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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Being There |
| 2005-08-10 |
| He would rather be drunk. He rarely knows the real names of the women with whom he consorts. He frequently complains. He would rather be high. Ask him what he’d be doing if he hadn’t taken his current job and he’ll say, time and again, "I’d be in trouble like my friends back home — dead or in jail." He is profane, uneducated, impious, lecherous, and unwashed. He doesn’t care much about the war. In most cases, he misses his mother badly. But the American combat infantryman in Iraq is doing just fine. His emotions tamped into a predatory groove by a long night of remotely observing the Milan runways, his reflexes tuned to Pentium speed by his Xbox, he pulses with caffeine, androstene, maltodextrin, sodium citrate, high-fructose corn syrup, nicotine, and a psychedelium of food dyes. He scores a 10-1 kill ratio when the enemy fights him head-on. Interesting article on the 506th. Definitely told from an angle you don't often see. |
| Posted by:Slung Uluper3293 |
| #5 This is a hyper-ventilating anti-war piece in the Michael Herr tradition. Could the author have done a better job of documenting every negative aspect of these soldiers? How can anyone's reflexes be tuned by X-box? My thumbs reflexes maybe, but little else. Do you pulse with caffeine? Or corn syrup for that matter? Psychodelium? Huh? Is that supposed to convey information or perhaps just invoke an image from an Oliver Stone movie? The picture of the Iraqi in the thermal sights with the "War Games" caption - what's the implication? Killing is a game for soldiers and thus they and us are damnable? War games is right, only we are the ones being played. Phooey. |
| Posted by: Zpaz 2005-08-10 15:04 |
| #4 Overall, it was a good read, IMHO. A little melodramatic and swaggering here and there - with some subtle denigration / belittling of those with the stones to do the hard jobs, which almost pissed me off. There are echoes of James Jones in this piece - the good and the bad. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-08-10 14:18 |
| #3 Good stuff. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2005-08-10 14:06 |
| #2 Appropriately for young men involved in a nation—building project, philosophical and cultural issues are frequently addressed in a political context, as in "Shut up, you Democrat fag" or "Fuck off, you redneck Nazi." In a month of listening to soldiers make extraordinary confessions and talk about how much they wanted home (for sex, for their parents, for a drink), I never hear a word about wanting out. The average soldier in the unit has spent only two or three weeks in the States over the past two years. Out of nine wounded soldiers in the platoon, one is still an invalid, four chose never to leave the base, three returned home, and four are trying to get back to the unit. Nash: "When I went to the hospital in Germany I was offered 30 days’ convalescent leave back home, and then I could probably have stayed in the States. Even then I said, "Fuck that, I’m going back to my friends." Now they’re the only friends I have. The people at the hospital tried to talk me out of it. Then they said, "What part of the service are you in?" I said Eleven Bravo — the infantry. They never bothered me again about going home." |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-08-10 09:59 |
| #1 He has just reenlisted in the army for a further six years. "Saddam’s time is gone, man," says Krebbs. "I’m more interested in studying up on these insurgents. We got to learn more about Syria." He takes a pinch of Skoal from a small hockey puck of dip. Almost half the platoon dips. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-08-10 00:40 |