Times of change- 2 readings due Wed.

Jack Smith by Ron Steinman
9 pages - complete by Wednesday May 23

What challenges does Jack Smith face as a soldier in Vietnam? (a bulleted list is fine)
-napalm
-bombs
-booby traps
-crossfire
-sickness
-heat
-dying friends
-animals
-recon by fire
-mines

How does Smith’s attitude toward war change?
It changes when they are ambushed at the LZ. His group was mowed down by machine guns behind ant hills. Then when he is getting rescued, another group is going around looking for wounded VC soldiers to kill. He thinks that it is cynical and is angry at them. This is different than when he first volunteered and was in training, before he expirienced real combat.

I Feel Like I’m Fixing To Die Rag by Joe McDonald
2 pages - complete by Wednesday May 23

This song by Country Joe and the Fish became one of the first protest songs of the Vietnam Era. Read the lyrics to the song, and then respond to the following:

What is the song asking the “big strong men to do”?
To pick up a gun and volunteer for the army.
… the “generals” to do?
to kill the VC and do it fast.
… “Wall Street” to do?
To make supplies to support the war.
… “mothers” to do?
to send their boys to vietnam.
Write down four specific lines from the song that display sarcasm, cynicism, or anti-war sentiment.
-"Whoopee! we're all gonna die"
-"He (uncle sam) got himself in a terrible jam"
-"to have your boy come home in a box"
-"they drop it on the viet cong"