In The Valley of Elah is undoubtedly one of the most realistic depictions of a modern soldiers experience during the war in Iraq. This film exposes the challenges that many soldiers face upon returning home from duty. In the Valley of Elah follows a detective plot as Hank Deerfield tries to find his AWOL son, Mike, who has just returned home from active duty in Iraq. As Hank pieces together the events that lead to his sons death, the viewers see how traumatized the returning soldiers are. This film submerges the viewer in very powerful and gruesome incidents, which is seen through the photographs and cell phone footage that Mike records while in Iraq. Throughout the film, Mike’s mental state progressively degrades through the photographs and footage that Hank unveils. The lack of support that Mike receives from his father, and the traumatizing events he witnessed in Iraq contributed to Mike’s Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Mike’s fellow soldiers Corporal Penning, Spc. Bonner, Spc. Long and Private Ortiez all show visible signs of mental trauma from duty in Iraq as well. Living in such an intense and horrific environment makes it difficult for soldiers to adapt to normal life when they return back home. Paul Haggis’s use of these images and clips helps shed light to a topic (PTSD) that has gone largely unnoticed for returning soldiers.
In the first few minutes of the film, the audience is in Iraq with Mike and his unit. Mike says he will be making “history” by throwing an American football to Iraqi children (In the Valley of Elah 2007). In this scene Mike attempts to bridge the gap between “them and us,” he’s trying to lighten the mood by interacting with people who are supposed to be seen as the “enemy.” The side of Mike that ...
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...fter living in constant fear and “war mode,” it is difficult for soldiers to lose the habits they developed in Iraq. They are on constant alert and when alcohol is added to a heated situation, some soldiers have a difficult time holding back their military instincts to fight and kill. Even though Mike’s story might be glorified by the film industry, it is not completely out of the realm for a soldier to experience a similar incident and have resulting mental health affects. Paul Haggis does an exceptional job of bringing PTSD and stress disorders to the public.
Works Cited
In the Valley of Elah. Dir. Paul Haggis. Perf. Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, and
Jason Patric. Warner Independent Pictures, 2007. DVD.
"PTSD: National Center for PTSD." Mental Health Effects of Serving in Afghanistan and
Iraq -. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2014.
It’s hard for civilians to see what veterans had to face and still do even after all is said and done. The rhetorical strategies that contribute to Grady’s success in this article is appealing to the reader’s emotions through the story of Jason Poole. Denise Grady’s “Struggling Back From War’s Once Deadly Wounds” acts as an admonition for the American public and government to find a better way to assist troops to land on their feet post-war. Grady informs the reader on the recent problems risen through advancements in medical technology and how it affected the futures of all the troops sent into the Iraq war.
The book Outlaw Platoon written by Sean Parnell is a soldiers’ tale of his platoon in one of the most dangerous places on earth. This book is a non-fiction riveting work that tells the story of a platoon that spent sixteen months on an operating base in the Bermel Valley, the border of Pakistan. This mission the men were sent on was part of a mission called Operation Enduring Freedom. This book is extremely relevant to the war that we are still fighting in Afghanistan and the humanitarian work that continues. We still have men in this area fighting and losing their lives everyday. It is the focus of ongoing political debates and the purpose of our involvement there is an ongoing question in the minds of many Americans. In writing this book, Parnell makes it clear in his author’s notes that he indeed was not trying to pursue one political agenda over another. His goal as not to speak of all members of the platoon and expose their identities and the types of soldiers they were but instead to showcase some of the men’s bravery and abilities during the war. Parnell believed that he owed it to the men to write something that would show the world what these men go through during combat in an honest and raw account. Another purpose of Parnell’s in writing this book is an attempt at making sure these men are given a place in American war history.
This psychological memoir is written from the eyes of Ishmael Beah and it describes his life through the war and through his recovery. War is one of the most horrific things that could ever happen to anyone. Unwilling young boy soldiers to innocent mothers and children are all affected. In most instances the media or government does not show the horrific parts of war, instead they focus on the good things that happen to make the people happy and not cause political issues. In his book A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah dispels the romanticism around war through the loss of childhood innocence, the long road of emotional recovery and the mental and physical affects of war.
In the aftermath of a comparatively minor misfortune, all parties concerned seem to be eager to direct the blame to someone or something else. It seems so easy to pin down one specific mistake that caused everything else to go wrong in an everyday situation. However, war is a vastly different story. War is ambiguous, an enormous and intangible event, and it cannot simply be blamed for the resulting deaths for which it is indirectly responsible. Tim O’Brien’s story, “In the Field,” illustrates whom the soldiers turn to with the massive burden of responsibility for a tragedy. The horrible circumstances of war transform all involved and tinge them with an absurd feeling of personal responsibility as they struggle to cope.
