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The war between Vietnam and the United States begins.
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"When he first arrived in country, before joining Alpha Company, Rat had been assigned to a small medical detachment up in the mountains west of Chu Lai, near the village of Tra Bong" (O'Brien 86).
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"In June of 1968, a month after graduating from Macalaster college, I was drafted to fight a war I hated" (O'Brien 40).
"The draft notice arrived on June 17, 1968. It was a humid afternoon, I remember cloudy and very quiet, and I had just come in from a round of golf" (O'Brien 41). -
"I was brand-new to the war. It was my fourth day" (O'Brien 214)
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"Azar strapped the puppy to a Claymore antipersonnel mine and sqeezed th firing device" (O'Brien 35). this nust of happened aroutd this time because Ted Lavender was still alive to be able to witness it. also because Tim O'Brien was there also.
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"On April 16, when Lee Strunk drew the number 17" (O'Brien 10). "Right then Ted Lavender was shot in the head on his way back from peeing" (O'Brien 12).
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"I remember it was still dark when Kiowa shook me awake for the final watch" (O'Brien 126). "I had already thrown the grenade before telling myself to throw it" (O'Brien 127).
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"When I got back to Alpha Company twenty-six days later, in mid-December, Rat Kiley had been wounded and shipped off to Japan (O'Brien 181).
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"The dentist couldn't find any problem, but Lemon kept insisting, so the man finally shrugged a shot in the Novocain and yanked out a perfectly good tooth" (O'Brien 84). This is relevant because it shows how Curt Lemon cares to much about what people think of him. He gets his tooth pulled to prove to the others that he isnt scared of the dentist.
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"Norman Bowker and Kiowa and Dave Jensen were dozing" (O'Brien 67). this quote shows us that this event occurs before Kiowa's death.
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"He shot it twice in the flanks. It wasn't to kill; it was to hurt" (O'Brien 75).
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"in October the monsoons began and the whole situation changed" (O'Brien 136). "He pulled hard but Kiowa was gone" (O'Brien 143).
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"When I got back to Alpha Company twenty-six days later, in mid-December, Rat Kiley had been wounded and shipped off to Japan" (O'Brien 181). Since O'Brien took about 26 days to heal, we can guess that this happened 26 days before mid december.
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"I spent a month flat on my stomach" (O'Brien 181). "I guess the higher-ups decided I'd been shot enough. At the end of December, when I was released from the 91st Evac hospital, they transfered me over to Headquarters Company" (O'Brien 182).
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The war between Vietnam and the United States ends. United States is forced to retreat and the Viet Cong are victorious.
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"Speaking of Courage was written in 1975 at the suggestion of Norman Bowker, who three years later hanged himself in the locker room of a YMCA in his hometown in central Iowa" (O'Brien 149).
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"I returned with my daughter to Vietnam" (O'Brien 173). "Amazing, I thought. Twenty years" (O'Brien 173).
