Advanced Essay #3 - The Phases of War

War causes violence throughout many parts of the world. This includes Vietnam, Syria, Iraq, the United States, and many other places. The morality of the soldiers fighting in these wars is questioned from the moment they decide they wanted to become a soldier. The U.S launched an attack on Iraq in 2003 of that year. The soldiers went over to Iraq to lift off bombs, raid their houses, and kill people. It’s hard when a soldier is asked to do difficult things, and once they’ve crossed those lines, it’s hard to navigate back. For an infinite amount of veterans, coming home doesn’t end with kisses and hugs. Now there is an increasing awareness, and some say an urgent need for America and Americans to step up and share the pain of our returning veterans and help them reclaim their lives. An important factor in the return of some vets is that much of the country has not shared the pain of the wars they have been fighting. This essay will analyze the psychological effects that soldiers go through and how that changes them for the rest of their lives. The pain people feel after going through war can be just as traumatic as anything else. War conditions create memories and wounds that outlive the wars themselves. In an article for CNN “I’m Prepared to Talk About the Things I Did in Iraq” Samuel Madel says, “Their images and sounds persist in many parts of peoples lives through multiple generations.” Soldiers can remember things that take decades to work through, and it is not definite that their soul can ever recover. Studies show that there are higher rates of physical and mental illness after coming home from war. These memories can create psychological conditions that are often hidden in the way we write history. In textbooks, we only see the facts, not the opinions, but a person’s perspective emphasizes on their opinion. That can stop us from seeing how war can affect soldiers, specifically in Iraq. People hear about the things that these people did when they were in Iraq and have trouble believing that the soldiers they know and love actually did this. Their experience forever changes the mentality that soldiers go through after going to war. They have seen so many traumatic things that mental illness is increasingly likely to happen. Sonya Timson, writer for the New York Times says, “In evaluation of successes and failures, scholars and policymakers have a responsibility to recognize these intricacies, beyond logistics and statistics, and to resist the urge to reduce a people’s wellbeing to the toppling of a regime.” This quote shows that the question that instead needs to be at the forefront of any discussion about the effects of war is what it means for a “liberated” society to live in conditions of constant rupture. To be “liberated” while experiencing enduring loss and grief caused by the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians and soldiers; or to be children growing up in exploded neighborhoods and raided houses, internalizing and suppressing wartime anxieties. Unless a person experiences what these soldiers go through, it is unlikely for them to ever understand. For example, many movies and T.V. series cover topics of the PTSD that is created after experiencing war. In the T.V. show, Grey's Anatomy, one of the surgeons fought for our country against Iraq and had experienced PTSD on the show. In the next season, it was as if that character had never been to war. That proves that even if people do extensive research like famous T.V. shows have to do, it is hard to believe that these soldiers will never be the same. People want to believe that their loved ones mental illness will magically go away, but the exploits that these soldiers go through compare to nothing of an American's regular daily life. In conclusion, soldiers have to go through so much pain that there is a question if they will ever recover from it. We don’t know if they will ever be the same, we don’t know what happened while they were there, and we don’t know their perspective on everything they saw. These soldiers will never be the same to the point where they could now have to deal with mental illnesses. They will forever wonder what is right and wrong and what is black and white. They will never forget what has happened to them and will continue to have flashbacks and dreams of being at war. They could wonder what they could have done differently, but in the end, soldiers know that there is nothing that they can change about their pasts. Us as Americans should try our best to help them cope, and hope that the tiny things we can do can make a change in their lives for the better. If you know someone who is a soldier keep an extra eye on them because not only have they helped you in more ways then you know, but they also could be dealing with something you have no clue about.