Today in class we talked about how O'Brien's daughter, Kathleen, acts as a metaphor. Professor Schwartz mentioned how her "field trip" to Vietnam with her father was something too old for her. Similarly, Timmy (young version of O'Brien) goes to see the movie The Man Who Never Was, which was about WWII. This is the second time we see kids doing something too old for them.
This got me thinking that this emphasizes how young the boys in the war are. For them, the war is something too old for them. The kids doing and seeing things that are beyond their age range represents the youth of the soldiers. As Azar says "I'm just a boy." Even O'Brien (the character, not author) believed himself to be too young to be drafted to Vietnam. It seems to be a reoccurring point that O'Brien (the author, not the character) brings up.
great post, Alden! I think you have hit the proverbial nail on its head with your idea that both the field trip and the move mimic the 'having to do grown up things' motif of 18-25 year olds going to war.
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