A Little Reminder of Home

In the stories “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” and “Stockings”, we are able to see how the role female companionship plays into a soldier’s time in the war. In “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”, Mark Fossie decides to “import” his girlfriend, Mary Anne, oversees to the base he is stationed at in Vietnam. Initially, Fossie believed this to be a great idea because he could have the love of his life with him everyday. Unfortunately, in Fossie’s case, things take a turn for the worse. Mary Anne allows herself to be consumed by the war and ends up enjoying her time there. She feels freed by the environment around her and decides to run away from Fossie and join the secretive Green Berets and their seemingly shady doings.

To start, as Selena mentioned in class, the soldiers use the word “import” when they are referring to the idea of bringing girls over to the base to keep them company. My interpretation was that the soldiers were going to bring over prostitutes from Saigon to “spice things up” (88). Although all the men enjoyed the thought, plans were not carried through, except with Mark Fossie. Fossie decides to “import” his girlfriend over to Vietnam so he can have his high school sweetheart by his side for a little while so he can fill the void of female companionship that he and the other soldiers lack in the war environment. But, when he decided to “import” Mary Anne, Fossie assumed that she would stay his high school sweetheart. He didn’t foresee her actually enjoying her time and becoming obsessed with the environment. By living and embracing the Vietnam atmosphere, Mary Anne’s appearance and personality seemingly completely changes, leaving Fossie unable to accept the new Mary Anne as she slips deeper and deeper into the military lifestyle. In essence, since Fossie wasn’t able accept the “new” Mary Anne when she began to change, I think their relationship was doomed from the start. Fossie was in love with the Mary Anne of his childhood, not the woman she would eventually become. Although he first imported her, thinking she would stay the same and would provide him with some female companionship in this sausage fest base, he didn’t (and practically couldn’t have) predicted the possibility of her liking it there and adapting to the environment.

This is contrasted with the storyline in “Stockings”, where we learn of Henry Dobbins’ ritual of “wrapping his girlfriend’s pantyhose around his neck before heading out on ambush” (111). He claims it gives him the magic touch when he heads off to combat. Ironically, as ridiculous as that seems, Dobbins seems to be surviving any and every obstacle thrown at him on the battlefield. According to Dobbins, his ritual is what keeps him alive. “He liked putting his nose into the nylon and breathing in the scent of his girlfriend’s body; he like the memories this inspired...the stockings were a talisman. They kept him safe. They gave access to a spiritual world” (111-112). The miraculous luck Dobbins apparently gets from these old pair of panties that his girlfriend wore stuns the platoon and causes them to rethink their beliefs because “you don’t dispute facts” (112) and the fact was, Dobbins was invincible.

But, things take an interesting turn when Dobbins’ girlfriend breaks up with him. It was assumed that he would throw away the panties and would become a soldier with no magic powers. But, he rather responds with “No sweat, the magic doesn’t go away” (112). Now, this response could be taken in two ways. Option A is that he is a little nervous if the magic will work or not, but he’s trying to reassure himself that it will work so he doesn’t freak out. Option B is that the magic doesn’t go away with the woman because it doesn’t completely represent her. The stockings rather represent his home and the female companionship he has when he’s there. (It’s quite scandalous if the female companionship isn’t necessarily connected to his girlfriend. Just saying). In any case, whether it’s Option A or B, we don’t know. O’Brien specifically leaves us standing and left to wait and see if the magic will really work or not. Will he live? Will his magic luck finally wear off? In the end, we have no clue. Thanks O’Brien.

So, in the end, it’s obvious that, amongst the platoon and other soldiers fighting in the war, female companionship seems to play a huge role in their lives. In a sense, the idea of a female with them during the war gives them comfort because it allows them to connect with the home they miss so dearly. Even with Fossie, he finds that he is in love with the old Mary Anne, the one he met back home, not the one who has become submerged in the war environment. Women seem to be the way that some of these soldiers connect with home, even if they are 8,500 miles away.