21st Century Perspectives on War: A Concept as Old as Time

Overall, I would say the edublog experience was positive.  However, I did have minor technological difficulties.  A great thing is to be able to use new and improving technology.  Had it not been for this class, I probably never would have had an experience to use edublogs.  However, in the future if the choice is to use edublog or blackboard, I would defiantly choose blackboard because students are more familiar with the site and experiences less technological difficulties.

The actual web site was easy to create and navigate.  We were required to create a complete blogroll, a link to google reader, visible RSS, and have readable font and pleasing aesthetics.  The entire process took less then thirty minutes even though I had never used the program before.  The directions were extremely clear and easy to follow.

I did experience some technological difficulties when the time came to post our first three posts.  Being the normal college student, of course I waited until Tuesday afternoon to begin to write any of my first three posts.  Procrastinating was a big mistake.  I write all of my blogs on Microsoft Word First (so I have access to spell check, not my strong point).  Once I had the posts completed, I tired to log onto edublog and each time it told me there was a service error.  Hoping the problem was my computer, I quickly drove to the school and found myself waiting in line in Henry Hall for a computer.  Once I had access to a computer I had the same technical difficult. The only cure for this problem was to delete my old URL and create a new one. Needless to say, I learned my lesson and did not procrastinate on the next several assignments and made sure to have them uploaded and published at least a week in advance.        

The actual writing process was a success and at most times interesting. I wrote a few posts that were particularly interesting and easy to relate material in class to outside resources.  My first was “Gender Roles During War Time”.  The post described the gender stereotypes relating them to past and present wars.  Another post I enjoyed writing was “As A Society Have We Become Immune To The Concept of War”.  It was enlightening to research the difference in societies general approach to war between the Iraq War and World War II.  My most recent post, “Roll of Faith and War” was my favorite one to write.  I grew up in a very religious family.  While I am proud of my faith and religion, I find myself questioning things daily after researching and writing the post. I found I was not the only individual who had these questions and assumptions.

We were also required to write at least ten comments to our classmates posts these are the URL’s for my comments

1)      http://tumac.edublogs.org/2008/04/02/good-morning-vietnam/#respond

2)      http://tumac.edublogs.org/2008/04/02/good-morning-vietnam/#respond

3)      http://palmeral.edublogs.org/2008/02/26/remembering-the-past/#respond

4)      http://ullreyg.edublogs.org/2008/03/26/since-you-went-away/

5)      http://ullreyg.edublogs.org/2008/02/03/on-death-and-dying/

6)      http://mcdonaln.edublogs.org/2008/02/06/hard-times/#respond

7)      http://whitepe.edublogs.org/2008/02/06/looking-both-ways/

8)      http://tubbsd.edublogs.org/2008/02/06/the-cost-of-war/#comments

9)      http://kerijaynes.uniblogs.org/2008/03/26/describing-realities-through-literature/#comments

10)  http://derekvp.uniblogs.org/2008/04/06/unfinished-business/#respond

Overall, I really enjoyed edublog.  I am an extremely shy person and find it difficult to participate in class discussions.  I found that this was an easy way for me to communicate my opinions with my classmates and have a chance to give them positive and negative feed back on their posts.   

Whether you consider yourself a religious person and believe in God (or some higher power) or are not affiliated with religion, everybody believes in something.  Solidiers use their beliefs to make it through everyday struggles.  After reading several milblogs, poems, memoirs, novels, and watching several movies it is suprising how many references there are to faith. 