The violent nature that the soldiers acquired during their tour in Vietnam is one of O'Brien's predominant themes in his novel. By consciously selecting very descriptive details that reveal the drastic change in manner within the men, O'Brien creates within the reader an understanding of the effects of war on its participants. One of the soldiers, "Norman Bowler, otherwise a very gentle person, carried a Thumb. . .The Thumb was dark brown, rubbery to touch. . . It had been cut from a VC corpse, a boy of fifteen or sixteen"(O'Brien 13). Bowler had been a very good-natured person in civilian life, yet war makes him into a very hard-mannered, emotionally devoid soldier, carrying about a severed finger as a trophy, proud of his kill. The transformation shown through Bowler is an excellent indicator of the psychological and emotional change that most of the soldiers undergo. To bring an innocent young man from sensitive to apathetic, from caring to hateful, requires a great force; the war provides this force. However, frequently are the changes more drastic. A soldier named "Ted Lavender adopted an orphaned puppy. . .Azar strapped it to a Claymore antipersonnel mine and squeezed the firing device"(O'Brien 39). Azar has become demented; to kill a puppy that someone else has adopted is horrible. However, the infliction of violence has become the norm of behavior for these men; the fleeting moment of compassion shown by one man is instantly erased by another, setting order back within the group. O'Brien here shows a hint of sensitivity among the men to set up a startling contrast between the past and the present for these men. The effect produced on the reader by this contrast is one of horror; therefore fulfilling O'Brien's purpose, to convince the reader of war's severely negative effects.
Rebel Without a Cause. Dir. Nicholas Ray. Perf. James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, and Jim
In this investigation, the personal side of the soldiers who fought in the Vietnam war will be examined- particularly the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that were most common in veterans, and the different experiences in the war or after returning home that could have caused them. The types of warfare, deaths, and differences from methods used in the Vietnam War will be discussed. Technological advancements and mindsets of the different times of the wars will be taken into account. The definition of PTSD and descriptions of different general causes will be mentioned, as well. Different accounts from veterans and reports on PTSD Vietnam War veteran victims will be analyzed for individual cases and examples. Sources used will include Wounds of War by Herbert Hendin and Ann Pollinger Haas and information on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the National Institute of Mental Health’s website.
Nearly 60 to 80 percent of Vietnam combat vets seeking treatment for PTSD, abused the use of drugs and/or alcohol. The study also revealed that more than 90 percent of those individuals, were diagnosed with alcohol dependency. With a recent interview with a helicopter pilot, Keane began to explain his experiences in Vietnam. Veteran Keane says that with the loss of a fellow soldier, they would drown the loss by drinking to make it appear like they weren’t bothered by it. Keane says. “The more that vets are exposed to war and develop psychological problems from war, such as PTSD, the more likely they are to develop alcoholism” (Danitz). The ability to cope with the physiological effects of PTSD is reduced severely when alcohol is
War is no child 's play, but unfortunately, we have had times in our past when the youth of our great nation had to defend it. Combat is not an easy for anyone; watching death, the constant ring of gunfire, the homesickness, fearing for your life, and witnessing bloodshed daily, this will begin to take its toll. The minds threshold for brutality can only handle so much and eventually will become sickened by these events. This sickness is called Post-traumatic stress disorder. As shown through the characters of The Things They Carried, soldiers of war may begin to show PTSD symptoms before the war is over, and may continue to fight the disorder after the war has ended.
Bracken, Patrick and Celia Petty (editors). Rethinking the Trauma of War. New York, NY: Save the Children Fund, Free Association Books, Ltd, 1998.
In the story “Home Soil” by Irene Zabytko, the reader is enlightened about a boy who was mentally and emotionally drained from the horrifying experiences of war. The father in the story knows exactly what the boy is going through, but he cannot help him, because everyone encounters his or her own recollection of war. “When their faces are contorted from sucking the cigarette, there is an unmistakable shadow of vulnerability and fear of living. That gesture and stance are more eloquent than the blood and guts war stories men spew over their beers” (Zabytko 492). The father, as a young man, was forced to reenact some of the same obligations, yet the father has learne...
The author, Tim O'Brien, is writing about an experience of a tour in the Vietnam conflict. This short story deals with inner conflicts of some individual soldiers and how they chose to deal with the realities of the Vietnam conflict, each in their own individual way as men, as soldiers.
Every American soldier endured rigorous training to become the soldier they are today, but throughout all this training, there are a few things that a soldier can't simply learn. Training and development is treated as preparation for war situations, and much like ordinary grade school, they are tested to see how well each soldier does in each area (Huerta, 2014). Even after all this organizing and teaching, a soldier's mind is still just as human as it was before seeing action in battle. Once a soldier learns to control every situation imaginable, they are sent overseas to put all their training to use; but simulations can only get you so far. At some point, there is a moment when a soldier will step out of his or her body and truly realize how far from home they are, and that the violence of war is just a way of their new daily life. At this point "a soldier is considered dirty" (Phillips, 2014). Although for a soldier this sounds like a step in the right direction in this particular line of work, it's really a step down a dark path, and part of the soldier will never return. Now American soldiers are haunted by the negative psychological effects resulting in the harsh symptoms of PTSD (Posttraumatic stress disorder) as seen in Jarhead's main character Anthony Swofford.
...though people believe that, those on the home front have it just as a bad as the soldiers, because they have to deal with the responsibilities of their husbands, there is nothing that can compare to what these men have gone through. The war itself consumed them of their ideology of a happy life, and while some might have entered the war with the hope that they would soon return home, most men came to grips with the fact that they might never make it out alive. The biggest tragedy that follows the war is not the number of deaths and the damages done, it is the broken mindset derives from being at war. These men are all prime examples of the hardships of being out at war and the consequences, ideologies, and lifestyles that develop from it.
Dir. Julie Taymor. Perf. Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange. Fox Searchlight Pictures, 1999.