While growing up I have always been an avid fan of the film and television industry. What makes this industry so great is their ability to take a plot whether it is fact or fiction and compress it into either a two-hour movie or a 45-minute television episode. But the problem with a two-hour movie or a 45-minute episode is that a lot of details are left out. This leaves the director and the producer with the job of deciding which details are more important and will capture the audience’s attention for the long run. Unfortunately for the logistics men, their story is one of the easier parts of the story to leave out. Not many people want to watch officers sit around a table and discuss the pros and cons of how they are going to get food out to their troops. What’s a war story if the battles never actually occur? The people would rather see the actual battles with blood being shed or the love story and drama that goes along with the plot. But after reading this book it left me thinking about how these battles are actually being supplied. Ever rarely in shows or movies do I see Kings or officers dwelling over the problem of how their troops are going to be supplied. The usual focus is on the actual battle itself. For example, I am currently watching The Game of Thrones an HBO special. This series is filled with war, love, war, drama and then even more war. The closest I’ve seen to logistical problems in this television series is the maneuvering of troops from one position to another to out flank the other side or the gathering of more troops. Until reading this book I would have never fully considered the actual problems and issues that went along with supplying the thousands of men who fought in the battles as well as the horses who...
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Even with increasing use of new technology in logistics it does not necessary always improve its overall speed and effectiveness in war. I always believed that with the increase and better technology then it would be a lot easier and faster to supply our troops. I believed that the railroads and motored vehicles would be faster and more efficient than transportation by horses. Armies should be able to go further than before as well as faster. While the book stated that most armies could only go about 15 miles per hour, motored vehicles and trains could easily go this fast in an hour. But this was not the case. In Supplying War it showed that this new “improved technology” actually brought about other problems where more things could go wrong. More technology such as the motored vehicles and railroads meant that there were more parts, such as gas and spare parts.
Factories in Europe mass produced the materials that were needed for war; they produced guns, tanks ,airplanes ,automobiles ,ammunition and replacement parts needed for the war effort. Industrialisation helped the war effort tremendously, by producing the goods that were needed for the war. Without Industrialization, the weapons for the war wouldn’t be easily accessible. The soldiers were getting many supplies that they needed from factories.
Many times readers lose interest in stories that they feel are not authentic. In addition, readers feel that fictitious novels and stories are for children and lack depth. Tim O’ Brien maintains that keeping readers of fiction entertained is a most daunting task, “The problem with unsuccessful stories is usually simple: they are boring, a consequence of the failure of imagination- to vividly imagine and to vividly render extraordinary human events, or sequences of events, is the hard-lifting, heavy-duty, day-by-day, unending labor of a fiction writer” (Tim O’ Brien 623). Tim O’ Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story” examines the correlation between the real experiences of war and the art of storytelling. In O’Brien’s attempt to bridge the gap between fiction and non-fiction, the narrator of the story uses language and acts of violence that may be offensive to some.
For young people, the Vietnam War is a thing of the past and they can
In particular, The Things They Carried depicts this consequence of war through the repetition of phrases such as “they carried” and “they would” to indicate the homogeneity among the soldiers when fighting as a collective. Additionally, it is important to note how prevalently longer sentences are incorporated within the text to suggest the plethora of items they carry in common for the war, as O’Brien elaborates, “They carried M-14s and CAR-15s and Swedish Ks and grease guns and captured AK-47s and Chi-Coms and RPGs…” (7). In this case O’Brien’s inclusion of “and” allows him to extend his sentences in order to convey how uniform the soldier’s identities have become due to the war, as they are now only responsible for carrying their necessary weapons and equipment. Another passage that suggests the soldiers’ uniformity is when O’Brien depicts their lifelessness while marching by claiming, “They marched for the sake of the march. They plodded along slowly, dumbly, leaning forward against the heat, unthinking, all blood and bone, simple grunts…but no volition, no will, because it was automatic,” (15). From this, the soldiers have become robotic due to the war, as they no longer possess any emotion or individuality among themselves and thus are no longer differentiable. In order to restore what’s left of their respective
Instead of taking days to get troops and supplies to a camp or battle it would only take a couple hours. (Railroads and the Civil
The truth to any war does not lie in the depths of storytelling but rather it’s embedded in every person involved. According to O’Brien, “A true war story does not depend on that kind of truth. Absolute occurrence is irrelevant. A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth” (pg. 80). Truths of any war story in my own opinion cannot be fully conveyed or explained through the use of words. Any and all war stories provide specific or certain facts about war but each of them do not and cannot allow the audience to fully grasp the tru...