World War One poet Siegfried Sasson makes several references to god in his poems an example of this is his ‘They’ The Bishop tells us: ‘When the boys come back
‘They will not be the same; for they’ll have fought
‘In a just cause: they lead the last attack
‘On Anti-Christ; their comrades’ blood has bought
‘New right to breed an honourable race,
‘They have challenged Death and dared him face to face.”We’re none of us the same!’ the boys reply.
‘For George lost both his legs; and Bill’s stone blind;
‘Poor Jim’s shot through the lungs and like to die;
‘And Bert’s gone syphilitic: you’ll not find
‘A chap who’s served that hasn’t found some change.
‘ And the Bishop said: ‘The ways of God are strange!’In this poem he makes a humorous connection between tragedy and God by saying “the ways of God are strange” giving solidiers a sense of security, no matter if it gets so bad and your leg gets blown off causing the rest of your life to be spent in a wheelchair, “the ways of god are strange” and that was his plan for you. Another World War One poet that makes reference to religion is Edward Thomas in his poem This is No Case of Petty Right or Wrong: This is no case of petty right or wrong
That politicians or philosophers
Can judge. I hate not Germans, nor grow hot
With love of Englishmen, to please newspapers.
Beside my hate for one fat patriot
My hatred of the Kaiser is love true:–
A kind of god he is, banging a gong.
But I have not to choose between the two,
Or between justice and injustice. Dinned
With war and argument I read no more
Than in the storm smoking along the wind
Athwart the wood. Two witches’ cauldrons roar.
From one the weather shall rise clear and gay;
Out of the other an England beautiful
And like her mother that died yesterday.Little I know or care if, being dull,
I shall miss something that historians
Can rake out of the ashes when perchance
The phoenix broods serene above their ken.
But with the best and meanest Englishmen
I am one in crying, God save England, lest
We lose what never slaves and cattle blessed.
The ages made her that made us from dust:
She is all we know and live by, and we trust
She is good and must endure, loving her so:
And as we love ourselves we hate our foe.He makes religious references for reasons comepletely different then Siegfried Sasson.  Siegfried Sasson made his references relating to individual solidiers not the country as a whole.  Edward Thomas, on the other hand, makes his references to England as a whole “God save England” it does not matter if the reference to God is for an entire country or rather just for an individual the goal is to lift the spirits of believers and both of these poems do just that. The use of religion in poems is still popular even in the present war of Iraq, Jimmy Li is a Christian in the Marines and has written a series of twenty-one religious poems during his time in Iraq.  His first was Blair’s Field Stay:Oh Lord, I hate apathy.
How I despise lukewarm!
I pray that spiritually,
To the world I won’t conform.I wake up each morning,
To find myself again in,
Radio Speakers blaring,
Iraqi Freedom mission.Everyday seems the same,
No Sundays or Saturday,
Boredom seems to make things tame,
But everyday is a Monday.I just ask Lord God Almighty,
As I stay in Al Kut,
May I serve Him mightily,
No ifs, excuses or but.

He wrote this poem, one of the first nights he was in Iraq.  Later he stated “Those days were long with little shade during the day and little sleep at night.  The poem expresses a concern I have that the long routine would make me callous or lukewarm towards God.”  Jimmy Li is not the only individual that questioned his faith during a time of war.  Elie Wiesel questioned his faith during the Holocaust on page 45 of Night he states:  “Some of the men spoke of God: His mysterious ways, the sins of the Jewish people, and the redemption to come. As for me, I had ceased to pray. I concured with Job! I wan not denying His existence, but I doubted His absolute justice.” Also on page 65 after he watches a younger boy being hanged he states: “for God’s sake, where is God?” and on page 69 it seems as if he was going to give up all together “There was no longer any reason for me to fast. I no longer accepted God’s silence. As I swallowed my ration of soup, I turned that act into a symbol of rebellion, of protest against Him.”

When facing a major struggle such as during a time of war it is easy to begin to loose faith.  However, it is time like these that faith is needed the most.  It is imporant to remember to hang on to your beliefs during a time of need even though you feel as though you are being let down.

