...Forgetting War Soldiers sometimes struggle adapting back to normal life after being at war and Harold Krebs is no different. Many soldiers who come back from the war are never the same as when they left. They cannot get past the physiological toll it took on them. In the story it says, “He did not want to leave Germany. He did not want to come home” (1). This shows how much of an impact the war had on him. It affected him so much that he would rather stay over in the war zone then come home and try to start a normal, new life. As civilians I don’t think we truly understand what some of the men and women in the armed forces go through when they are overseas. The fact that some of them, like Krebs for example don’t even want to come home shows us how difficult it must be over there. You would think that after being away from your family and friends for so long you would want to come home to them. Especially with all of the horrific stuff they see in battle. Post-traumatic stress disorder affects way more veterans than I think we realize. It is a very serious subject and I think a lot of people over look it. And cannot even begin to imagine some of the stuff those guys see over there and some of the situations they are put in. Taking someone’s life, or witnessing someone’s life being taken, friendly or enemy has to be very difficult. The thought of that moment when you pull the trigger and that person stops breathing has to be stuck in your head for a long time if...
Words: 731 - Pages: 3
...Comparison "Soldier's Home" And "Speaking Of Courage" To be engaged in war is to be engaged in an armed conflict. Death is an all too ordinary product of war. It is an unsolicited reward for many soldiers that are fighting for their country’s own fictitious freedom. For some of these men, the battlefield is a glimpse into hell, and for others, it is a means to heaven. Many people worry about what happens during war and what will become of their loved ones while they’re fighting, but few realize what happens to those soldiers once they come home. The short stories "Soldier's Home” by Ernest Hemingway and "Speaking of Courage” by Tim O'Brien explore the thematic after effects of war and how it impacts a young person's life. Young people who go to war come back dramatically changed, and as a result, it is challenging for them to return to their homes. Hemingway’s character, Krebs, and O'Brien’s character, Berlin, similarly demonstrate the consequences of war on the lives of these young returning soldiers. Although they came from historically different wars, Krebs, from World War I, and Berlin, from Vietnam, both experience disillusionment. With regards to the stories’ tones, one can infer that both Berlin and Krebs are men who’ve seen their ideas of valor disappointed. Many join the war in the hopes of becoming somehow closer to their country or their ideals of masculinity, only to see these ideals crushed by war’s harsh reality. These boys both hold stories from their respective...
Words: 1104 - Pages: 5
...confusion, they are forever changed, and cannot return to their old past. Often times, propaganda evokes...
Words: 1196 - Pages: 5
...LaMerrence Edgeston A weapon can be used to do many things. Usually when you hear the word weapon, you would think of something that would harm you. In one way you would be right. In another way you could be wrong. Just because the tool is a weapon doesn’t mean the wielder will or can use it as a weapon. Confuse? That’s ok I’ll I explain. The person that wields the weapon can decide to kill or just disarm. It has been said that it’s not the weapon that makes the killer but the spirt of he that wields it. The weapon that I will take about is that of the gun. A weapon that everyone is familiar with and can use it. A gun is usually the type of weapon that is use in different types of situations. A gun is sometimes a weapon that is use for killing. Then the next question would be to kill who? Well my answer to that is whoever it is pointed to. Since the gun is pointed at you. Your first thought is that the person will shoot me. Well who is the person that is holding the gun and who is the person that the gun is been pointed at? Well that question can have many answers. So let’s start it off with the police with the gun. The job of the police is to serve and protect. Well how can you protect if you always kill. Law Enforcement is going through a change. Certain people that have power are misusing the power. So what is this power? The power that they use is a badge and the uniform. People that have those two things think they can do whatever they want. Who are the people...
Words: 1537 - Pages: 7
...Andres Pena COP 1102 “The Things They Carried” What does becoming a soldier mean? Does it mean that duty comes before love or does it mean the opposite? Could it be that soldiers do not have control of their feelings? From the mind of Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried” describes young soldiers that were automatically bumped up into manhood. The author treats the inner conflict that each soldier had to bear during the Vietnam War while fighting for their country. Witnessing horrific scenes of war and the emotional and physical burdens that each of them carried, O’Brien unfolds how these men had no choice but to fulfill their patriotic duty. As the leader of the platoon, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross goes through an inner conflict between love and duty, carrying his orders in his mind and Martha in his heart. But how far can war or following orders, impair the human side of compassion and love? Although, soldiers become men at war, O’Brien focuses in a story where war makes men emotionally handicap, leaving mental scars that may never heal. The story is told by a third person’s point of view, however, O’Brien includes a touch of his personal experiences during the war where he spent a year in Vietnam (Hicks). As Josiah Bunting said, “The things he carried into war are very different from what he carried away from it” (Bunting) expressing O’Brien’s experience at war and how his experience as a soldier would convince readers to believe that the different traumatic moments...
Words: 1662 - Pages: 7
...wound that is so much too big for his hip; it falls on Kemmerich’s grave; it falls in our hearts” (74). The rain serves as a cleanse to the soldier’s anguish, and emotions towards the deaths around...