In this example, after many hours of carrying these supplies the soldiers would start to break down physically. Fatigue and muscle pain would start to cloud their vision and judgment. The weight of the things that they carried had devastating effects on their bodies but the soldiers had to endure. All of these supplies were the most significant to the soldiers because they were the most impor...
during the war. This novel is able to portray the overwhelming effects and power war has
The third idea that the author uses to un-romanticize the beauty or glory of war is that a war can and will ruin a country’s economy. In World War I, life was unbearable for the soldiers serving in the war, but the citizens suffered too. Citizens had to cut down on their supply of food, fabric, and many other needs to support the troops. Paul Baumer and his mother had a conversation regarding the stock of food during the war. Paul then realized that soldiers were not the only ones not having an abundant supply of food, but that his family and all the other families out there were being tormented as well. ““It is pretty bad for food [for civilians] here?” [Paul] inquires. “Yes, there is not much [anymore].”” (Remarque 160) Not only does war affect negatively on soldiers and the government, but it affects the residents of that country too.
As students we are brainwashed by ancient myths such as The Iliad, where war is extolled and the valorous warrior praised. Yet, modern novels such as Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried (THINGS) challenge those very notions. Like The Iliad, THINGS is about war. It is about battles and soldiers, victory and survival, yet the message O'Brien gives us in THINGS runs almost contradictory to the traditional war story. Whereas traditional stories of war take place on battlefields where soldier battles soldier and the mettle of man is tested, O'Brien's battle occurs in the shadowy, private place of a soldier's mind. Like the Vietnam War itself, THINGS forces Americans to question the foundations of their beliefs and values because it calls attention to the inner conscience. More than a war story, O'Brien's The Things They Carried is an expose on personal courage. Gone are the brave and glorious warriors such as those found in the battle of Troy. In THINGS, they are replaced by young men who experience not glory or bravery, but fear, horror, and a personal sense of shame. As mythic courage clashes with the modern's experience of it, a battle is waged in THINGS that isn't confined to the rice-patties, jungles, and shit-fields of Vietnam. Carrying more than the typical soldier's wares, O'Brien's narrator is armed with an arsenal of feelings and words that slash away at an invisible enemy that is the myth of courage, on an invisible battlefield that is the Vietnam veteran's mind.
When O'Brien says that a true war story is not about war he means that a war story is not about death, fighting or war, it is about the soldiers grim experiences. O’Brien writes “A true war story in never about war… It's about love and memory. It's about sorrow” (62). The quote demonstrates that O'Brien's definition of a war story does not describe what happens but it describes the feelings and emotions that were felt because of what happened. A true war story does not focus on what happened but it should focus on the pain that the soldiers felt.
In the beginning chapter, O’Brien rambles about the items the soldiers carry into battle, ranging from can openers, pocketknives, and mosquito repellent to Kool-Aid, sewing kits, and M-16 assault rifles. Yet, the story is truly about the intangible things the soldiers “carry”: “grief, terror, love, longing. shameful memories (and) the common secret of cowardice” (Harris & O’Brien 21). Most of the soldiers did not know what the overall purpose was of fighting the Vietnamese (Tessein). The young men “carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing”.
“Every war is everyone’s war”... war will bring out the worst in even the strongest and kindest people. The book tells about how ones greed for something can destroy everything for both people and animals leaving them broken beyond repair, leaving them only with questions… Will they ever see their family again? Will they ever experience what it’s like to
The most important part of integrating anything into a plan is the logistics portion of that plan. What is
Science fiction never ceases to amaze me as I take great enjoyment in exploring these creative universes. I have always had a great interest in military science fiction for its take on technological innovation and critical analysis. Military science fiction in general is very speculative about future of technology and warfare. The military science fiction genre also serves as a critique of contemporary politics as it deals with many of the same issues that go on today. This has made military science fiction one if the most well respected genres of science fiction for it ability to indirectly criticize modern society. My Integrated Project explores the relationship between how technology that has arisen from war has been some of the most innovative and why war has become an unshakeable aspect of human existence.