The Phantom Blooper

The Phantom Blooper: A Novel of Vietnam is a 1990 novel written by Gustav Hasford[1] and the sequel to The Short-Timers (1979).[2] It continues to follow James T. "Joker" Davis through his Vietnam odyssey. The book was supposed to be the second of a "Vietnam Trilogy", but Hasford died before writing the third installment.[3]

The Phantom Blooper
First edition hardback cover
AuthorGustav Hasford
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreAutobiographical, War novel
PublisherBantam Dell
Publication date
Feb 1990
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN0-553-05718-9
OCLC20352730
813/.54 20
LC ClassPS3558.A7233 P45 1990
Preceded byThe Short-Timers 

Plot

The novel begins sometime after The Short-Timers leaves off and is divided into three parts.

"The Winter Soldiers"

Having been demoted from Sergeant to Private, Joker is still at the Khe Sanh base, which is about to be abandoned by American Marines after withstanding an extended siege by the North Vietnamese Army. He believes most of his previous squad-mates are dead, even the seemingly indestructible Animal Mother. Joker blames their deaths on "The Phantom Blooper": an elusive enemy, supposedly American and armed with an M79 grenade launcher, who fights alongside the Viet Cong against his countrymen.

Joker is still haunted by the memory of his friend Cowboy, who had been wounded in a sniper ambush and whom Joker mercy-killed in order to keep the rest of their squad from being cut down. As a result, Joker's behavior has become increasingly erratic and violent. He sets up one of his squad-mates to be killed in an attempt to draw the Phantom Blooper out of hiding, then forces an inattentive Marine on guard duty to hold a live hand grenade with the pin out. Later, as the Viet Cong attempt to overrun the base, Joker splits his platoon sergeant's tongue with a straight razor.

The Marines turn back the attack, suffering heavy losses in the process. The next night, Joker ventures out in search of the Phantom Blooper, but is wounded by friendly fire and captured by the enemy.

"Travels with Charlie"

Joker has been living and working in a small Viet Cong village for over a year since his capture, waiting for a chance to escape. He has not been tortured or sent to a POW camp, and his captors have begun to trust him to some degree. In Joker's mind, his best chance is to fool them into believing he has converted to their cause, to accompany them on an attack against an American position, and then to make his escape when the shooting starts. As time passes, however, he begins to side increasingly with the Viet Cong, seeing them – the people he has been trained to kill – as ordinary human beings just like himself. When a team of Army soldiers arrives to rescue him, he is wounded in the ensuing firefight but manages to shoot down one of their choppers with a discarded M79 before passing out and being evacuated from the area.

"The Proud Flesh"

Joker is sent to Yokosuka Naval Hospital in Japan for medical treatment and psychological counseling. He quickly makes it clear that he does not regret any of his actions as a Viet Cong captive, and he expresses his disgust and outrage at having been sent by his country to fight in a futile war. Despite initial threats of a court-martial for treason, he is eventually given a Section 8 discharge and sent home to the United States.

Upon arriving in California, Joker finds that his squad radioman, Donlon, is alive, attending college, and protesting the war. He also learns that Animal Mother was captured by the Viet Cong, but escaped from a POW camp and has since returned to active duty. Joker and Donlon attend a demonstration that is quickly and forcefully broken up by the police, but Joker manages to slip away with the help of an ex-Marine cop who served with him at Khe Sanh. Next, Joker travels to Cowboy's home in Kansas, and has a brief and uneasy meeting with Cowboy's parents. Their son's body was never recovered from the jungle, and Joker chooses not to tell them that he mercy-killed Cowboy. Finally, Joker reaches his family's farm in Alabama, all the while feeling a growing disillusionment with the war and America. Deciding there is nothing left for him in the United States, and realizing that he has become the Phantom Blooper he was once obsessed with stopping, he sets out to return to Vietnam and his life among the Viet Cong villagers.

Characters

James T. "Joker" Davis

The main character of the novel, he's seen to be more apathetic and sociopathic than his first appearance in "The Short-Timers", as he orders lights to be shone on "The Kid From Brooklyn" while The Kid is in no mans land and splits the tongue of his sergeant, "Beaver Cleaver". After getting captured during a battle at Khe Sanh, he becomes a captive at a Vietnamese village. While there, he starts to sympathize with the locals (though this could be a form of Stockholm syndrome) and starts to actively work against the US government. When soldiers come to the village to help him, he ends up shooting down a helicopter before being wounded and passing out. While at a military hospital, he's given a section 8 discharge before being sent back to California. While there, he meets up with Donlon and his wife, Murphy. They attend an anti-war protest outside a federal building and Donlon tries to introduce Joker to the crowd, but Joker only ends up making the crowd angry after telling them that they can't stop the war. When the police show up, Joker gets into a fight with a few of them after they knock out Donlon. He's rescued by his squad-mate Thunder, and they drive to a bar and chat until Donlon is sent to a hospital after being released on bail. After being driven to the hospital to see Donlon, he gets driven to the airport to see Cowboy's family. After a very awkward meeting with Cowboy's family and his own, he sets off to return Vietnam to live among the villagers again.

