Over the past eight decades American views on war have varied. After WWI and WWII the soldiers were hailed as heroes and the country rallied around the war efforts. The Vietnam War was an entirely different story, the country was at odds with the the United States involvement and therefore did not show the same level of support for the soldiers. Affield and Pyle aide readers as they strive to understand the relationship between America and Vietnam. Affield’s memoir illustrated the very real and raw aspects of war.
Categorized | Feature Article A Critical Analysis: The Things They Carried Posted on 14 October 2008 by admin By Ronnie Wright In his short story The Things They Carried, author Tim O’Brien reveals the horrendous physical conditions and fears a man will subject himself to in order to save his reputation. The story takes place around 1968. It’s a story about an Infantry Platoon fighting in the jungles of Vietnam and the weight, both physical and emotional, that they must carry. These modern day warriors were equipped with every piece of equipment you could imagine. Most of what the soldiers carried was largely determined by necessity, such as can openers, pocketknives, helmets and flack jackets (O’Brien 281).
Throughout history, many soldiers faced life-threatening or traumatic events during war, as it took heavy tolls on them. Some events would cause them to relive these experiences through either nightmares or flashbacks. Tim O’Brien, a veteran who has received a Purple Heart, knows how traumatic events can affect soldiers as it makes them do things “brand-new and profound” which, in his story, “How To Tell A True War Story”, shows his characters “a piece of the world so startling there was not yet a name for it”(293). There are many terms used to describe this behavior, as war has always had an impact on people, but the most common is called Post-traumatic stress disorder, otherwise known as PTSD. It was the new name for an old story, and thanks to the Vietnam War, this disorder has been examined more closely.
Throughout the film we see him struggle to survive as he is forced to become a liar, a coward and a murderer. Platoon, which was also written by Oliver Stone, is thought to be semi-autobiographical because stone served in the Vietnam War as an infantryman. A lot of his experiences are supposed to be stitched into the film and the main characters are based on individuals he served with. Charlie Sheens character is suppose to represent Oliver Stone himself. This is one of the reasons people believe the film is so good, because it has such a deep personal input from Stones memories and it just came natural while directing it because he has already seen it happen.
Junger, who spent time embedded with the Second Platoon of the Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, talks about war being two things one a constant adrenaline high, and the other an unimaginable sense of bonding/brotherhood among fellow soldiers in combat. The Korengal Valley was a ridge of the Kunar Province, and it was located about twenty-five miles from the border of Pakistan. United States military as well as Junger was assigned here for the purpose of intercepting Taliban fighters. In the first book that Junger titled Fear he talks about, “how shocking it feels when someone wants you dead,” (Junger, 2010, p.28). As the platoon reaches a wall that they use for cover Junger continues to videotape.
Overall, O’Brien gives us a glimpse of the mental side of war as we witness the immense changes to young soldiers brought to Vietnam to fight for their country. Tim O’Brien’s own anecdotal experiences demonstrate how war acts as a catalyst for the transformation of defenseless soldiers into violent and ruthless individuals. Before he is drafted for Vietnam, O’Brien describes himself as a shy,
The lists also describe the emotional baggage each soldier carried, such as First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s (the leader of the squad) love for a girl back home. O’Brien’s use of lists and the repetition gives the reader a good impression of the lifestyle of the soldiers in Vietnam without outwardly and directly saying so, subsequently giving him a stronger argument by allowing the reader to attain the understanding of the situation on their own. The lists O’Brien uses in the story give clarity to the setting of the emotional and physical setting the story takes place in. When one thinks of a list, the natural conclusion is a dull and repetitive page of words, possibly bulleted or in some other such order, but never really all that interesting to read. O’Brien uses this to his advantage to give the reader a true sense of what the experience in Vietnam was for the common soldier, while at the same time not describing it outright, which is something he says later in the story cannot be done in simple words.
Saving Private Ryan. Saving Private Ryan follows the story of an Army Ranger Captain named John Miller. The movie begins with a graphic depiction of the beach landing at Normandy. Despite the many Allied casualties, Captain Miller and his band of men manage to survive. Captain Miller is given the order to go behind enemy lines in search of a Private James Ryan.
Each event focused on ideology contrasts from the rest. There were differences in the number of casualties, the costs for war, as well as the reasons for going to war. The United States involved itself in Vietnam because of the belief in the domino theory; that if a single nation fell to communism, the other nations surrounding it, would soon follow. Eventually America found it near impossible to fight against the
The Negative Effects of Combat on Soldiers War has existed since the beginning of time. Over the course of time countless soldiers have been exposed to combat, and with time combat has evolved. Although technology has advanced and weapons have changed, war can still be gruesome. Today, American soldiers are deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan to fight in the global war against terror. The men and women currently deployed to these areas frequently engage in combat, and regularly witness injuries, trauma, and death.