Soldiers call up to duty overseas in these foreign lands… it is very dangerous over there. You don’t always know who the enemy is. Sometimes there are bombs planted on the roads they drive on. Sometimes there are bombs planted on people. Soldiers are on a level of constant alert for those unfortunate enough to get in gun battles. They have no idea if that day would be their last. Then they come home, and there is a nice reception but then they are expected to jump right back into life. Go back to work, earn a living, forget about all the stuff they just saw and experienced halfway across the globe. The people at their work places who have never been called up to war are so far away from it all that it is not even real to them. But to that soldier, it is still in the front of his mind. How do we expect them to assimilate into life so quickly when they just spent the last year of their lives facing death in a battle field? Clearly these soldiers are not getting the care and treatment they need upon returning from active duty. It’s becoming quite evident by the overwhelming number of soldiers who suffer PTSD that cause them to harm themselves and harm others. Many soldiers start their career as a young man or woman, often fresh out of high school. 18 years old...That’s a young age to be thrown into a situation where people are getting shot and killed all around you. You can so quickly go from high-fiving your friends in high school hallways, to holding your friend's hand as they bleed to death (and this is assuming that you’re not the one shot). One stint of that would clearly take away the youth and innocence of the high school high fiver. Even if the soldier doesn't die on the battlefield, a part of him will still be left there. Tuesday, March 22, 2016
War is… Death to the soldier.
Soldiers call up to duty overseas in these foreign lands… it is very dangerous over there. You don’t always know who the enemy is. Sometimes there are bombs planted on the roads they drive on. Sometimes there are bombs planted on people. Soldiers are on a level of constant alert for those unfortunate enough to get in gun battles. They have no idea if that day would be their last. Then they come home, and there is a nice reception but then they are expected to jump right back into life. Go back to work, earn a living, forget about all the stuff they just saw and experienced halfway across the globe. The people at their work places who have never been called up to war are so far away from it all that it is not even real to them. But to that soldier, it is still in the front of his mind. How do we expect them to assimilate into life so quickly when they just spent the last year of their lives facing death in a battle field? Clearly these soldiers are not getting the care and treatment they need upon returning from active duty. It’s becoming quite evident by the overwhelming number of soldiers who suffer PTSD that cause them to harm themselves and harm others. Many soldiers start their career as a young man or woman, often fresh out of high school. 18 years old...That’s a young age to be thrown into a situation where people are getting shot and killed all around you. You can so quickly go from high-fiving your friends in high school hallways, to holding your friend's hand as they bleed to death (and this is assuming that you’re not the one shot). One stint of that would clearly take away the youth and innocence of the high school high fiver. Even if the soldier doesn't die on the battlefield, a part of him will still be left there. 
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I think this post does a really good job of talking about how even if a soldier does not die on the battlefield, there will always be a part of him there. I like how you compared going from high fiving eachother around the hallways to holding your friends hand as they bleed to death because it shows us just how frightening war can be. I also like how you talk about that soldiers have to be constantly on alert because anything can happen to them at any second. When you talk about how war can take away the innocence of someone it helps me understand how much war can change someone. I think your piece does a really good job of showing the change of the "highschool highfiver" into a soldier.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you analyzed this. It helped me better understand how people can come from no experience about war, to thinking about war 24/7. It changes people and learning that you can never go back to the old you after war. It also reminded me about the chapter, "On the Rainy River", In the book "The Things They Carried," when Tim had to drop everything he had and go to war. I also really liked your last sentence because it shows how there is an intangible weight that will stay with you forever.
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