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The emotional effects of war on soldiers
Decision making in the military
The emotional effects of war on soldiers
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O’Brien says “I would go to the war—I would kill and maybe die—because I was embarrassed not to” while describing his reason for ultimately deciding to go to war. This statement exhibits embarrassment’s ability to overpower a man’s fear of war and even his drive to follow his notions and stand up for what he believes in. O’Brien disregarded his hatred for this “wrong war” along with his fear and reluctance to die for it. He decided that he would rather go and fight simply because he couldn’t “endure the mockery, or the disgrace, or the patriotic ridicule” that he knew would come his way soon after skipping town and heading for Canada. He even knew that running away and hiding, as ironic as it sounds, was the braver thing to do because it would mean that he had stood up for what he believed in, despite the inevitable embarrassment it would cause. There was a lot of pressure put on those men who were drafted during this time period. One component of this pressure was society’s views of masculinity. Men were supposed to be unafraid of the dangers of war if it meant they would be able...
Before O’Brien was drafted into the army, he had an all American childhood. As talked about “His mother was an elementary school teacher, his father an insurance salesman and sailor in World War II” (O’Brien). He spent his tour of duty from 1969 to 1970 as a foot soldier. He was sent home when he got hit with a shrapnel in a grenade attack. O’Brien says as the narrator, “As a fiction writer, I do not write just about the world we live in, but I also write about the world we ought to live in, and could, which is a world of imagination.” (O’Brien)
Think that O'Brien is still suffering from what he experienced in Vietnam and he uses his writing to help him deal with his conflicts. In order to deal with war or other traumatic experiences, you sometimes just have to relive the experiences over and over. This is what O'Brien does with his writing; he expresses his emotional truths even if it means he has to change the facts of the literal truth. The literal truth, or some of the things that happen during war, are so horrible that you don't want to believe that it could've actually happened. For instance, "[o]ne colonel wanted the hearts cut out of the dead Vietcong to feed to his dog..
But in 1980, President Carter reinstated the draft in a way, stating all men born after January 1, 1960 were require to register with Selection Service, but this was not reinforced after about he of 1986. Today, the question is debated about whether or not we, as Americans, should reinstate the draft. Those in favor of reinstating the draft argue that our country would be safer, those drafted would learn important lifelong lessons and build characteristics that today’s generation has lost, and Americans would learn to appreciate more, something our society has forgotten. Those who oppose the draft argue that there would not be many, if any, families that are not military based and have to worry about loosing people in their family. Reinstating the military draft is
Overall, the author showed us the courageous and coward s acts of O’Brien the character. The fact that he was a coward made him do a heroic act. O’Brien made the valiant decision to go to war. It would have been easier and cowardly to jump and swim away from all his fears. However he decided to turn back, and fight for something he did not believe in. Thinking about the consequences of running away makes him a hero. He went to war not because he wanted to fight for his country, but for his own freedom. Either choice he could have made would take some kind of courage to carry out. Going to war required some sort of fearlessness. In other words, running away from the law would have been brave; but going to war was even tougher.
An emotional burden that the men must carry is the longing for their loved ones. The Vietnam War forced many young men to leave their loved ones and move halfway across the world to fight a ...
Although the soldiers were united and served for the same goal, each of the men had a different motivation. For O’Brien, his motivation to join the war was the shame of running away. Almost all of the characters were afraid of being ashamed, and that served as a drive for them to do acts of heroism and similarly acts of stupidity. For example, in the story “On the Rainy River”, shame drove O’Brien to do an act of heroism as a fear of being ashamed. O’Brien wrote “For more than twenty years I 've had to live with it, feeling the shame, trying to
It is known that he was a sergeant, he was shot multiple times, and his friend,Linda, died when he was young. It is also known that O’Brien would make up stories to bring his friend back to life. O’Brien tells us “I made elaborate stories to bring Linda alive in my sleep (O’Brien 243).” Later, O’Brien would bring his other friends back using stories. This shows that there was something wrong with O’Brien before he went to war. It also helps to show that the problem was made worse by the war. O’Brien says that “something had gone wrong. I’d come to this war a quiet, thoughtful sort of person, a college grad...but after the seven months in the bush I realized that those high, civilized trappings had somehow been crushed under the weight of the simple daily realities (200).” O’Brien had directly stated his realization that the war had changed him. He figured out that his personality had changed; he realized that he now felt more mean.
The Conscription Act delivered the final straw in the long list of discrepancies, the catalyst that turned that small forest fire into a raging inferno of hate and fear. The white working class (mostly Irish immigrants) were infuriated, they couldn’t understand how they, white, hard-working voters were being punished. The government was forcing them to fight a war they didn’t support and the only way they could avoid it was to pay 300 dollars (a years wages for most), yet they would pay African Americans 1,000 dollars for volunteering. The new federal draft conditions also expanded to include a wider age range of men it would take. “The conscription law targeted men between the ages of 20 and 35, and all unmarried men up to age 45.” Adding to the already high tensions of laborers, since the enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation they ...