Sources

Marine For Christ

Iraq Truth Evangelical Assistance Ministries

4 April 2008

They

Siegfried Sassoon

4 April 2008

There Is No Case of Petty Right or Wrong

Edward Thomas

4 April 2008

Week after week in class the tragedies of war become more immune to our conversation.  In the first couple weeks of hearing stories of families at war that have lost their loved ones, recieved a completely different reaction from the class as a whole there were more comments regarding sympathy for the family and friends.  However, I feel that as time has passed we have begun to become immune to the concept of death and injury at war and the sypathitic undertones that were once in our voices have slowly diminished.  For everyday discussion in the classroom this has been a positive thing allowing us to focus more on content rather then sympathy.  However, I think that the sympathitic aspect needs to be focused on in everyday society.  We do not want to forget the family members that are losing their loved ones and these are the individuals we need to keep in our hearts and prayers. 

The first time I saw a big change in our class’s tone of voice while disscussing tragedies of war was during the discussion of Night, the nobel peace prize award winnng novel by Elie Wiesel.  The Holocaust is one of the most tragic events in world history, however, no one’s tone of voice seemed to show much sympathy for what the Jews had suffered during this horrible time period.  Every individual in our class has sympathy for victims and survivors of the Holocaust however, it is a historical topic that we have talked about since our first days of history class.  Was the repetion of the same infomation causing us to show less emotions for the victims?  I feel horrible about all the families that were torn apart during the Holocaust I could not bear the thought of someone doing this to my family.  However, when I talk about the Holocaust it is as if I show no remorse for the victims this is only because it is a topic that I have disscussed, read numerous books, newspaper articles, and seen various movies on.  The infomation is not new and shocking to me anymore.  This is how I feel that American society is begining to view the Iraq War.

The Iraq War began with the attacks on the World Trade Towers on September 11, 2001.  Just under three thousand  innocent Americans lost their lives.  This was a tragic day in history and will definitely be one in everyone’s hearts.  However, the death toll of the Iraq War just plunged to over four thousand. Will we remember all of those that died?  Will they remain in our hearts like the vicitims of September 11?  They should, however, the pathetic truth is that they probably will not and slowly will be forgetten over time.  Is it because the three thousand deaths were on the same day so it is easier to remember that one day rather than the hundreds of days in the past seven years that solidiers have died? Would it make a difference if it was your own child, uncle, aunt, husband, wife, sister, or brother?  As a society we need to keep these families in our thoughts everyday in order to insure that we still show symapthy and appraciation for our brothers and sisters fighting at war.

Sources 

 New York Reduces 9/11 Death Toll by 40

 CNN.com 

 4 April 2008 

Hundreds Protest Iraq War as Death Toll Hits 4,000

Washington Square News

4 April 2007

After watching Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July an individual begins to understand what life would be like for an injurgied solidier returning from war.  Injuired war veteran Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise) returns to his hometown of Massapequa, New York after suffering substantial injuries that left him paralyzed.  He comes back home only to find the same memories, families, and friends that he had left.  However, instead this time he feels as though he is compeletly hopeless and must rely on his family and friends to complete even the simplest of tasks.  This heartfelt war story makes an individual realize just how difficult life is as a solider; whether they are on the front line, laying in a hospitial bed, or just returning from overseas.  Life does not stop while they are gone and they must find a place to fit in, in the home they left several months or years prior.

Upon returing home from battle many solidiers feel a sense of accomplishment; they did their job and now they get to leave.  However, the injured ones question themselves, playing back in their minds the time prior to the injury.  Could they have done something different?  Could they have saved another life?  These are questions that will never be answered, the thoughts haunt them every night in their dreams.  If civilians were to show more gratitude toward their fellow soldiers and recognize that they did not want the war anymore than the next person,  our society as a whole would feel a better sense of belonging and encourage our solidies to go overseas, get the job done, and get home safely. 

Let us look at the story of one solidier that has been fighting in the Iraq war and was just able to return home for a short period of time.   As the solider was entering his car after leaving a gas station just outside of Fort Knox he heard a woman’s voice say “excuse me.”  He turned around and found a mother with her seven year old son.  The little boy peered up into the soliders eyes and blurted out “Thank you for your service” and immediatly tried to hide behind his mother.  The solider thanked the boy and drove away in his car with a grin on his face.

