Children of war glogster

Please view and read my glog on children of war.
http://vickydumas.edu.glogster.com/edit/children-of-war-8865/

Once a Soldier, Always a Soldier

     I understand that life is a balance of good and bad, but let's pretend reality doesn't exist for a second. Let's imagine that we lived in a world without war, chaos, and conflict. You would think would be any soldiers dream right? Who would want to return to I.E.D.s, rockets, machine guns, explosions in the middle of the night? Let's not leave out the long hours of they spend patroling and putting their lives in danger, the crappy food, depression, and worst of all PTSD. No soldier would want to return to that right?  Think again. What we fail to realize is that certain individuals crave the excitement and recklessness of war. They crave the adrenaline rush they receive in combat. In many cases, soldiers find themselves addicted to something that makes them feel good but is morally considered bad, war.

     Authors such as David Axe know exactly what I'm talking about. David Axe is the author of the graphic novel War is Boring. The novel illustrates Axe's entire journey as an american military war correspondent. The novel is based off his travels to Iraq, Lebanon, East Timor, Afghanistan, Somalia, Chad, and everything in between. The major question that Axe asks himself is, " Did I choose war, or did war choose me?" Axe reveals something new about his outlook on war in every country he visits. While war reporting proved to be physically, emotionally, and mentally, draining, Axe can't seem to stop going to war. He comes to the conclusion that is not in him not to continue to take advantage of the opportunity he has to capture war on film to share with the civilians back home. He finds life at home unacceptable, and war as necessary for his sanity.












     


     In the article Wired for war, and other lies, author Helen Redmond discusses War by Sebastian Junger. It is a first hand account of Junger's experiences at the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan. Redmond makes a statement within the article that striked me. She states, " Junger believes that the brain is wired for war and that the dopamine reward system in men drives them to become obsessively involved in such things as hunting, gambling, computer games, and war. He concludes that collective defense, bravery, and heroism produces so many chemically induced highs that soldiers become addicted to war." Junger basically claims that war gives these men the same high as cocaine. They become so infatuated with war that normal civilian life is not satisfying enough, it doesn't give them the rush they desire.


     War is a lot of things to these soldiers and unfortunately exciting is one of them. These men secretly love every aspect of war. They are intrigued by the fear involved, the killing, and the unknowns of war. War is addictive, not just to soldiers, but war correspondents, and anybody else involved in the intensity of war. I don't believe individuals such as myself, who have never experienced the "joyousness" of war, will ever understand why or how they find war so refreshing. But it's not up to us to decide what they find exciting, as long as their doing what they find fun, that's all that should matter.

A Soldiers Worst Nightmare

Into the valley of death lies the Korengal, which is widely considered to be the most dangerous valley in northeastern Afghanistan. The Korengal Valley is a six mile long, sparsely populated “hell hole”, that many U.S. soldiers are still haunted by years later after the Afghanistan war. According to an article by The New York Times, “ Nearly one-fifth of all combat in Afghanistan occurred in the Korengal Valley, and nearly three-quarters of all the bombs dropped by NATO forces in Afghanistan were dropped in the surrounding area.” Most of, if not all of the fighting in the Korengal Valley was performed on foot, leaving soldiers vulnerable to Taliban gunners who were ready to attack at any moment. There was no safe place for our U.S. soldiers. Not only that, but soldiers spent 15 months in this valley under what we would consider extreme conditions. Did I mention they had no electricity, no internet, no TV, no running water, no bathroom, no heat, and no women?