From this, supporters of women joining the draft argue that their involvement in the draft should also reflect on their increasing involvement in the army. However, those who oppose women being apart of the draft argue that equality between men and women is an unrealistic mindset. This is proven in the New York Times with Catherine Rampell’s when she writes “Women earn 92.2 cents on the dollar of what men earn” (1). This is a statistic from 2011 that shows people that complete equality between men and women has still not fully been reached. Furthermore, those opposed to women and the draft argue that if America has not completely reached full equality within the genders, then neither should the army.
In the chapter titled, “On the Rainy River,” O’Brien demonstrates his “experience” of going into the war, and being drafted to Canada. O’Brien adds immense amount of detail to express the things motivating him from wanting to escape the draft. “I’d slipped out of my own skin hovering a few feet away while some poor yo-yo with my name and
The male-dominated institution that is the U.S. military, through daily practice, has shown its implementing of hegemonic masculinity among ranks. As this institution relies on rigid masculine qualities, it feeds from the history of hyper-masculinity. Warfare and hegemonic masculinity go hand in hand, “for ages throughout countless societies the final initiation rite from boyhood to manhood has been an inclusion in the practice of war” (Morgan 125). Through this idea, “boys who aspire to manhood, and men seeking to express theirs, follow masculine scripts generated in and for particular milieus, but they must also negotiate their course in relation to the hegemonic forms of contemporary masculinity and femininity” (Nye 1940). This ideal of a strong and aggressive leader is emphasized through American war politics as well “where our major response to the indirect tactics of guerrilla warfare has been to rely upon more and bigger ‘strikes’ and ‘assaults’, despite all the evidence of their long-run ineffectiveness” (Mansfield 351). Essentially this idea that to prove oneself through the strength and refusal to retreat, regardless of the effectiveness of the strategy “seems to reflect a psychological reality” within the military: “to lose will be to unman us all” (Mansfield
A major motivator that got men to enlist in the Civil War was “rage militarie,” (McPherson, 16). In the beginning of the war, around 1861and 1862 (McPherson, 16), many chose to enlist; the draft had not started yet. With so many men enlisting, many others wanted to do so as well. It was a craze, and very excited phase of the war. “…the feeling runs mountains high, and thousands of men are offering their services where hundreds only are required,” (McPherson, 16). Many men felt obligated to enlist and defend their beloved country, or even just their hometowns, homes, women and families, because so many others had. The peer pressure on a man was to love their nation as much as their neighbor, which greatly influenced men to enlist in the war. This mania died down but would burst into life again when later points of crisis would become present, (McPherson, 17). The idea of “rage militarie” was present in both the Union and the Confederate.
He states that as a soldier, there is so much to soak in from war scenes that it all becomes a muddled mess. Therefore, the story of the moment can be different from each soldier’s perspective due to the parts where each man puts in his own ideas. This leads to some speculation as to whether or not O’Brien’s stories are true or false.
Tim O'Brien is confused about the Vietnam War. He is getting drafted into it, but is also protesting it. He gets to boot camp and finds it very difficult to know that he is going off to a country far away from home and fighting a war that he didn't believe was morally right. Before O'Brien gets to Vietnam he visits a military Chaplin about his problem with the war. "O'Brien I am really surprised to hear this. You're a good kid but you are betraying you country when you say these things"(60). This says a lot about O'Brien's views on the Vietnam War. In the reading of the book, If I Die in a Combat Zone, Tim O'Brien explains his struggles in boot camp and when he is a foot soldier in Vietnam.
This allows the reader to see what takes place rather than what is perceived. O’Brien’s main objective is to expose the subjectivity that lies within truth. To point out a specific contradiction within truth, he uses war to highlight this difference. He writes, “The truths are contradictory. It can be argued, for instance, that war is grotesque. But in truth war is also beauty” (77). The truth has two different meanings and it all depends on who is interpreting it. One person may think one truth and another person can see the complete opposite. To go along with this ambiguity within truth he states, “Almost everything is true. Almost nothing is true” (77). He once again shows that truth is up for interpretation. There is not a single, universal truth, however, there are many variations of it. As previously mentioned, O’Brien claims that he honestly admit that he has both never killed a man and has in fact killed somebody. Here he is stating that there can be completely different answers that all seem to be the truthful. Whether or not O’Brien killed someone, he felt like he did, but could answer that he didn’t. It is this discrepancy that proves that it is all relative. When it comes to telling the story it becomes “difficult difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen,” (67). This is what causes the subjectivity, the unknowingness of the situation. Since