If more soliders were shown the same gratidue there would be a stronger sense of union on the home front .  This would give solidiers a sense of unity and the feeling that they were fighting for an important cause.  

Sources

A Solidier’s Perspective

by Word Press

4 April 2008

In history it is questioned how one person can make such a huge difference, after all it’s just one person. How did George Washington lead the United States to independence against the British and then go on to become the first president of the United States. Harriet Tubman risked her life everyday to help her African American brothers and sisters to the northern states where they could be free. What gives one person so much strength and courage to risk their life everyday to better the lives of others? During World War II thousands of Jews lost their lives. How did these individuals have the strength and courage to go on day after day knowing that if they were lucky enough to make it through today they probably will not make it through tomorrow? They were merely the victims of this tragedy; they had not done anything to deserve the way in which they were treated.

In the Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech delivered by Elie Wiesel in Oslo on December 10, 1986 he states:

“There is so much to be done, there is so much that can be done. One person — a Raoul Wallenberg, an Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King, Jr. — one person of integrity, can make a difference, a difference of life and death. As long as one dissident is in prison, our freedom will not be true. As long as one child is hungry, our life will be filled with anguish and shame. What all these victims need above all is to know that they are not alone; that we are not forgetting them, that when their voices are stifled we shall lend them ours, that while their freedom depends on ours, the quality of our freedom depends on theirs.”

Clearly one person can make a difference whether it be to save the lives of thousands or destroy the live of thousands.
Looking at other articles we have read in class and a few I have found on milblogs, it’s questionable who are the heroes who impacted others’ lives and who were just betrayed as heroes even though they did not impact any.

First let’s look at true war hero Andrew Olmstead, who was killed in Iraq on January 3, 2008. In his last paragraph of his post he states:

“On a similar note, while you’re free to think whatever you like about my life and death, if you think I wasted my life, I’ll tell you you’re wrong. We’re all going to die of something. I died doing a job I loved. When your time comes, I hope you are as fortunate as I was”

Any individual who dies in a war could be considered a hero, no matter the circumstances of their death. My feeling is your personality is what makes the real hero. For this reason I believe Andrew Olmstead is one of the greatest war heroes during the Iraq war. In his last post it is evident that he died doing something he loved, he was not forced to go to Iraq, he went there by choice and he knew that death was an option and he still had the strength and courage to go. His last two lines of his post sums up the characteristic and personality that a true hero has “I died doing a job I loved. When your time comes, I hope you are as fortunate as I was”

Next let’s look at two World War I British poets who both had very different agendas. Rupert Brooke wrote his poetry possessing war as a reality every man should be honored to fight for his/her country. In his poem Safety,

“Dear! of all happy in the hour, most blest
He who has found our hid security,
Assured in the dark tides of the world that rest,
And heard our word, “Who is so safe as we?”
We have found safety with all things undying,
The winds, and morning, tears of men and mirth,
The deep night, and birds singing, and clouds flying,
And sleep, and freedom, and the autumnal earth.

We have built a house that is not for Time’s throwing.
We have gained a peace unshaken by pain for ever.
War knows no power. Safe shall be my going,
Secretly armed against all death’s endeavour;
Safe though all safety’s lost; safe where men fall;
And if these poor limbs die, safest of all.”

Looking closely at line seven, the author lists several characteristics. These characteristics are the deep night, birds singing, and clouds flying. If one were to describe war these three adjectives would not be ones that you would expect the average individual to list. However by doing this Brooke gave war a different meaning to people he gave them a sense of encouragement and safety to enlist. The next poet Wilfred Owen does the complete opposite he describes the bloody battles of war and paints an unpleasant picture in the readers head. Looking at one of his famous poems Arms and the Boy:

“Let the boy try along this bayonet-blade
How cold steel is, and keen with hunger of blood;
Blue with all malice, like a madman’s flash;
And thinly drawn with famishing for flesh.

Lend him to stroke these blind, blunt bullet-heads
Which long to muzzle in the hearts of lads.
Or give him cartridges of fine zinc teeth,
Sharp with the sharpness of grief and death.