Words: 1317 - Pages: 6
...Ryan Canady 3/7/11 EWRT 1B A Soldier’s Burden Tim O’Brien is regarded as the preeminent American novelist of the Vietnam experience and his novels have gained widespread critical and significant popular success. His popularity can be attributed to his ability to translate the experience of wartime into perspectives on the larger questions of life and death. The three stories by O’Brien listed in the title are based on his own personal experiences and memories of his time in and after the Vietnam War. Although these stories are based upon real experiences, he embellishes some facts or puts instances from separate events into one timeline making his work is fiction. I believe that O’Brien wrote these stories not only as a therapeutic release for himself, but he is able to retell these stories and give an incredible insight to such a dark and controversial piece of American history. But his career has spanned a wider range of topics than his experiences from Vietnam. One consistent theme in his works is morality and the timeless struggle that humans have had with it. Along with morality, the amount burden that people carry, both physical and emotional, is a major theme in the stories I will be discussing. Another great attribute to O’Brien’s writing is his uncanny ability to blur the lines between fiction and reality. This style of writing is commonly referred to as metafiction; which is fiction that discusses the function and effect of storytelling. He believes that...
Words: 1750 - Pages: 7
...feelings of a soldier. Through the novel he was able to capture the feeling of seclusion and loneliness among the soldiers. In 1916, he was drafted into the German army to fight in World War I, in which he was badly wounded. In 1926, after the war ended, he published Im Westen Nichts Neues which he later translated into English as All Quiet on the Western Front. The novel has been heralded by critics throughout the world as the greatest war novel of all time. It helped capture every thought that went through a soldier’s mind who belonged to the "lost generation". War changes life. Conditioned by the aggression and lifestyle of being a soldier, young adult Paul Baumer in Erich Maria Remarque’s novel All Quiet on the Western Front, over the course of four years, changed from a naive high school graduate to a mature but disillusioned adult. The violence and trauma in the trenches of World War I exposed Paul to the horrors of injuries and infections, the fragile state of life, the terrors of death and dying, and the unbearable feeling of being isolated from friends and family. Through experiencing Kemmerich’s tragic death, going on break, and finally witnessing French soldier Gerard Duval’s death, young Paul matures from an anxious and excited teenager to a shattered and devastated but humane adult. Paul is not only a famous war hero and a famous writer but also a regular old...
Words: 1912 - Pages: 8
...I thought of your hand-grenades, of your bayonet, of your rifle; now I see your wife and your face and our fellowship. Forgive me, comrade. We always see it too late. Why do they never tell us that you are poor devils like us, that your mothers are just as anxious as ours, and that we have the same fear of death, and the same dying and the same agony--Forgive me, comrade; how could you be my enemy? If we threw away these rifles and this uniform you could be my brother just like Kat and Albert. Take twenty years of my life, comrade, and stand up—take more, for I do not know what I can even attempt to do with it now.” At this moment it was obvious that Paul was broken in the inside. He would have to live the rest of his life knowing that he killed an innocent man who had a lovely wife and maybe one day he could grow a...
Words: 1603 - Pages: 7
...the cause, all the while that he was in command during that time; he was acting in bad faith toward the Americans. His influence in the army was, at all times, mischievous (General Charles Lee: Traitor of the American Revolution). To the British, Charles Lee was a traitor who turned on England to fight under George Washington. Due to Charles Lee’s treacherous actions against America, it would lead to his downfall in the following years. Born in England to an aristocratic family, Lee had already joined the army at the age of 12, and in the 1750's was sent to colonial America to fight in the French and Indian War (also known as the Seven Years War). It was here that he first served with the man who would be his superior officer later in life, General George Washington. Together they survived the bloody disaster of Major General Edward Braddock's defeat at the hands of the French Canadians and Indians in 1755 (American History Suite 101) at the Monongahela River at the forks with the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers near modern Pittsburgh (Fort Pitt) in the Battle of Monongahela (British Battles). Not only was it here that Charles Lee first came into contact with George Washington, it was also Washington’s first defeat, which probably leads to Lee’s treason later on. Why this happens is because Lee was arrogant and ugly, and felt he was a better General overall than to his superior George Washington. Outside of battle, Lee was rarely seen around people; Lee was more surrounded by dogs...
Words: 1561 - Pages: 7
...Gabriella Hatzopoulos War & Society Uniting Tactics, Divisive Consequences Rape, torture and murder against innocent civilians- what could cause someone to do such a thing? The My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War was a result of a war tactic that continues to be utilized today: racism and dehumanization of the enemy. This strategy, employed by the Armed Forces and facilitated by the media back on American soil has proven to be dangerous in that it causes both soldiers and civilians to treat an entire group as subhuman and unworthy of empathy. We can see this in the My Lai Massacre and through the persistent hare crimes against Muslims during the United States’ current “war on terror.” On March 16 1968, 140 men of the American Charlie Company entered the village of My Lai and were ordered to kill whoever they saw. There was the belief that the province of Quang Ngai where My Lai was located was a stronghold for Vietcong guerillas. After increasing frustration with losing their soldiers and not progressing in the war as much as they’d like, the group took their anger out on what was thought was a village of Vietcong enemies. It was the first chance they had to meet the enemy face to face instead of through grenades and booby traps and finally get even. Lieutenant William L. Calley ordered a search and destroy mission and urged that anyone in My Lai was to be considered connected to the Vietcong in some way, and should be killed. Though no guerillas were found when...
