Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Story 1: “Redeployment”
Story 2: “Frago”
Story 3: “After Action Report”
Story 4: “Bodies”
Story 5: “OIF”
Story 6: “Money As a Weapons System”
Story 7: “In Vietnam They Had Whores”
Story 8: “Prayer in the Furnace”
Story 9: “Psychological Operations”
Story 10: “War Stories”
Story 11: “Unless It’s a Sucking Chest Wound”
Story 12: “Ten Kliks South”
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaStory 5: “OIF”Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Story 5 Summary: “OIF”
A narrator tells the story of traveling with a convoy when it is hit with an IED. Just before the explosion, he and a friend joke that it would be exciting to hit an IED as long as no one is killed. The Private First Class (PFC) in his unit is killed, and the narrator is awarded a NAM: Navy Achievement Medal. When he returns home, he decides to redeploy and leave his girlfriend behind. He tells himself that this time when he goes back, he will be terrified in the convoys, and he will remember his friend.
“OIF” Analysis
“OIF” is the briefest story in Redeployment and is heavily laden with military acronyms and jargon. The final paragraph contains the acronyms “HMMWV,” “5 PX,” “SITREP,” “KIA,” and “WIA.” The narrator earns an award known as a NAM without giving an explanation of what it stands for or why he receives it. Even when he expresses survivor’s guilt and vows to be more afraid and vigilant on his next deployment, he does so in a way that only another Marine would understand. The author shows the Marine Corp as an insular group that speaks its own language. Much of the book presents the difficulties that veterans have communicating with their civilian friends and families.