For his teeth seem for laughing round an apple.
There lurk no claws behind his fingers supple;
And God will grow no talons at his heels,
Nor antlers through the thickness of his curls.”

After reading this poem chills are sent through your spine. Wilfred Owen is able to describe a small period of time with enough description to leave the reader thinking for hours. After talking to several individuals who read this poem, they were left with a vivid image and one that would not make them anymore apt to go and join the military. So who made the biggest impact on history, Owen or Brooke? It could be argued that neither lied, they just described and characterized war differently.

Next let us look at Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth. Brittain was a nurse during World War I. Everyday her eyes were subject to blood, she put her life on the line to treat wounded soldiers, she saw some of the grossest scenes during World War I and she still continued to work everyday. In my eyes and in the eyes of most Brittain would be considered a hero. However, let’s look more closely at the two men she describes throughout this book. Her fiancé Roland and her brother Edward were both soldiers fighting in the war, however, each had different roles in the war and each died different deaths. Roland merely walked into it he knew how dangerous it was to go into the trenches and yet he still went (not being told to) while Edward died a more traditional war death. Is one a coward and one a hero, are they both cowards, or are both heroes? After reading the memoir the question of Edwards cowardice or heroism is not one that even needs questioning he was clearly a great war hero. However, the death of Roland is described as:

“That was all. There was no more to learn. Not even a military purpose seemed to have been served by his death, the one poor consolation was that his routine assumption of responsibility had severed the winning party.”

Does this make him a coward or a hero? I think it makes him neither, he was not a complete coward but was no hero. Roland was a brave solider who lost his life to stupidity. Did they both make a difference in history? I am sure they did.

It’s fair to say that everybody will make a difference in someone’s history our stories will always be told whether it is by your family on the anniversary of your death every year or if your story is told in history classes all around the world to children of all ages for several centuries. It does not matter we all make a difference and we are all going to impact individuals in some way or another.

Sources:

Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech Delivered by Elie Wiesel in Oslo on December 10, 1986 

Nobel Peace Prize

17 March 2008

Final Post: Andrew Olmsted

Milblogs

17 March 2008

 Safety - a poem by Rupert Brooke

17 March 2008

 Arms and the Boy - Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

17 March 2008

Military blogs are become a very popular means of communication.  Just image the knowledge and information the world would have had military blogs been around during the civil war, the revolution war, even World War I and II. They are not only a great means of communication for soldiers with there families but it also gives other civilians a first hand look at the war. 

Look at Vera Brittians famous memoir Testament of Youth it took her several decades after the war to be able to write a copy of her memoir in a way in which it satisfied her.  However, over the period of several decades it can be questioned if she remembered and described events exactly as they happened.  Had the technology and access been around for her to write a blog she may have been able to recall important details more vividly. 

Also the book Slaughter House-Five would have greatly benefited had the technology of milblogs been around. Kurt Vonnegut even states in his book that it was difficult to remember details and had to relay on many of his friends for information.  This makes you question how accurate history really can be. 

Military blogs first appeared in 2001 after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.  David D. Perlmutter a journalism professor at the University of Kansas states: “milbloggers go where no other man is going.”  The popularity of blogs are continuing to grow history professors around the world are ecstatic this will give future generations a more accurate and exciting way to portray history.  

When text books are being written in the next several centuries about the war in Iraq and ones that in the future there will be excerpts from military blogs this gives students the ability to have a first person narrative about what actually accrued during that time period. 

Source 

Milblogs in the News: Military blogs evolve in unexpceted way

Milblogging.com

17 March 2008

No individual can argue that the concept of war is anything other than a conflict between nations, states, or individual parties.  What makes it war is that they choose to settle this conflict with the use of force either by land, sea, air, or a combination. However, one could argue the strategies and tactics of fighting wars have dramatically changed over the past several centuries.  Take, for example, the Spartans during the first century.  They fought with bravery and courage, swords and shields.  As the centuries passed, the gun was introduced, and shortly thereafter an even greater invention–the airplane.  This new technology made air warfare a battle strategy of many.   The main reason the strategies and tactics of fighting war have changed is due to advances in technology.

