Some choose not to because of money or fame, but others choose to because of loyalty to America. Some know that they will not make it but they go anyway. They fought hard knowing that they were defending their country. It is a terrible shame that so many people died and continue to die protecting us. The bravest men and women go to war when the president calls for people.
Now if we go back we will be weary, broken, burnt out, rootless, and without hope” at first I was confused and did not quite understand what he meant. He meant if they survived and went home before the war ended, they would not know what to do with themselves. He thought if his classmates had experienced more of the war they would have suffered more and felt worthless if they were to return home. Paul was describing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which soldiers or anyone who has experienced a traumatic event experience today. PTSD changes the victims’ thoughts, opinions and perspectives on almost everything; it affects not only them but their family and friends.
Soldiers tend to avoid environments that remind them of the event, have nightmares and flashbacks of the experience, which can be triggered by everyday sights and sounds. This is not a normal way of life fearing your surrounding, the sights and sounds you once loved and enjoyed. How is going to war and experiencing all of these traumatic events in front of your eyes on a daily basis not constitute enough evidence for a soldier to have a legitimate case of PTSD. Soldiers did not sign up to come back mentally different to the way they left. They signed up to protect and serve
Another fact proving Henry is guilty of running is that he went into the war scared that he was going to run. Like mentioned before, before the war even started, Henry was asking soldiers what they would do if given the chance. This shows that he wanted to see if other soldiers felt the same way he did. Henry Fleming and the rest of the regiment were marching for days without any battle. He wanted there to be action, but he was scared and didn't want it to start at the same time.
They resisted to the system, knowing that the demand for troops and solders are increasing massively and that death and wounds needed replacing. Of course the most despised amongst the conscientious objectors are the absolutist who did nothing to aid the war. Although Conscientious Objectors were not seen as a good example back in the day, in the modern world they are considered as one of the bravest people. They were the ones who are willing to voice out their opinions on the war, even with a death threat hanging directly above them. They were the ones who stood their ground, no matter how harshly treated, abused and tortured their lives were.
He will surely be missed by all of his Army brothers. I feel guilty for getting him killed because I was distracted and not doing my job as the leader of my men. Any and all distractions can get somebody killed here. I burned your letters and pictures the other day because I needed to feel more like a military leader. You see every night I take out your pictures and letters and look at them and imagine myself with you instead of planning the security of my men for the next day’s attacks.
The novel shoes the misery of war and the everlasting effects it has on the soldiers; even Baumer cannot escape those circumstances. Before the war Baumer was a nice, empathetic, and gentle person but the war has him almost disconnected from his feelings. He becomes numb to the evil surrounding him. His friends are quickly lost to the cruelty and horror of war. Some died a quick death while others died a slow, painful death, showing the reality of war.
Just making the reality of hope for survival even less likely, and crushing their spirits. Heroism is not only you signing up for war; it is about you doing something significantly great to help another in need, because you believe that it’s the right thing to do. This book shows us that ordinary people, like Paul can become heroes themselves from the actions they take whilst in the war and that the leaders such as Himmelstos turn into cowards, by cowering in the corner, when the war started to get intense. This book shows many heroic moments that these soldiers did in order to help themselves, and each other out. Paul, in one heroic moment, carried an injured friend, Albert all the way to a camp, only to finally find out that he had died along the way.
Only certain men are able to live through the filthy conditions of the hospital. Several are too weak and die from infection. Social Darwinism is everywhere, survival of the fittest. Towards the end of the movie, young soldier Paul Baumer, must go back to tell his best friend’s mother that her child is dead. However, he can’t bear to tell her the truth of her son’s awful, painful death.
I’m not saying I will ever truly understand what these brave soldiers do for this country, but I am definitely not one to take any of it for granted. What they don’t show on the news I look up myself or my best friend sends me something new that’s occurred with some article on the internet. My best friend will be going to war one day soon and some of my best friends already are. I wouldn’t know how to live without them and it makes me really think about what has been going on in the Middle East for a long time