‘Donny can go back home and tell what it is that he has done and seen, but never why. And I can go back feeling that I’ve both seen a war, and not been in one...’
-‘Here, now, in the context of Vietnam, I am torn, but I wonder in what depth being “home” will heal my new self-doubts.’
Their relationships: Rob wrote his letters to his parents and to Merle. This was somewhat of an escape for Rob as it was a way for him to concentrate and think about other things such as life back home, rather than the war that was going on around him.
Makes the reader think, feel, understand, learn, consider: Robs letters give the reader a way to view the war and a sense of feeling towards the war just how Rob did. He is a great writer which makes it easy to read and gives you an understanding on how he felt about the war in which he was a part of.
by Laura
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