Let’s first look back at the history of war beginning with the Spartans.  Foot soldiers went into battle in the formation of a giant mob.  Each army charged at the other and fought a bloody battle. In the 7^th Century B.C. the phalanx was developed.  It is a simple linear formation with its width significantly larger then its depth.  The length and depth depends merely on the enemy and the number of soldiers present. With the development of this new fighting strategy armies became stronger and more successful in fighting battles. The phalanx formation was and still is used in many wars in the past, present, and probably near on in the future. The final decision, of course, is left up to the general in charge which is similar to past and present fighting tactics.  Next let’s look at the second stanza of a famous World War I poem written by Wilfred Owen:

“Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! –  An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;   
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.”

World War I was one of the first wars in which gas was used as a strategic method of warfare. Gas was not used much previous to this time period only because the scientific understanding was not developed until shortly before.  Gas was a major source of death during World War I.  Had the scientific understanding not been developed it is possible many would of lost their lives in a less tragic way.  The way in which Owen describes the death by mustard gas “And floud’ring like a man in fire or lime…” would lead a reader to believe the victim is suffering a horrible death.  I do not consider the scientific understanding of mustard gas a positive step on the war front.  

 After looking at a commercial recruiting ad for the United States Air Force (which is the branch of the military that relies mainly on technology) in their commercial they focus on three major aspects: dropping soldiers in Iraq, bringing wounded soldiers home, and evacuating soldiers from Lebanon.  Without the technology to complete these and similar tasks, the United States would have lost the lives of several more soldiers and our fighting tactics and strategies would be dramatically different.  For example, let’s look at the role of the United States in World War II.  None of the war was fought on United States soil other than Pearl Harbor.  If the United States did not have access to air planes to transport soldiers and goods they would have had to done this by ship which would of taken several more days. Without the advanced technology the US would not have been able to be such an avid participant in the war.          

 After researching the ability of the U.S. military and understanding a small part of how technology plays a rather important role, it is also important to ask how many trillions of dollars the U.S. is spending to update and advance their equipment.  Sometimes we should wonder is there something else that the money could be better spent on.  Having a technologically advanced military has many pros but as a nation our military is far beyond other countries in the world.  How much farther are we going to continue to go? Where is the line drawn between being safe and able to protect our country in times of crisis and when are things getting ridiculous? 

Sources

Spartan WarfareStudy World 17 March 2008 

DULCE ET DECORUM EST

War Poetry

17 March 2008

Air Force Commercial

YouTube

17 March 2008

The number of casualties increases daily.  Families all over the United States watch their sons, daughters, husbands, moms, dads, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends get on a plan and ship off to the Middle East.  All that is left in their minds is the strange wonder if they will ever come back. For many the story does not have a happy ending.

Four days prior to an infantry squad leader in Baghdad, Army Staff Sergeant Darrel Ray Griffin Junior’s death, he sent an e-mail to his wife Diana.  In the e-mail he made it very evident that he was going on a dangerous mission and may not return:

“Spartan women of Greece used to tell their husbands, before they went into battle, to come back with their shields or laying on them, dying honorably in battle. But if they did not return with their shield, this showed that they ran away from the battle. Cowardice was not a Spartan virtue … Tell me that you love me the same by me coming back with my shield or on it.”

After reading this, someone could not have extreme respect for Sergeant Darrel Ray Griffin Jr. and the bravery for the mission he was about to embark on.  Shortly after this his wife sent him an e-mail it was never opened. 

Soldiers that died in past wars have similar stories.  However, in most cases there was never a letter exchanged, there was never a body brought back, they simply just never came home. Take for example the autobiographical novel Testament of Youth written by Vera Brittain.  She only found out that her finance Roland died because they were supposed to meet and he never showed.  Vera Brittain and Diana Griffin both experienced similar situations only to suffer extreme heartache and loss. There are stories all around the world similar to these.  These are the people we need to keep in our thoughts.   

