Throughout American history, our military has been made up of very diverse people. From rich to poor, strong to weak, with all sorts of race and religions, we see this organization that fights and wins wars. They hold the frontlines, protecting this country, and can arguably be seen as the muscle of the United States. The people in the military are also seen as heroes, murderers and many things, but with politics and opinions set aside, I want to take this time to analyze the military with a literary viewpoint. I plan to break down the logistics of military communication, and show how they form a discourse community.…
In this booklet I am trying to convey to my readers some of the experiences, sights and emotions, which have been my lot to pass through, during the time I was sergeant in the Australian Infantry.…
Effect: hyperbole creates a sense of his belonging in this setting as he chooses to stay within its boundaries. His experience of displacement (after war) has led to his chosen state of positive isolation in a secure place (his comfort zone)…
Phil Klay’s Redeployment tells the stories of different American Veterans experiences as they fought in Iraq and as they attempt to return to a “normal” civilian lifestyle. Each of these soldiers faces the realities of war that cause them to change the way they see the world and how they fit into it. As they return home and begin to interact with people outside of the war, Klay describes the difficulties they face as they try to adjust to a “normal” life after months of deployment. Klay bring awareness to the stories of these veterans as they return home as a means to critique society’s lack of understanding on the struggles of veterans as they transition back into civilian lives.…
Facing fear, danger, or adversity in the physical or moral realm shapes a person’s identity and core values and often influences the psychological effects of a person. Courage, bravery, and responsibility often define the results of fear relative to the situation a person has overcome or failed. Military personnel experience a substantial amount of diverse situations which forces dynamic impacts of emotions with fear and courage the prime focus on the spectrum. To include war in the lives of military society adds an intense stress to address courage and fear in order for self-preservation of mind in those affected. In Tim Obrien’s If I Die in a Combat Zone, fear and courage are often relayed as a constant struggle frequently pushing the soldier’s…
This book embodies all of the facets that go along with love and death, during a volatile time of war. O 'Brien captures the theme of emotional conflict and how strongly it affects soldiers in a brilliant way. By correlating mundane goods with intangibles like feelings and emotion, he successfully points out all of the angles of war that the lay person generally cannot comprehend. He compels the reader to understand not just the daily grind of war, but how the little things can bring important things in life into perspective. He digs under the surface of the tangible items to demonstrate a much greater meaning to these mens lives. In essence, the soldiers are defined by the things they…
What he is trying to say is that when the war ends. Those that served on the front lines were so brutally traumatized that they no longer fit in with society.…
Soldiers coming home from war often have to overcome adversity when dealing with their inability to integrate back into their families and society, as well as coping with the loss of innocence.…
Being himself in the war, as most American young men at the time, Mailer gives a arguably more accurate depiction of the experiences of war and the intense level of masculinity which is thus pushed to the forefront of most conflict between men. One of these themes is the dehumanization of soldiers. The soldiers are continuously referred to as machines within the novel. At one point, Mailer describes this dehumanization stating, “When a man was harnessed into a pack and web belt and carried a rifle and two bandoliers and several grenades, a bayonet and a helmet, he felt as if he had a tourniquet over both shoulders and across his chest. It was hard to breathe and his limbs kept falling asleep.”[4]:24 Thus, in this instance, the soldier is losing grasp of his bodily functions and simply going through the motions of being a “soldier”.…
The emotional burdens of a soldier are very high. During the war they develop pride and reputation not to be afraid and if they do not to show it. If they are to show it then it can be a weakness for the enemy to exploit or even for a cruel friendly to be rude upon. Also being away from their family makes them long for them and miss their loved ones. After the war it doesn’t get much better either, the men that survive it begin to carry guilt, grief, and confusion. They are always trying to come to terms with all that happened in the war through storytelling but this does not always work.…
The want to serve one's country is a powerful theme around the world. Men and women from countries all around the world risk their lives to ensure the safety and protection of their country. Enlisting in one’s armed forces brings a strong sense of camaraderie and companionship to the soldiers, as they mostly stick with the same people they went to training with. There are also long lasting effects of going to war, such as PTSD, amputations, and various health conditions. One of the biggest things about enlisting is the emotional stress it puts on people’s loved ones. All of these points are evidenced time and time again in Trish Wood’s book, “ What Was Asked of Us” as it tells the accounts and stories of American men and women who fought in the Iraq war.…
I am a soldier in the war. I’m sorry for not telling you that I was joining the army but didn’t want to get your hopes up if something happened to me. Life as a soldier was difficult because you had small rations and a lot of people died from scared food and products that were already spoiled. I remember my Sargent telling me to be careful out there in the trenches because enemy forces could rush you at any time and kill you from behind. I will never forget the moment when our dugout was so muddy that we were camouflaging with the mud because of the rain. One side of the barbed wire was a ton of dead bodies that had a lot of flies and rats that were surrounding the bodies and they were eating their flesh. Also on the other side there was a machine gun turret that was killing enemies on No Mans Land. I got shot in the leg and caused me to get a wound and also I ended up in the hospital because I had trench foot, which is a foot disease that kills your skin cells. I will never forget how bad it smelled because of people dying and really sick. We always had to be on our guard because enemies attempted to bomb our trench. The soldiers that survived the bombing were wounded and many of them had lice, which made them very unhealthy because it lived on our skin. When we where on the battlefield we frequently had to have a gas mask present because the air was intoxicated with chemical gases that didn’t let us breathe. Every commander got there own personal rifle because the were in charge. I’m glad I wrote you this letter to tell you the truth. I am so sorry about every thing. I hope you understand why I did this.…
Our soldiers leave wars in foreign countries only to fight another war at home. David Finkel explores the hidden pain and suffering of war-families and veterans in his book Thank You For Your Service. Finkel, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of a New York Times Best Book of the Year, has spent hours upon hours researching, interviewing, and simply documenting what a two-decade war does to a soldier and their family. With no specific target audience, it is at least suggested those unfamiliar with PTSD and TBI should spend some times diving into the heart-breaking and up-lifting stories. Finkel uses stories and their meanings to appeal to the emotions of the readers to support his idea of the hidden pain and suffering of our veterans and…
This quote connects the theme: war destroys a person’s individuality. War makes a soldier bloodthirsty at times. Soldiers may have been kind and caring toward others, but in war, the necessity of survival is greater than ones of comrades. If a soldier’s comrade has been shot and are about to die, one would take their belongings in order to better protect oneself from further injuries. In a time of war, it does not matter about a soldier’s past personality, one gunshot could end a life, so soldiers react in order to protect themselves, to look on to the future, after the…
Some of the most popular pictures are those of soldiers running up to their families right after getting off of the plane from a tour of duty, crying, and thankful that they are back home and safe. But how many of us actually care about those soldiers beyond knowing that they are home and safe? Ron Kovic’s autobiography, Born on the Fourth of July, is out to prove that going through a war has an affect beyond what most of the population sees; there are life-long effects, especially for those who come back injured and maimed. Every aspect of Ron Kovic’s life changed when he came back from the war and couldn’t move over half of his body and, for the most part, he had to deal with all of these changes on his own.…