Vietnam War Book Report

Downs, Fredrick. The Killing Zone: My Life in the Vietnam War. 1993. W. W. Norton
Reason: I chose this book honestly because it had the best cover and the best summery on the back. It’s setting is in Vietnam during the “Second Indochina War”. Long story short- The Killing Zone tells the story of the platoon of Delta One-six, capturing what it meant to face lethal danger, to follow orders, and to search for the conviction and then the hope that this war was worth the sacrifice. The mood is very indifferent/apathetic. The soldiers really didn’t want to be there, in combat. This book is very raw and uncensored.
Plot: This book is just basically a summery of the war. It is very, very non-controversial in my eyes. As it just states the obvious and what happened. It doesn’t so much give opinion about the things that had happened- it just simply states the events that occurred. Its basically how the platoon of Delta One-six, captured what it meant to face fatal danger, to follow orders, and to search for the conviction and then the hope that this war was worth the sacrifice. The really were confused about the war back then- as they didn’t know if it was pointless or not. After the documentary and everything I can definitely conclude that this war was a pointless one. The main character, Fredrick, was in infantry lieutent. His body actually ended up being mangled pretty badly. Honestly, it’s pretty gory more than anything and tells how a lot of people got killed during these times,. This is not something I really like to go in context about. Reading it, the descriptive details almost made me throw up he arrived in Vietnam in August 1967. his job was the US Army and was a combat infantry platoon leader. His job was to lead a platoon of infantrymen into combat patrols and they worked up in, he was part of the fourth division, third brigade, first is fourteenth infantry. And, they worked up in what they call Icorps, which is the northern part of South Vietnam. And, they worked along the coast and Duck Fo, Chu Li, Kam Kee, worked back up in the central highlands. In the central highlands, they fought the North Vietnamese Army, generally, and then down in the coast they fought the “Vietcong” ha. Two different types of fighting entirely. And, in January 11th, 1968, while they were on a combat patrol in the Chu Li area of near Kam Kee, and I stepped on a Bouncing Betty landmine. And that is how his body got all gross, as described in the book :/
Character: The main character, and by far the most interesting, would be Fredrick. He is actually a very smart man and is just out of high school when the story begins. As most people in the war he is drafted. He is unhappy about this but makes the best out of it. He grows as person and soon becomes pretty mangled and bloody in the war. 
Evaluation: I would suggest this book to anyone looking to get a honest account of the war. It is very raw and I really regret choosing this. It made up the war to be bad- but I mean- what war is actually good?
This easily relates to real life because it actually happened. I am very indifferent towards the war after reading this.
Author: The Authors name is Fredrick Downs. Basically to get an accurate account of him read the plot, as it is surprisingly his life. That really shocked me. he has no other books- as this is just an autobiography of the war.