War’s World

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers is a story about a group of men fighting and living together in Vietnam, but more importantly, they are fighting to live. The main character in the story, Perry, thinks back to his life in New York where his mom and brother live. He often thinks that when and if he gets back home his mom will expect him to be the same as before he left for Vietnam.

I was reading a post from Sand Sailor Aaron Webb around the first of the year, and this is what he wrote.

“Like many before me, I view this life I lead as a blank canvas. A piece of fabric stretched and framed within the boundaries we have placed upon ourselves. And with every new decision, mistake, or triumph another piece of that canvas is painted in, until it seems we have no where else to go, no blank space left to paint.

Many use this opportunity to cover up things from the past, hiding the brush strokes that define where they came from, who they were, or may still be. Others simply have too much life to live, wanting to embrace it all… stretching their canvas to fit within a larger frame. Learning and growing, pushing the boundaries for a lifetime.

I’d like to think that I am more of the latter, but I know this is not always true. The energy and attitude required to stand up to such a task can be daunting. Often impaired by paranoid thought, or fear of failure, we paint ourselves into a box…unable to escape from these self defined parameters.

Let this New Year be a ground breaking year for us all. May we find the courage to break free of our own restraints. May we all be able to face the future with the idea of expanding our borders and embracing who we are rather than painting over the past.

So, the next time you stand in front of a blank page… a blank canvas… unexposed film… Fill them all with the words, paintings, and images of life. Exposing who you are and where you come from without hesitation. Pushing the boundaries while creating the greatest masterpiece you possibly can.”

In this segment of Aaron’s post he explains how he feels about his life. I think Perry in Fallen Angels thinks of his life as a blank canvas, though he never mentions it. He talked about how his mom would want him to come back the same man as before he left, but Perry know that she will never know what he had to deal with in Vietnam. He can definitely start fresh, but he will never be able to go back in time. He can’t paint over his canvas of life and change his experiences in the war.

It is important to realize that Perry feels that his life in Vietnam is not real. He feels that life will be real once he gets back to the “world,” which for him in New York.

Because he feels that he isn’t living in a real world, there are two canvases of Perry’s life. One is for Vietnam, and that canvas is constantly being painted for each new experience. The other is for his life in the “real world.” He would have wanted this canvas to be like the one in Vietnam, but because of his mom wants him to be the same, he might feel that he has to paint over some of the past. No one should feel like they have to paint over their past. The past is the past, and the future is what is important.

April 16, 2008

Walter Dean Myers Fallen Angels

Aaron Webb (Sand Sailor)  Painting the Town…

I thought it was interesting comparing the terms used to describe someone’s death. In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the men used terms that are not terms that a normal human would use. A lot of times the phrase “passed away” is used to say that someone has died.

I think it is strange that soldiers become so close to their fellow soldiers that when they die they don’t say that so and so “passed away.” There might be a difference between the Vietnam War and the war in Iraq. I can’t imagine having Iraq soldiers say that so and so “blew up,” or something of the sort.

I was reading an article about a Sergeant who had died in combat about five years ago. His soldiers who were with him that day were there to remember him. One man spoke about him and his time in Iraq, and at the end he said “Smith was a soldier who took care of soldiers. He lost his life doing it.” I think it’s important for the soldiers to use sensitive terms so that it seems more personal.

The thing I didn’t like about The Things They Carried was that it didn’t seem real when they said that Ted Lavender was “zapped while zipping.” It seems to me that if soldiers spend time together they wouldn’t be so insensitive when someone passes away.

Two soldiers from my hometown unfortunately were killed in Iraq, and I never once heard anyone say something disrespectful or insensitive about their deaths.

I think that a lot of times in Vietnam men didn’t want to get too close to their fellow soldiers in case they were to die.

When the men returned from Vietnam, they probably didn’t change their description of Ted Lavender being “zapped while zipping” to “passed away” because they didn’t want to be fake. They didn’t want to war to be different than they knew it.

I feel that today’s war in Iraq is more personal and sensitive when someone passes away. That is good for two reasons. One, that it helps the family deal with the soldier’s death, and two, it helps the fellow soldiers stay calm and focus on getting out of Iraq alive and as soon as possible.

April 16, 2008

Tim O’Brien The Things They Carried

Stars and Stripes (Soldiers in Iraq)  Soldiers in Iraq recall Medal of Honor recipient’s valor

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is an odd story about a soldier, Billy, who has lived through war and is jumping back and forth through time. A major part of the story line is that he was abducted by aliens. I think that the time jumping and the story about getting abducted was a way for Billy to deal with his thoughts from the war.

