Tim O'Brien was born on October 1, 1946 in Austin, which is a small town in Minnesota and grew up in Worthington (About Tim O’Brien, Illyria.com). He was very into reading when he was a child and loved to do magic tricks. His parents were reading eccentrics, as his father was on the local library board and his mother was a second grade teacher. He was a very all-American kid and spent his childhood on little league baseball teams, and later, on jobs. O’Brien was then drafted for military service in 1968, two weeks after graduating from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. He earned his bachelor’s degree in government and politics. O’Brien was very opposed to war and did not keep it hidden (Tim O’Brien Biography, CliffsNotes.com). …show more content…
He spent his summer after his graduation working in a meatpacking plant. He wrote about his anxiety and grief every night on typewritten paper. He often thought about escaping to Canada. He stayed due to what he thought was pressure from his community to let go of his thoughts about the war and to go to war instead. He was sent to Army basic training at Fort Lewis, Washington on August 14, 1968. He was then assigned to advanced individual training and soon was put right in Vietnam, south of a place called Chu Lai. He was a regular foot soldier, doing common things such as a rifleman and operating the radio telephone. He became the rank of sergeant extremely fast (Tim O’Brien Biography,