Journal 3: "On The Rainy River"

O’Brien calls himself a coward for going to war because he did not go to Vietnam to be brave or because he felt it was his patriotic duty as an American to do so. The reason he went to war was because he couldn’t bear the shame of not going to war. O’Brien wishes to flee to Canada to dodge the draft, but the shame of this action would be gossiped about by his community and family, which he could not bear. The only reason he decides to go to Vietnam is because he is too embarrassed not to go. Thus, he considers himself a coward. I believe he was quite cowardly for going to war. O’Brien considered the war to go against his own principles, so by deciding to still go and fight in Vietnam is quite cowardly. If I were placed in a similar situation, I would probably have fled to Canada anyway. Bearing the shame of not going to war is a small price to pay if it means keeping your principles over that shame. It wouldn’t matter to me that much if someone hundreds of miles away was gossiping about how I dodged a draft if it meant that I truly upheld my own beliefs and my own personal judgment of an unjust war.
I feel that a draft of any kind in the war in Iraq is unjust. In my personal opinion, the war in Iraq is an unnecessary war, which has cost America dearly, both financially and through the unfortunate deaths of our own soldiers as well as Iraqi civilians. By forcing those in the military to continue their duty after their time is up, it shows that the government is handling this war in an unfair and unjust manner. I am sure that there are many of those in the military who are now against this war and just want to go home. It is unthinkable to force them to stay out there against their will, against the amount of time that they signed up to serve. I personally believe that the war in Iraq is the new Vietnam. It is clear that this war is unnecessary, just as the war in Vietnam was. If I were put in O’Brien’s shoes, I would probably flee to Canada to dodge the war in Iraq. I would do this not because I am not patriotic, but because this war is clearly unnecessary and it goes against my own principles. I would, however, serve in the military if I felt a war was necessary and being conducted for the right reasons, like the U.S. involvement in World War II was.