  The chaos of the Korengal Valley is nothing to joke about. The seriousness of the valley is clearly represented in the documentary “Restrepo”, a documentary film directed by Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger. The film focused on the process of building Restrepo, “ a strategic outpost named in honour of their medic, PFC Juan Restrepo, who was killed in action". The documentary takes the audience to the 15-month deployment of U.S. soldiers to the “deadliest place on Earth”, where their mission was to clear the Korengal Valley of uprising and gain the trust of the locals.The film captures the intensity and heartbreaking moments of the Afghanistan war. It also includes  interviews of the soldiers themselves, where they recall their thoughts and fears of the Korengal Valley.

http://natgeotv.com/asia/restrepo/videos/korengal

                                     

The documentary was deemed very successful ever since its release in 2010. According to Wikipedia, the film recieved the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. It recieved a certified fresh rating of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert awarded Restrepo four out of four stars. Additionally, many other critics and publications included it in their annual top films. Lastly, Restrepo was nominated for the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary. 

Oddly enough, many people weren’t as crazy about Restrepo. It is apparent in Steven Boone’s article where he  describes Restrepo and how the documentary  doesn't allow the audience to see the "bad guys" that the soldiers are talking about. He briefly covers Private First Class Juan "Doc" Restrepo and his importance in the documentary. He also includes Sergeant Misha Pemble, the hippie child who was never allowed to play with any type of toy gun. Boone goes on to express how the documentary fails to meet its aim, which he claims was to " pare the experience down to the essentials of survival in war". He states, "I'm asking someone else to step up with an Afghanistan War Documentary that zooms in tighter, or out much wider, for a more ruminative and provocative stretch of time. Someone less concerned with honoring the non- confrontational ethics of contemporary mainstream journalism, and more with illustrating the impact of war on civilians." Boone believes the documentary pertained mostly to the emotional damage of the soldiers rather than how they managed to outlive Korengal Valley a.k.a. Hellhole.

          I personally thought the documentary did an excellent job of revealing the everyday lives of soldiers fighting in the Korengal Valley. There was no script, no special effects, no actors, just pure war at its worst. The soldiers lived in conditions that many of us Americans couldn’t even imagine. Soldiers were in constant fear of death at any moment, and had no real sense of security. These men had to overcome the frequency of death of over 40 soldiers. The documentary illustrated the hurt and overwhelming distress that was sprung upon the friends of the soldiers whose lives were taken in the war. The fact that all of this action was live really impacted the audience and enhanced the quality of the documentary.

Is PTSD to Blame?

John Needham and his 19 year old girlfriend
 Jacque Villagomez

People have always said, "You can take the soldier out of the war, but you can’t take the war out of the soldier". Just because a soldier is out of the battle does not mean his war is over. According to an article produced by nbcnews.com, every 1 in 8 returning soldiers suffers from PTSD. If you are unaware, PTSD stands for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. A disorder that is popularly diagnosed to returning soldiers due to the extreme conditions soldiers experience at war.This article continues to discuss that half of the soldiers who return from war and are aware of their symptoms of PTSD fail to report it or receive help. These soldiers brush this disorder off, not realizing how serious and dangerous untreated PTSD is until it’s too late. Unfortunately, it was too late for John Needham.

John Needham was only  23 years old when he was released on bail for murdering his 19 year old girlfriend. Needham was a veteran diagnosed with PTSD who returned from serving 11 months surviving some of the most intense combat of the war in Iraq. His father and brother express within the article that Needham definitely displayed symptoms of PTSD. They explained that he began self-medicating through alcoholism, experiencing mood swings, and intense flashbacks.  His brother states, "When people asked how John was, it was kinda like, 'I don't know. I don't know how John is because John's not here anymore. It's somebody else.” Clearly, Needham’s active duty in the war took a major toll on him mentally. He struggled to interact properly with people he’d known his whole life. The big question is, Is PTSD to blame for this? Three years later, that question remains unanswered.

  Obviously war has no boundaries; it follows these soldiers to their homes and causes some of them to act like completely different people. They aren’t able to function in normal society and suffer day to day. Unfortunately, many soldiers who pursue help for their PTSD are medicated heavily, but never really treated.  The mental state of an untreated PTSD vet is not only dangerous to the vet but to the innocent people around them. It is important that Mental Health Programs do more to improve the undergoing process of curing these soldiers before things get out of control.

