Hard Times
HOPE IS NOT A METHOD
Name: 1SG Troy Steward
Posting date: 1/25/08
Returned from: Afghanistan
Milblog url: bouhammer.com
HATE….ANGER….PRIDE….SADNESS….PRIDE…..SORROW…..FEAR…..PRIDE… These are the emotions that have been swirling through me like a f***ing tornado as my family took my oldest son to the airport and put him on a plane to start the journey that will take him into war. With every bad feeling came pride. How could I not be proud of this awesome young man? I watched him grow up, from playing with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, to GI-Joes, to now being a GI Joe himself. I am the rock for my family, just as I am the rock for my soldiers that work for me. Being the “rock” is an honorable thing, but it also means not being able to waiver or always show the emotion that I have inside.
I have been on multiple sides of the deployment fence. I have been on the one where I am deploying, of course. I have watched my soldiers deploy without me. And now I am bidding my son goodbye as he gets ready to deploy into the horrors of war. It would be different if he was just deploying to a war that I had no knowledge of, and I could only relate the common things that are seen in all wars, but instead I am seeing him walk into the very place I just left. I know the good, bad and ugly of that place. Not just from when I was there, but from very recent experiences of a few weeks ago, as I am in constant communication with guys that are there fighting right now.
This blog entry reminds me of Wilfred Owen poem Dulce et Decorum. This blog reminded me of this poem because of how negative own is in his poem. Owen fought in WWI and at first thought he was there for a reason, then after experiencing the things he did he his view changed. “My friend, you would not tell with such high zest to children ardent for some desperate glory, the old lie” – Owen. As Owen didn’t agree neither does the father in this blog. Troy was in the military himself and now he had to watch his son be shipped off over seas. He was not very happy about it.
In the beginning of this blog, the first sentence can be considered a climax
HATE….ANGER….PRIDE….SADNESS….PRIDE…..SORROW…..FEAR…..PRIDE
Also there is a Anaphora
“I am the rock for my family, just as I am the rock for my soldiers that work for me. Being the “rock” is an honorable thing, but it also means not being able to waiver or always show the emotion that I have inside.”
1 Comment
War brings difficult times upon the family and friends of individuals serving in the military. My roommate’s older brother was recently shipped back to Iraq a short time after Christmas. After listening to her while she balled her eyes out and reading this post I made a connection between her and the father who was watching his son get shipped off. In the entry it stated the father felt: HATE…..ANGER…..PRIDE…SADNESS….PRIDE…..SORROW…..FEAR…..PRIDE while I was shoving many tablespoons of Ben & Jerry’s in her mouth as the tears rolled off her check she described her feelings in all the same words the father did. She was proud, but sad to see him go, the hate and anger glistened through her eyes, and worst of all the fear that he would never return. I find it interesting that in general family members and friends share the same feelings and characteristics toward the concept of war.