I had a systems test on friday, it went pretty bad. All the problems that were like homework problems i nailed perfectly, all the ones that weren't, i didn't. I guess that is just how it goes, maybe 65 out of 100 is what i am predicting, maybe 60, it depends how lenient he is. The good thing is that 55% of our grade is in the last two weeks of the class, split between the final and a project, so i could still pull an A somehow i think.
I did homework all weekend, i was going to go hiking yesterday but it looked like it was going to start snowing, and then it did, so oh well. Also i am reading A Rumor of War, by Philip Caputo for wt, it is pretty good. I have seen a lot of movies and tv shows and read a lot of books about Vietnam, but none of them really talked about the people, and what they thought about. This one is pretty interesting, seeing as how we may be entering into something like it, or we not be getting even close at all. I don't know, i am not much for critical analysis of literature but i really like the line (paraphrased, the best i could do from memory), "We came in with our rifles, backpacks, and our ideals, we left with our rifles and backpacks."
They had free food at the student union today for some reason so this day is starting off pretty good i figure.
Posted by cmorton at April 21, 2003 11:59 AM | TrackBackanother good book is lima-6 : a marine company commander in vietnam or something to that effect.
you also might want to read vietnam: the soldier's revolt ( http://www.isreview.org/issues/09/soldiers_revolt.shtml ) it got it's obvious biases (it was printed by international socialist review) but rasies some excellent points about the role that class played in the dynamics of units. one argument that seemed very interesting: the was army was top heavy with officers each of which needed a combat command to get their next promotion. the demand for postings was such that officers served 6 month tours while enlisted served a one year tour. the result was officers with very little time and a lot of pressure to make a name for themselves so they'd send the grunts out on very dangerous missions with little regard for casualties. the enlisted men's response was to frag officers they viewed as the most dangerous to their lives. any way it's a really good piece, lots of quotes, but just watch out for that bias.
Posted by: andrew morton on April 22, 2003 03:22 PM