Crane, Herr & Wright

I was a little apprehensive about these articles, knowing that they would be dealing directly with those at war. My boyfriend goes to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, and he just signed his two for seven which requires him five years of mandatory service after he graduates. He's going straight into the Marines, so this was enlightening and difficult all at the same time. For anyone, whether you know someone in military services or not, these were difficult reads. Not difficult in that the style or level of writing was intense, but it's a harsh look at reality: our country at war. What all of the pieces managed to do very well was place the reader very directly into the scene. You could imagine the images, no matter how disturbing they may have been.

Crane's article, "Marines Signaling Under Fire at Guantanamo" was interesting. It was very descriptive, and it certainly placed me right in the midst of the action. I didn't necessarily like the article, for some reason I was kind of bored. However, the most moving part of his article were the last sentences in our version, "I know nothing about war, of course, and pretend nothing, but I have been enabled from time to time to see brush fighting, and I want to say here plainly that the behavior of these Rough Riders while marching through the woods shook me with terror as I have never before been shaken." I think that thought/idea really captures how any normal civilian would understand and feel about experiencing even a day of what these men and women experience for months, even years.

I really liked Herr's Article, "Hell Sucks." I love when the title or a focal point of an article is actually something small scattered within the pages, yet really captures the whole thing. That's very creative. I did have somewhat of a hard time following this article, which is embarrassingly because I don't know much about this particular war (oops). Well, I could follow it, I just didn't understand what some things meant like, "VC" or "NVA". Other than that, I liked a bunch of things about it. I liked how much Herr really captured little details that mattered so much. For example, what the men and women would write on their helmets and jackets, names of old operations, girlfriends names, or their war names. The impression I got from Herr's article was that these men and women really fight hard and really grab motivation and strength from whatever source they can think of.

Most of all, I loved Wright's article "The Killer Elite." Now, first of all the way I guage if something is a worthy read or not is whether or not it really moves me. Not just in a way that makes me think about it for a while, but makes me think about it in a way I've never thought about before. Or even if it stirs deep emotion. Without a doubt having someone so close to me coming upon a transition to military life certainly effected how I reacted to this article. There were many points when (I hate to admit it) I started to get really upset and had to go back to reading it later. It's hard to imagine anyone in these situations taking one step in the wrong direction, or one split second of distraction just losing their life. Whether or not the this article is read by someone who does or doesn't support the war, I think it will undoubtedly make someone support the sacrifice that these men and women make everyday. Ah such a serious note. My favorite part of this article was when Wright described some of the back and forth banter between the men. It immediately made me think of my boyfriend, his friends and how they would probably be acting just like those guys. I think an amazing part of this piece was how Wright kept the phrase "Get Some!" as a constant thread throughout. I think it does really capture the mentality and sense of excitement the men and women experience during times of war. But besides just looking at it as a somewhat barbaric phrase, it is also something that definitely unifies all of them. That is their own phrase that they use. And only those men and women truly understand how much that phrase means.