Loyalty and Camaraderie Theme Analysis

Beginning with his fantasy of the Marine Corps as they relate to “Beowulf’s warriors,” Philip Caputo expresses a vision of life in the Marines as one that would reinforce male bonds. Part of this desire is likely due to Caputo’s feeling of rootlessness in his youth—belonging neither to Westchester, Illinois nor to collegiate life. The enforced brotherhood between marines, which brings together young men of different races and backgrounds, provides Caputo with connection. This loyalty also explains why many men remained committed to a war effort some knew would be fruitless: they simply could not abandon their comrades-in-arms. The memoir illustrates how loyalty and camaraderie were key to the effort in Vietnam and to Caputo’s own well-being.

Caputo observes early in his career how the Marines form a unique bond due to the unique conditions of the war. While Caputo notices that even though the Vietnam War brings out the most beastly traits in some soldiers, it also enforces fraternity and love among men who might have been afraid to demonstrate such emotion in normal circumstances. Caputo goes with Corporal Parker to the division field hospital to visit PFC Esposito. Esposito is seriously ill but “regrets having to leave the battalion and Parker, who has been his buddy since boot camp.” Esposito’s dismissal of the seriousness of his illness in favor of the well-being of the Marines reveals the extent of his commitment. By downplaying the importance of his own health over that of the organization, he expresses an understanding of himself as less of an individual and more a part of a collective body. Although this ironically goes against the grain of the American value of individualism, it is compatible with the military’s enforcement of loyalty to the organization and to other soldiers as imperative to the military’s functioning.

Caputo feels slightly embarrassed listening in on the conversation between Parker and Esposito, who seem to him like “two lovers who are about to be separated.” Parker’s “eyes are damp” and “his voice is cracking with emotion.” This display differs from social codes for men at the time, which encouraged them to mask their emotions from each other. Caputo reveals the irony of war, which is a very masculine world, but also one in which expressions of friendship are more intimate because of the heightened levels of danger and trauma involved.

Caputo experiences this kind of intimate friendship for himself with First Lieutenant Walter Neville Levy. Levy is killed in action after trying to save a corpsman, “not knowing that the man was beyond saving.” The portrait that Caputo paints of Levy is of a man committed to self-sacrifice, as well as that of a long-lost brother whose qualities complement those of Caputo, while also encouraging him to strive to be a better version of himself. Caputo recalls how he “always liked Levy and sometimes envied him.” He reveals the contrasts in their personalities and backgrounds—Caputo is “hot-tempered and impulsive” while Levy is “quietly deliberate”; Levy’s family is “well-off” while Caputo’s “recently struggled out of the working class.” Finally, Levy joins the Marines out of patriotism and has “no personal ambition,” while Caputo’s reasons are “mostly personal.” Caputo portrays Levy as a more mature version of himself, someone who has acquired the better character that Caputo still seeks to attain. Levy joins the Marines not to give himself a sense of identity, but because he perceives it as the right thing to do. Caputo suggests that Levy’s loyalty to the institution and its values surpasses his own, for he seems to give himself to the institution without expecting anything in return.

It is this commitment to self-sacrifice which causes Levy’s death. Caputo relates Levy’s rescue of the dead corpsman to the Marines’ commitment never to leave their “wounded on the battlefield,” but to bring them “out of danger and into safety, even if [they] had to risk their own lives to do it.” This standard expectation is a testament to the Marines’ unconditional loyalty to each other, which is both personal, given the relationships that they build with each other, as well as institutional.