Donlon

A prominent character in "The Short-Timers", he first appears after Joker is discharged from the marines. He picks Joker up from a bar called "The Oar House bar" with his wife, Murphy, and takes Joker to his house to sleep. During breakfast the next morning, he introduces Joker to his wife Murphy, a hippie. On the car ride to an anti-war protest held infront of a federal building, he reveals to Joker that he's apart of the VVAW (the Vietnam Veterans Against the War). He also tells Joker about what happened to everybody else in their squad. Once they arrive at the rally, Donlon tries to introduce Joker to the audience, but Joker ends up only making them mad. When the police show up, Donlon tries to protect a group of crippled veterans from the riot police, but gets hit in the eye and knocked unconscious. He gets arrested and is later put on bail by lawyers working for the VVAW. He's last seen in a hospital bed when Joker goes to visit him. He isn't able to say anything due to him being drugged up with pain killers and half of his face is covered with bandages, a styrofoam cup covering his eye. Before leaving, Joker holds his hand and says "I wish you a lifetime of cold L-Zs."

"Daddy D.A."

Joker's squadmate and best friend, he's described as having a square chin, steel grey hair, and a neatly groomed moustache. He's first seen in the book looking down at Joker after the latter was attacked and knocked down by a NVA soldier. He has a beer with Joker after the battle and later goes to his conex box after drinking. He wakes up Joker by dry firing his 45. pistol into his mouth, practicing killing himself, and goes on to describe how he's afraid of dying alone and even more afraid of going back to America. He recalls with Joker when both of them were on a convoy that was attacked by a child bomber and that Daddy D.A. had to shoot the kid. He's last seen in his conex box before the NVA attacks Khe Sanh. The last time he's mentioned is by Donlon, who says that Daddy D.A. is currently working as a mercenary for the selous scouts in Africa somewhere, and that he's an alcoholic. Since all the nicknames given to the soldiers pertain to either their personality or personal life, it's more than likely that Daddy D.A. has or had a father that worked as a district attorney.

"The Kid From Brooklyn"

One of Jokers squadmates, a Lance Corporal, he became a dedicated stamp collector after getting a black stamp collector book from Tokyo while pulling R&R in Japan. This, eventually, proves to be his undoing, as while searching for stamps in no man's land, Joker requests lights be shined on him. He gets his head blown off by an enemy sniper due to his silhouette giving him away, and is described by the Joker as doing "...a very bad impression of John Kennedy campaigning in Dallas..."

"Thunder"

One of Jokers squadmates and friends, he's later mentioned by Donlon as being a cop for the LAPD and serving as a star sniper for a SWAT team. During an anti-war demonstration, Joker gets into a fight with a few cops and is pulled away by Thunder after getting arrested. He drives Joker to the hospital to see Donlon and his wife, Murphy. He's last mentioned as having driven Joker to the airport.

Reception

This sequel made less of an impact than The Short-Timers (1979), which was the basis for the film Full Metal Jacket (1987). (Some dialogue from The Phantom Blooper is also present in Full Metal Jacket.) Nonetheless, The Phantom Blooper was highly regarded by reviewers.[4] Before Hasford died in 1993, he had planned to continue Joker's story in a third novel.[5]

Availability

According to the Official Gustav Hasford Website maintained by Hasford's cousin, Jason Aaron, The Short-Timers,[6] The Phantom Blooper: A Novel of Vietnam,[7] and Hasford's third and last completed book, a noir detective novel titled A Gypsy Good Time (1992),[8][9] 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 website for at least a decade,[10] but the site has since been redesigned, and Aaron, who manages the site, has stated he "likely won't be reposting the novel" there.[11]

References
  1. Hasford, Gustav (January 1, 1990). The Phantom Blooper: A Novel of Vietnam (1st ed.). Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0553057188.
  2. Salzberg, Charles (1990). "IN SHORT; FICTION: THE PHANTOM BLOOPER. By Gustav Hasford. (Bantam, $17.95.)". The New York Times. ISBN 0553057189.
  3. Ross, Matthew Samuel (2010). "An Examination of the life and work of Gustav Hasford, Paper 236". UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. doi:10.34917/1449240.
  4. Sanford, Jason (6 October 2006). "Reviving Gustav Hasford". StorySouth. Retrieved 2007-02-14.
  5. Ross, Matthew Samuel (2010). "An Examination of the life and work of Gustav Hasford, Paper 236". UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. doi:10.34917/1449240.
  6. Hasford, Gustav (1979). The Short-Timers (1st (hard cover) ed.). Harper & Rowe. ISBN 978-0060117825. Archived from the original on 2012-11-23.
  7. Hasford, Gustav (January 1, 1990). The Phantom Blooper (1st (hard cover) ed.). Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0553057188.
  8. Hasford, Gustav (March 1992). A Gypsy Good Time (First (paperback) ed.). Washington Square Press. ISBN 978-0671729172.
  9. "Web page dedicated to A Gypsy Good Time". Gustav Hasford's official website. Archived from the original on July 28, 2012.
  10. "Original version". Gustav Hasford home page, with the full text of The Short-Timers and The Phantom Blooper novels included. Archived from the original on January 31, 2011.
  11. Jason Aaron (January 2013). "About This Site". GustavHasford.com. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
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