A Rumor of War

A Rumor of War

by

Philip Caputo

AWOL Term Analysis

Absent Without Leave.

AWOL Quotes in A Rumor of War

The A Rumor of War quotes below are all either spoken by AWOL or refer to AWOL. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Heroism and Identity Theme Icon
).
Chapter Fourteen Quotes

I would be deserting them, my friends. That was the real crime a deserter committed: he ran out on his friends. And perhaps that was why, in spite of everything, we fought as hard as we did. We had no other choice. Desertion was unthinkable. Each of us fought for himself and for the men beside him. The only way out of Vietnam, besides death or wounds, was to fight your way out. We fought to live. But it was pleasant to toy with the idea of desertion, to pretend I had a choice.

Related Characters: Philip Caputo (speaker), Captain Neal
Page Number: 247
Explanation and Analysis:
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AWOL Term Timeline in A Rumor of War

The timeline below shows where the term AWOL appears in A Rumor of War. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter One
Heroism and Identity Theme Icon
War and Disillusionment Theme Icon
...which commemorates the Corps’ origins in a Philadelphia tavern on November 10, 1775. Caputo goes AWOL from Quantico Naval Hospital, where he is recovering from mononucleosis, to attend the celebration. He... (full context)