No matter how great or low the number of causalities in war are, we need to remember stories such as the stories of true heroes that lost their lives to better the life of another.      

Source:

E-Mails Reveal a Fallen Soldier’s StoryU.S. News and World Report

28 February 2008

Many individuals will state that they signed up for the army, marines, navy, etc., under false assumptions.  The advertisements and the brochures all looked one hundred percent like it was the best opportunity of their life. However, when signing up no one every told them how bloody and gory a war could actually be.

 The one poet who was not afraid to express the true reality of war was Wilfred Owen in his famous Dulce Et Decorum Est.  In this poem he ruthlessly describes a man’s death.  After reading this poem one would come to the assumption of why would anybody sign up for war. However, during this time period you did not necessarily have a choice.

 Another poem we discussed in class was The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner written by Randall Jarrell:

“From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State,

And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.

Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,

I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.

When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.”

The reason I have so much respect for this poem is it does not try and convince people to join the war effort like all of Rupert Brooke’s poems did.  Instead, it tells you exactly what someone does not want to know about war. Even though in the back of all our minds we know there is a possibility of death the act of fighting for our country seems a greater deed.  I feel this is because the reality of death is generally not portrayed in most war books, movies, pamphlets, poems, or articles. War does need to be fought in most cases and individuals need to be willing to sign up, however, as an individual if I were to sign up I would rather know what I was getting myself into than find out later.

Why is it that every advertisement, book, or article online generally portrays the life of an army member as a male? Are we still living in a society where females do not have rights? If this is the case then why are there females signed up for the military whose voices are just not being heard?

Take, for example, when we began this project and we had to subscribe to a military blog. I would say that at least ninety percent of the blogs that came up on my search engine were of males.  Is it is so wrong to want to get a females perspective on the war?

The most recent book we read in class was an autobiographical study of Vera Brittain during the First World War allowed us to see the visions of war through a female’s eyes.  Let’s compare her responsibilities to that of a male.  She worked in a hospital while the men were out on the front line in trenches fighting the war.  People during those times did not feel a woman could fight as well as a male so they were sequestered to “female” jobs.

Know let’s look at the two advertisements we watched in class on the marines and the army. While each advertisement at least had woman in them the ratio of males to females were not even close.  Also, if you compare the actions the females were doing in comparison to the males the males were also found holding guns, running through obstacles, or advancing their training.  While I felt the women were just there so they could have a female in the add.  Overall it’s great that the army and marines both used females in their advertisements.  I just hope that over time men and woman will begin to be on equal playing fields.

Christian Lowe sums it up perfectly in his blog From the Front.   In his second post he stated:

“There were, of course, the gaggles of civilian contractors…mechanics, technicians, security personnel with their huge forearms and the occasional female trying to wade through the sea of testosterone.”

Once again just proving that there are not nearly as many females fighting in the Iraq war as males while I am sure that rates of males that sign up are extremely higher then that of women.  However, I feel that advertisement and push for woman to sign up are not helping the cause.  In the same blog Christian Lowe also stated:

“But in these situations I like to try to pick out the “OGA”s — the acronym for “other government agencies.” I mean, who was the group of five lean, buzz cut, square jawed guys trying to fool with their matching black CamelBak Motherload backpacks, hiking boots and cargo pants. I dunno, FBI, DSS…CIA maybe? No matter how “incognito” we try to be, Americans are so obviously American when they travel it makes me chuckle sometimes. And these guys were no exception.”

After reading this passage he clearly uses the term guys twice, I don’t know much about the military however are females not allowed to be “OGA”s.  This is a question we need to ask ourselves are we still living in a world where females are being discriminated against or are the number of males and females that sign up for the army and marines dramatically different and if this is the case is it due to advertisement and stereotypes of females at war.  

Source:

From the Front Line: Christian Lowe

Military.com

28 February 2008