Many soldiers come home and need counseling to help them get out of war mode and back into a normal routine again. This quote from How the War in Iraq is Changing the American Soldier helps explain how demands can change soldiers.

“What is immediately clear is that this conflict has put enormous demands on American troops. They are warriors on some days, diplomats on others, in a conflict with no clear front lines and a changing cast of adversaries. And while they are grateful that the American public has steadfastly supported them, regardless of feelings about the war itself, many soldiers report a sense of disconnection, too. America as a nation is not waging this war, many tell you—its military is.”

While Billy made up stories about getting abducted by aliens to deal with his thoughts of war, soldiers today have different options. Many use military blogs to stay connected to the outside world, while others stay connected by writing letters. It’s hard to say whether those truly keep soldiers sane while they are in a war situation, but they certainly help.

I’ve been following the military blog of Aaron Webb, aka Sand Sailor, and his most recent post was about a triathlon that took place in the “Green Zone” and mainly around Saddam’s palace. Soldiers in Iraq are still able to do normal things such as participate in a triathlon. I think this helps them deal with the situation they’re in because they can have pictures to look at, videos to watch of the event, and they can talk about it for days. Even if this event only lasted for part of a day, it is part of a day that was spent having a good time and being in a normal situation.

It’s important to get counseling when one needs it, but also to stay involved in everyday activities. I think this triathlon was perfect for Aaron and his comrades to keep a level head and remember that their time to go home is almost here.

March 25, 2008

Aaron Webb (Sand Sailor) Threesome at Saddam’s house…anyone?
Anna Mulrine (Soldiers in Iraq) How the War in Iraq is Changing the American Soldier
Kurt Vonnegut Slaughterhouse-Five

Since You Went Away includes WWII letters from lovers and wives at home while their husbands and boyfriends were away at war. While I was reading this I found it hard to realize that they were away from each other for years on end. I don’t have any relatives over in Iraq, so I can’t relate to the wives and girlfriends now who’s significant others are in Iraq, but after reading Since You Went Away I feel that there was more love and desire to stay faithful to their significant others during WWII than there is now with the war in Iraq despite how long they would be apart.

Though many women and men stay faithful to each other during this war in Iraq, there are exceptions.

“The news that their yearlong tour was lengthened by three months hit the team hard, says Del Valle. ‘That was the worst. It’s like when you’re real thirsty, and you’re about to reach for the bottle—and somebody pulls it far away from you.’ Midway through medic Jones’s tour, his wife called to ask for a divorce. ‘I’m not mad at her, because I can’t blame her,’ he says. ‘She was tired of being alone.’ Jones has been deployed to Iraq two of the past five years, which has left him little time to see his children, now ages 4 and 2, grow up.”

War in Iraq Changing American Soldiers

Jones has only been in Iraq for two years. He is helping support his family, and he still loves his wife and children. Unfortunately for him, his wife didn’t want to be alone. No one knows how long Americans will be in Iraq, and I think that some wives tend to fret about having their husbands away from them for so long. Love and infatuation are not what they used to be. The difference might be that there are more men still in America during this war than during WWII. I don’t believe that women want to be with other men because they don’t love their husbands, I think that they just want to be taken care of and supported and have a family unit. It can be difficult for women to care for their families single handedly, so instead of waiting for their husbands to come home, they would rather find another man to take their husband’s place. That is really unfortunate in my opinion, because from the husband’s perspective I would imagine that they want to support their families and talk to them as much as possible and come home to their families when their time comes.

Patriotism seems to have been much more abundant during WWII. Since September 11^th American’s patriotism increased greatly, but since the war we have seen picketers and protesters who are completely against the war and don’t support our troops over in Iraq. We don’t have posters saying how patriotic it is if you write your soldier daily, mainly because we have internet. We heard from a classmate that when he was serving in Iraq he received letters because they didn’t have access to the internet. People who tend to stay around the base might have more access to the internet. Milblogs are a popular way for soldiers to communicate with their loved ones, which can help military wives stay faithful to their husbands.

March 25, 2008

Anna Mulrine (Soldiers in Iraq) How the War in Iraq is Changing the American Soldier

Judy Barrett Litoff and David C. Smith Since You Went Away

Maus by Art Spiegelman, a graphic novel, depicted a father’s story about his time in concentration camps. Though this is a great story, I think that it lacks a true feeling because you see mice going through this, not people. Night is a narrative about Elie Wiesel’s experience in Auschwitz with his father. To me, Night provides more of a reality. His descriptions are so descript and they are believable. Elie’s story touched me much more than Maus. I think that Schindler’s List is more related to Elie’s story.

