Blog #4
Who would believe a soldier does not only go to war to fight physical and psychological enemies; but also after a war ends, the soldier still continues the battle at home?
I was reading through some stories in my literature test book and was surprised about two interesting stories on "THE THINGS THEY CARRIED" AND "SOLDIER'S HOME." While in"The Things They carried," the writer uses the theme of war to express adjustment of soldiers on the battle field, in "Soldier's Home" the theme of war is shown as an after event during adjustment to life back home.
In "The Things They Carried," I learned that, during a war, a soldier carries two burdens which are physical burdens and psychological burdens. The physical burden which includes things a soldier would need for personal daily activities like tooth brush and paste, sewing kit, cigarette, also the things a soldier would need for the war like ammunition. The psychological burdens aspects at the battle field is the struggle to keep one's dignity and forget about loved ones at home. The main character who carries letters and pictures of his lover in addition to the physical things for the battle, later notices that he has to loose his dignity by forgetting his lover and burns the picture and letters. The character does this after a soldier dies and and he blames himself for the death because he lost concentration of the battle and thinks only about his lover.
In "Soldier's Home," I see that after a soldier returns home from war, there is also a psychological battle of adjustment. On the return home of the main character, he looses interest in every activity at home even in his family members. He also lost his faith and finds it very difficult to adjust to the society in his town.
It is very amazing to me to realize all which a soldier goes through after much sacrifice to fight for the country. I believe we have to know what happens to soldiers so that on their return from battle, the family will understand them more. The society should also be aware so that a better plan will be put in place to address the post traumatic effects the war has on soldiers.
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I defiantly can sympathize with this considering I am a veteran. I have known so many people that have come back from the war with PTSD. It is especially hard for them because morale is low and they have no idea why they are there fighting a pointless war. The other side that sucks to this problem is that when they come home they don’t have good access to health care that can adequately deal with their problems. I have been down to the VA hospital and have seen them all sitting there for hours on hours waiting to be seen. We need to take better care of our veterans and get them out of that pointless war.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, this kind of thing is more the norm rather than the exception. There have been a whole slew of stories of veterans coming back from the modern day conflicts in the Middle East that have had very severe cases of PTSD.
ReplyDeleteIt is very sad that we treat our veterans, the people that would lay down their life for their country, like second class citizens is a totally unacceptable and very disturbing trend. If anything, these people should have first class service in everything they do or need.
We need to fundamentally change how we treat our veterans if we want any chance of them fighting for us again. There have been alot of soldiers who have not re-enlisted because they feel betrayed by the government and people who send them off to war and yet, when they return home, do not provide them with any of the services that are necessary for them.
The next time you meet a veteran, regardless of what conflict they were in, just say "Thanks". Just remember that without them, you and I could not live the way we like to without their sacrifice.
-Chris