Matt, thanks for the article. It moved me and, judging from the comments following it, many others, vets and not. I could read your writing all day, every day. Write on.
Samuel Johnson famously said “Nothing focuses the mind like an impending hanging”. I imagine being deployed in a combat situation is one long focusing of the mind. I find it amusing/ironic/scary when I hear some guy with a few beers under his belt talking about “killing the enemy” as if taking a human life was something you can be nonchalant about or can easily do. For the most part these are frankly not the best educated or deepest thinkers. However a guy on Wall Street is more then likely a college graduate who still plays shoot-em-up video games. I think I would have asked him how much time he volunteers working with those soldiers who were injured in defense of this country. I will bet you that man does not even know a family member of disabled vet, or one who lost a son, daughter or spouse. For those who lost a loved one the war never ends.
Former Army officer and Iraq veteran turned grad student/writer. Now living in New York City. Working as the senior writing manager at Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). Likes include Wake Forest basketball, Guinness, and Volkswagen buses. Once dropped the F-bomb on C-SPAN2. Thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are my own.
"Precision Targeting in a Modern Counterinsurgency" - essay published in Armor Magazine, September 2009
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"Above all, Kaboom is about the day to day travails of a typical platoon set smack among thousands of disillusioned and war-weary Iraqis ... without a trace of sentimentality, Mr. Gallagher draws the reader into the everyday complexities of leading soldiers from every strata of American society."
"Vivid and introspective ... [readers will] come to appreciate his evocative prose, convincing dialogue, and especially, telling vignettes of life as an American soldier in Iraq."
"[Gallagher's] exceptional narrative technique makes the soldier in-group cant both believable and coherent; his relentless pursuit of sanity in the midst of a chaotic storm of IEDs, policy changes, sheiks, civilians, and baffling missions makes this blog-based memoir an exciting read reminiscent of Anthony Swofford's Jarhead."
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You are right. We civilians can never really get it. But we continue to get glimpses. Keep writing. We'll keep listening and learning.
ReplyDeleteThat was a great piece, Matt. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteMatt, thanks for the article. It moved me and, judging from the comments following it, many others, vets and not. I could read your writing all day, every day. Write on.
ReplyDeleteMatt,
ReplyDeleteThis article articulates what I feel every day, EVERY FRIGGIN DAY!!!!
Samuel Johnson famously said “Nothing focuses the mind like an impending hanging”. I imagine being deployed in a combat situation is one long focusing of the mind. I find it amusing/ironic/scary when I hear some guy with a few beers under his belt talking about “killing the enemy” as if taking a human life was something you can be nonchalant about or can easily do. For the most part these are frankly not the best educated or deepest thinkers. However a guy on Wall Street is more then likely a college graduate who still plays shoot-em-up video games. I think I would have asked him how much time he volunteers working with those soldiers who were injured in defense of this country. I will bet you that man does not even know a family member of disabled vet, or one who lost a son, daughter or spouse. For those who lost a loved one the war never ends.
ReplyDelete