#PostWarProblems

      Is there really peace after war? Think about it, regardless of whether or not the mission is completed, lives are lost and cities or even country's are destroyed. Being that the United States Military is the heavy weight champion of all military forces, we don't have to really worry being scared to walk out our front door during war. We don't have to worry about our homes, favorite restaurants, or schools being blown to pieces by war. We're not concerned because we know our soldiers are gonna handle their business overseas and they won't bring the war back home with them. Unfortunately, civilians of other countries, such as Syria, aren't promised that same peace of mind.

     After watching this video, I couldn't help but feel pity for the civilians of Syria that were left to continue their lives in this "ghost town". Thankfully enough, the Syrian army supplied their people with the necessities they need to sustain life, but not much can be done towards the aftermath of the people's homes and the city. According to CNN.com, nearly 70,000 people have lost their lives due to unrest in Syria for the past 2 years, and who's to say those numbers wont increase? We as Americans take for granted the power of our military force. Can you imagine going to bed at night to the sound of war in a neighboring city? How would you feel if your town had to put a barricading wall of cinder blocks just to protect citizens from getting shot walking to the store? Imagine going to school and instead of normal study, you were being taught how to respond to a chemical attack, how would that affect you?

It Affects US too!

   How does the war affect us? No matter how you put it, we all as citizens are affected by the Iraq and Afghanistan war in some way, shape, or form. Some of us may have had a loved one who served in the war, or served in the war ourselves. These wars not only affected our safety but our nation's safety as a whole.

U.S. Marines and Afghan police in Afghanistan. 

      Although the war has technically been declared over, our economy is a ways away from paying off these wars. In my opinion, many Americans, with the exception of some, are under the impression that the war won’t affect them since they weren't the ones on the line of war. In a random interview at UC Berkeley students were asked how they were affected by the war, and they received a wide range of responses. Most students replied saying they didn't feel affected besides the fact that they felt remorse for the soldiers' lives. Others mentioned that they felt rather uninformed by the war, and the fear of the unknown affected them personally. But no one seemed to mention the financial affects the war had on them. 

     The war in Iraq and Afghanistan has cost the US between $4 and $6 trillion according to Harvard University's Kennedy School. As you can infer, these wars put us in a lot of debt, and guess who has to pay for it? We do. Nearly 1.6 million troops have returned from the war and many of them are in need of medical treatment, mental repair, and benefits. According to usnews.com the cost of that will eventually add up to over $836 billion. This doesn't even include equipment repair. Every US citizen will continue to pay for the Afghanistan and Iraq wars for years to come in bills and taxes.

       The Iraq and Afghanistan wars are wars that will never really be over. People should realize that war doesn't just affect those involved. The war is our reality and just because we’re not in uniform doesn't mean we won’t reap the consequences.  Americans are unaware of the financial burdens war includes, but they have plenty of time to realize because the rise of taxes from this war will be around for a while. 

All About Victoria

Hey!


If you couldn't already tell my name is Victoria. I'm very new to blogging so bare with me. I am a friendly and charismatic seventeen year old from northern Virginia. But I currently reside in Jacksonville, Alabama where I am a freshman at Jacksonville State University. I am majoring in Elementary Education and I hope to become a 3rd grade school teacher. I love children, well people as a whole. My family and friends mean the world to me, I wouldn't change them if I could. In my down time I love shopping, spending time with my friends and family, and more shopping :) I'm not "obsessed" with social networks or anything like that, but I'm on my phone 24/7. I mean.. who isn't nowadays? When I'm not invested in my phone or doing homework, you can find me on the track. I've been running track for 4 years now, and God has blessed me with the opportunity to continue my career at JSU as a member of the Women's Track team. I run the 100m and 400m hurdles and at times the 4x400m relay. Track has become a major part of my life and I can honestly say its molded me into the character that I am today. Now that you've read a brief summary of me, I hope you continue to find interest and read my blogs. :)