Plot summary
The book is divided into three sections, written in completely different styles of prose, and follows James T. "Joker" Davis through his enlistment in the United States Marine Corps and deployment to Vietnam.
Joker and his fellow Marines refer to military personnel in various ways. A "short" service-member, or "short-timer", is one who is approaching the end of his tour of duty in Vietnam, described in the novel as 385 days for Marines and 365 days for members of other armed services. "Lifers" are distinguished not necessarily by their length of time served, but rather by their attitude toward the lower ranks. (Joker describes the distinction as follows: "A lifer is anybody who abuses authority he doesn't deserve to have. There are plenty of civilian lifers.") Finally, the term "poges" (an alternative spelling for the slang term "pogues") is short for "Persons Other than Grunts"—Marines who fill non-combat roles such as cooks, clerks, and mechanics. Poges are a favorite target of the front-line troops' derision, and vice versa.
"The Spirit of the Bayonet"
During Joker's days in recruit training at Parris Island, a drill instructor, Gunnery Sergeant Gerheim, sadistically breaks the men's spirits and then rebuilds them as heartless killers. Here, Joker befriends two recruits nicknamed "Cowboy" and "Gomer Pyle". The latter, whose real name is Leonard Pratt, earns the wrath of both Gerheim and the rest of the platoon through his ineptitude and weak character. Though he eventually shows great improvement and wins honors at graduation, the constant abuse unbalances his mind. In a final act of madness, he kills Gerheim and then himself in front of the whole platoon.
"Body Count"
In 1968, during a tour of duty in Vietnam, Joker runs across Cowboy in Da Nang. The two are now, respectively, a war correspondent for the Marines and the assistant leader of the Lusthog Squad. As the Tet Offensive begins, Joker is dispatched to Phu Bai with his photographer, Rafter Man. Here, Joker unwillingly accepts a promotion from corporal to sergeant, and the two journalists travel to Huế to cover the enemy's wartime atrocities and meet Cowboy again. During a battle, Joker is knocked unconscious by a concussion blast and experiences a psychedelic dream sequence. When he comes to several hours later, he learns that the platoon commander was killed by a friendly grenade, and the squad leader went insane and was killed by North Vietnamese Army troops while attacking one of their positions with a BB gun. Now under Cowboy's command, the men battle a sniper who has killed one Lusthog Marine and an entire second squad; the battle ends with Rafter Man's first confirmed kill and Cowboy being wounded slightly. As Joker and Rafter Man start back to Phu Bai, Rafter Man panics and dashes into the path of an oncoming tank, which fatally crushes him. Joker is reassigned to Cowboy's squad as a rifleman, as punishment for wearing an unauthorized peace button on his uniform.
"Grunts"
Now stationed at Khe Sanh with Cowboy's squad, Joker accompanies them on a patrol through the surrounding jungle. They encounter another sniper here, who wounds three of the men several times. After the company commander goes insane and starts babbling nonsense over the radio, Cowboy decides to pull the squad back and retreat, rather than sacrifice everyone trying to save the wounded men. Animal Mother, the squad's M60 machine gunner, threatens Cowboy's life and refuses to retreat. Promoting Joker to squad leader, Cowboy runs in with his pistol and kills each victim with a shot to the head. He is mortally wounded in the process, and before he can kill himself, the sniper shoots him through the hand. Realizing his duty to Cowboy and the squad, Joker kills Cowboy and leads the rest of the men away.
Critical reception
Kirkus Reviews called The Short-Timers "a terse spitball of a book, fine and real and terrifying, that marks a real advance in Vietnam war literature." [5] Marc Leepson of The Washington Post wrote: "There is a vivid description of Hue in the aftermath of the 1968 Tet offensive and a grimly realistic portrayal of Marines under siege at Khesanh. Hasford also includes the obligatory scenes of search-and-destroy jungle patrols, unexpected fire fights, and random episodes of gratuitous violence, including maiming, fragging and raping. All this has been presented in much better literary and dramatic terms elsewhere." [6]
Availability
According to the Gustav Hasford website maintained by Hasford's cousin Jason Aaron, The Short-Timers, [7] The Phantom Blooper: A Novel of Vietnam , [8] and Hasford's third and last completed book, a noir detective novel titled A Gypsy Good Time (1992), [9] [10] are currently out of print. The texts of the two war novels and an excerpt of A Gypsy Good Time were publicly available at the web-site for at least a decade, [11] but the site has since been redesigned, and Aaron, who manages the site, has stated he "likely won't be reposting the novel" there as he does not own the rights. [12]
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