Paper # 4 Thoughts and Ideas

So I have decided the topic of my paper is going to be the general lack of relation and overall disconnect between the people of the United States, personified by O'Brien's recount, and the leadership and government, embodied by the commanding officers and orders O'Brien comments on in the novel If I Die In A Combat Zone. There are numerous examples to support this, from a handful of chapters including Beginning, Escape, Alpha Company, Centurion, and the most brutally objective Step Lightly. Posted below is my introductory paragraph, which I think is pretty good. What I would really appreciate however, is how can I create 6 pages out of this? How should I go about the ensuing paragraphs? I am not sure how to do that right now and I feel I would just "mess it up" as of right now. Help would be most appreciated.

Sam Blackman

Tim O’Brien’s If I Die in a Combat Zone, box me up and ship me home, Delivers a powerful example of the disconnect between soldier and leader present throughout the entire Vietnam military campaign. The lack of incontrovertible evidence calling for American men to go to war created a rift between those who were on the front lines, facing the real danger of dieing and those at the top echelon of command, dictating orders objectively according to the government’s grand scheme regardless of the efficiency or the human cost. This is made evident by O’Brien and his blunt tools of language- the use of simple adjectives and sentences full of irony convey to the reader his overwhelming disdain for the Vietnam war, the stupidity of his commanding officers (particularly the lieutenants after Johansen) and the unfortunate effect a draft army in a distant war has on drawing a majority of dull-witted, ignorant men with little to lose.