Words: 4184 - Pages: 17
...Army Regulation 600–20 Personnel–General Army Command Policy Headquarters Department of the Army Washington, DC 6 November 2014 UNCLASSIFIED SUMMARY of CHANGE AR 600–20 Army Command Policy This administrative revision, dated 6 November 2014-o Updates Equal Opportunity Policy (paras 6-2c(8)(c) and 6-2c(8)(f)). This administrative revision, dated 30 October 2014o Updates summary of change bullet (para 2-8b). o Makes administrative changes (throughout). This rapid action revision, dated 22 October 2014-o Updates purpose (para 1-1). o Updates responsibilities for the ready and resilient campaign (paras 1-4a-d). o Directs readers to the Army Publishing Directorate’s “notes” page on AR 60020 for additional guidance on the Army Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention Program (para 1-4e(6)). o Clarifies the groups of personnel who must be informed of the Army’s accommodation of religious practices policies (para 1-4f). o Adds the categories “senior field grade officers,” “senior field grade warrant officers,” ”field grade warrant officers,” “company grade warrant officers,” “enlisted noncommissioned officers,” and “junior enlisted Soldiers” (table 1-1). o Adds policy that the senior commander is normally, but not always, the senior general officer at an installation (para 2-5b(4)(a)). o Adds policy for command responsibility for the Total Army Sponsorship Program (paras 2-5b(4)(a)16 and 2-5b(4)(c)8)...
Words: 87879 - Pages: 352
...Chapter II: literature of the renaissance (End of the 15th - beginning of the 17th century) In the 15th - 16th centuries capitalist relation began to develop in Europe. The former townspeople became the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie fought against feudalism because it held back the development of capitalism. The decay of feudalism and the development of capitalist relation were followed by a great rise in the cultural life of Europe. There was an attempt at creating a new culture which would be free from the limitation of the feudal ideology of the Middle Ages. The epoch was characterized by a thirst for knowledge and discoveries, by a powerful development of individuality. It was then that great geographical discoveries of Columbus, Magellan and other travelers as well as astronomical discoveries of Copernicus, Bruno, Galilei were made. The invention of the printing press (Fyodorov in Russia, Guttenberg in Germany, Caxton in England) contributed to the development of culture in all European countries. Universities stopped being citadels of religious learning and turned into centers of humanist study. There was a revival of interest in the ancient culture of Greece and Rome ("Renaissance" is French for "rebirth"). The study of the works of ancient philosophers, writers, and artists helped the people to widen their outlook, to know the world and man's nature. On the basis of both the ancient culture and the most progressive elements of the culture of the...
Words: 8940 - Pages: 36
...Forces. It exists to serve the American people, protect enduring national interests, and fulfill the Nation’s military responsibilities. FM 1 is one of the Army’s two capstone field manuals. It contains our vision for the Army. While the entire manual is important, I would direct your attention to four particular items. FM 1 establishes the fundamental principles for employing landpower. The most important of these are the Army’s operational concept and the fundamentals that support it. They form the foundation for all Army doctrine. All Soldiers should understand and internalize them. FM 1 describes the American profession of arms, the Army’s place in it, and what it means to be a professional Soldier. Central to this discussion are the Soldier’s Creed, Warrior Ethos, and Army Values. These three statements establish the guiding values and standards of the Army profession. To understand Soldiers, you must know about them. To be a Soldier, you must live them. FM 1 discusses Army contributions to the joint force. As the Armed Forces achieve even greater joint interdependence, the Army will depend more on the other Services and vice versa. For this reason, the Army is currently transforming its units and institutions to enhance our campaign qualities for sustained operations and to achieve greater expeditionary and joint capabilities. It is important for Soldiers and all who support or are associated with the Army to understand these contributions and how the Army is transforming to...
Words: 27577 - Pages: 111
...for the military leaders to embed their troops in entrenchments that were nearly impossible to infiltrate. They would then rush their men towards each other in a bloody battle. General Sherman realized that attacking the entrenchments of the enemy was fruitless and killed too many soldiers. He went on a path of flanking maneuvers that helped get around these entrenched soldiers. He followed up this plan by attacking the economy of the South and breaking their resolve. The importance of his new plan can be seen on how his tactics of attacking the land and economy, instead of other human beings, and avoiding head-on confrontation actually saved lives for both the Union and Confederate armies. The march from Atlanta to Savannah has taken on a life of its own for historians today. The campaign’s impact has been over-emphasized by his contemporaries on both sides of the war creating a war hero or war tyrant depending on which side was describing his march. One of the reasons Sherman decided to avoid frontal confrontation with the...
Words: 14944 - Pages: 60