I found many similarities between Night and Schindler’s List. One was the description of the Ghettos, the wearing of the yellow stars, and the ushering of the Jews out of the Ghettos into concentration camps. The movie showed physically how the Jews were very malnourished, weak, sick, and very low spirited. Elie’s description of the ovens was brought to life in the movie.

Each of these is individually emotional. Elie’s telling of the story touched me because it was focused on his story, his feelings, his thoughts. Readers are able to focus on the story Elie is telling. I could not put this book down because I wanted to know the next thing that was going to happen to Elie and his father. The Holocaust was such a horrible event in history that no one today can understand. The fear of these people can not be fully appreciated, but Elie helps the reader realize how afraid they were and how much faith they had lost within a very short amount of time.

“My father suddenly had a colic attack. He got up and asked politely in German, ‘Excuse me… Could you tell me where the toilets are located?’

The Gypsy stared at him for a long time, from head to toe. As if he wished to ascertain that the person addressing him was actually a creature of flesh and bone, a human being with a body and a belly. Then as if waking from a deep sleep, he slapped my father with such force that he fell down and then crawled back to his place on all fours.

I stood petrified. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked.  I  had watched and kept silent. Only yesterday, I would have dug my nails into this criminal’s flesh. Had I changed so much? So fast?”

Those few paragraphs are an example of what I was just saying. Elie can’t believe how much he has changed in such a short time. There is nothing in my life that compares to that experience in those three paragraphs. The reader is able to see an emotional change between the father and son.

Schindler’s List is very emotional to I believe a lot of people. It is emotional for me because we are able to match faces with names. Though they are only actors, facial expressions, words, and emotions are brought out in this movie as if the actors truly are living through the Holocaust. Parts of the movie seem inhumane, but after reading several accounts of the Holocaust throughout my life, I was reminded of how real the movie felt.

Though Maus did not feel as real to me, I think it is a great teaching tool for middle/ high school.

March 26, 2008

Elie Wiesel Night

Art Spiegelman Maus

I read Wilfred Owen’s poem “Mental Cases.” This striking poem uses incredibly strong language describing the affect the war has on soldiers during WWI.

“These are men whose minds the Dead have ravished.

Memory fingers in their hair of murders,

Multitudinous murders they once witnessed.

Wading sloughs of flesh these helpless wander,

Treading blood from lungs that had loved laughter.

Always they must see these things and hear them,

Batter of guns and shatter of flying muscles,

Carnage incomparable and human squander

Rucked too thick for these men’s extrication.

Therefore still their eyeballs shrink tormented

Back into their brains, because on their sense

Sunlight seems a blood-smear; night comes blood-black;

Dawn breaks open like a wound that bleeds afresh.”

I was reading a story from “Soldiers in Iraq-Google News” called No country for old soldiers-Guardian Unlimited. This story is about how the company called Combat Stress was established in 1919 to help WWI victims of mental stress from the war.

“Combat Stress, exists to serve these men and women. For over 80 years, we have been the only services charity specializing in helping those of all ranks from the Armed Forces and the Merchant Navy suffering from psychological disability as a result of their service.”

The oldest person to go to them for help was 100 years old. This program is very important for soldiers who have ever been in a war situation. Though some people do not go through what Owen described in his poem, they can still have mental problems from their own personal war experience.

Combat Stress is still around today and helps those who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other parts of the world. Though Iraq’s death totals are not as large as WWI’s, people can still have mental issues that they need help getting through.

“‘God knows where I would be now if hadn’t been for the Combat Stress people’, said Gordon. He has suffered serious depression, alcoholism and the break-up of his marriage, and a year ago, he attempted to take his own life.” He was able to get his life back together thanks to Combat Stress.

I think that this is a great organization for people who have had to deal with the problems that war causes along with other problems faced by those who have served for their country. Owen’s poem is striking to me because it makes me realize how badly people’s minds can be altered due to a war experience. This program has helped thousands of people overcome their mental problems due to fighting in a war. The problem is that they need money, and the government is doing very little to help. Something needs to change.

