The individual experiences of soldiers during the Vietnam War are the basis of some excellent books, whether the nonfiction combat memoir, combat experiences as the basis for fiction or the recollections of soldiers who deserted and went to Canada. With his novel Get Out of the Way, Daniel Dinges presents a different perspective, that of a young man trying to use the draft to avoid Vietnam. Yet an untraditional perspective alone can't ensure success with readers.
Although he's been relying on student deferments, Tom Daniels, the novel's protagonist, learns there are 20 support personnel, 10 stateside, for every combat soldier in Vietnam. He also discovers most of the draftees in combat are 18 and with no more than a high school diploma while he is about to turn 21 and has two years of college. He decides that those factors, his wits and good fortune may be enough to avoid carrying a rifle in Vietnam. In December 1967 he gives up his deferment and we follow him as he pursues that goal at the same time troop strength in Vietnam is climbing toward its peak.
One of the biggest problems, whether intended or not, is that the book seems to reflect what one might imagine to be the languor of the stateside military base, especially for someone assigned to support duty. This isn't because we demand the danger or uncertainty of a combat zone or that we are comparing the story to those set in a combat zone. It's because there actually isn't a lot to engross us, whether in basic training, on military assignment or in the details of Daniels' life prior to the military. The result is a pallid feel that is exacerbated by a seemingly flat and detached tone. At times, Get Out of the Way has the resonance of a vanity press-quality memoir cast in the guise of a novel.
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