February 6, 2008

Robert Fox (Soldiers in Iraq) No country for older soldiers

When we began reading Testament of Youth I don’t think anyone could ignore the fact that Vera could not stop thinking about her lover’s destiny fighting in the war. As For Vera, she thought of him daily and wrote to him as much as she could. Her lover, Roland, also wrote her as much as he could. Dealing with death is undesired by most people. Unfortunately, with the desire to fight for one’s country comes the possibility of death. For us, the Iraq war has taken thousands of U.S. lives after four years. Families, friends, and lovers of soldiers of today’s war (and past wars) deal with the possibilities of the death of someone they love in different ways. Most think of them regularly, others write their loved one, others read their blogs, but today I’m sure all of these are involved.

Prisoners of war are another problem. When I think of prisoners of war I think of older wars where thousands of men were taken into captivity by the enemy and killed in horrific ways. I don’t think of today’s war in Iraq as such. Unfortunately, there are American soldiers being held captive in Iraq. Some have survived and made it back home. Others are still out there, with families who don’t know anything about their whereabouts, when they’ll be free, or if they are even still alive.

I read a “Soldiers in Iraq” blog called Missing soldiers father holds on to hope. For Andy Jimenez this is what he deals with on a daily basis. His son Alex was kidnapped with two other soldiers on a deserted highway. Alex was kidnapped on May 12th. He drives over a bridge almost daily and passes a large banner with his son’s picture with the words “Pray for our brave hero.”

Andy’s life has changed since his son was taken captive. Andy wears a black hat with POW in white stitching. He no longer works on the day his son was taken, and spends that day making care packages with his friends for soldiers in Iraq. When he speaks with officials or people who have information about his son he loses his English. Many times the people he is speaking with have to re-cap the conversation because Andy tends to not listen. He believes it is because he doesn’t want to hear bad news about his son.

“Thousands of American parents have lost children to the Iraq war, but Jimenez has no body to bury, no grave at which to weep. There has been no 21-gun salute for Alex.”

Andy may never see his son again, but he has that hope that he is still alive and has adjusted his life around the situation he is in. He hopes to one day see and hug his son again.

Vera feels the same way about Roland. Though she still has contact with Roland she can’t be with him, and that is exactly what Andy is feeling because his son is missing. Vera and Andy also share the feeling that they may never see their loved ones again, but they both have hope that they are alive and they will see them again.

February 6, 2008

Anna Badkhen (Soldiers in Iraq) Missing soldier’s father holds on to hope

While reading Testament of Youth I realized how people could only interact with their loved ones by mail. Today that has changed. With new technology those in Iraq are able to email, send packages and letters, and have live video web chats with their loved ones. Not only has technology changed, but so has life at the army base.

I’ve been following Sand Sailor’s blog and he will be starting his own radio show for soldiers in Iraq. So not only is he fighting in Iraq, but he is also making life more enjoyable for his comrades by providing them with a radio show specifically for them. He has also made podcasts available on his blog.

The first segment of his radio show begins with a song. He introduces the title and artist of the song, says the weather, and information about the Super Bowl viewing party for the soldiers. His show includes commercials that remind soldiers how important it is to not let any information slip to anyone outside the army because of vulnerabilities. I thought that part was interesting because it was something I was not expecting.

His radio show is mainly a music station; Mission Underground 107.3, (or 107.7 he said both) Baghdad. I didn’t know many songs, but I think anyone could enjoy the station. It’s pretty laid back. “I’ll be playing lots of stuff not usually heard on mainstream radio, Indie/Alternative/Americana music, etc…” he said. I think it’s great that he’s doing this. I think it makes them feel more at home with American music, music they grew up with, music they know, music they have memories to, music they don’t know yet, and music they can make new memories to.

In Testament of Youth, Roland’s only communication with Vera and his family is letters. They didn’t have sports news, radios, or other electronics. He wasn’t comfortable living in the trench. Who could be? Because of improvements in technology, war experience in Iraq can be at least a little more enjoyable.

Aaron’s radio show airs from 6-8 p.m. on Sunday nights on 107.3 ( or 107.7) in Baghdad. He will post all of his podcasts on his blog. He makes two different links, each an hour long, for people to download.

February 6, 2008

Aaron (Sand Sailor) Mission Underground Goes Live…!

The Feeds I chose are the BBC and New York Times.  I like both of them because they are set up in a way that I can easily find what I am looking for.  Through Google News I searched for “soldiers in Iraq” because I want to know about the soldiers, not just the war.  My milblog is called “Sand Sailor.”  I chose that because I like the stories and the way he writes.  The military podcast I chose is “From the Editor’s Desk.”  I like this because there is a wide variety of subjects within war that are podcasted.  I will also have my classmates’ blogs.