WAR by Sebastian Junger Part III

"Combat was a game the United States asked Second Platoon to become very good at... Society can give its young men almost any job... They'll suffer for it and die for it, but in the end, it will get done. Soldiers themselves are reluctant to evaluate the costs or war (for some reason, the closer you are to combat the less inclined you are to question it), but someone must. That evaluation, unadulterated by politics, may be the one thing a country owes its soldiers. One American soldier has died for every hundred yards of forward progress in the valley, but what about the survivors? Is that territory worth the psychological cost of learning to cheer at one's death? As for a sense of purpose, combat is it... Almost none of the things that make life feel worth living back home are present at Restrepo, so the entire range of a young man's self worth has to be found within a firefight. The men dream about it.... some of the men worry they'll never be satisfied with a 'normal life' -whatever that is- after the amount of combat they've been in."
Right after this passage O'Byrne goes on to admit "I like the firefights... I know, saddest thing in the world."
What makes men enjoy firefights? Well like the passage states, its the only thing that really ever happens to soldiers once their out there. Their actions in a firefight give them a sense of self worth they might other wise lose.
This passage contains an interesting idea, what I believe to be a main point of the entire book. The fact that the closer the soldier are to fighting in the war, the less they think about the political parts of the war. To them, every firefight is a struggle for survival and chance to prove one's worth. When your life is on the line, things like political goals seem way less important. In fact, this is probably why soldiers don't even think about those at all. Outside the war it's easy to have a political view on what you want to achieve. However, the soldiers are surrounded by the consequences and therefore all the political views come into question. The firefights become a game for them, and if they survive and kill the enemy they win. Then, when they consider all the American blood around them, no matter how much enemy blood there is, it starts to feel like a loss. That's how Junger portrays the soldiers thoughts. To them it comes down to life, death, and character. To everyone back home, it's about land and driving the enemy out. The sacrifices made to achieve this are intangible to them and therefore they are worth it. Besides for all the death, the surviving soldiers also have to way out the benefits or war with the costs of their psychological well being. As stated in the passage, "they'll never be satisfied with a 'normal life'," shows how many of the soldiers have ruined their chances at living a normal life back home.


"Once that first bullet goes past your head, politics and all that shit just goes right out the window."
~Black Hawk Down (2001)

WAR by Sebastian Junger Part II

Farthering my thoughts on what being in a war does to someone, I came to learn about how soldiers cope with the ongoing precense of death, loss, injury, and pain. Junger asks O'Byrne, a solider stationed in the KOP, to describe his war mentality after his first few months.

"Numb," he said. "Wasn't scared, wasn't happy, just fucking numb. Kept to myself, did what I had to do. It was a very werird, detached feeling those first few months."

"You weren't scared of dying?"

"No, I was too numb. I never let my brain go there. There were these boundaries in my brain, and I just never let myself go to that spot."

It is hard to get close to someone in war when the probability of losing that person is so high. If you love someone, their loss pains you. If you detach yourself from feeling anything towards someone, it is then much easier to cope with their death. In fact, you probably don't have to cope at all. In war, when death is so normal, soldiers can either constantly grieve over the recurring losses, try and push those feelings away, or just separate themselves from it all. The easiest way to separate themseleves from it is by doing what O'Byrne talked about. Becoming numb. Denying yourself from having any feelings at all is a kind of preventative coping method soldiers like him use.
When you take all of that into consideration, the actions of the U.S. soldier in Afghanistan who killed 16 civilians becomes understandable. Not excusable or justifiable, but understandable. Combining the adrenaline from the firefights with the absence of being able to feel for other people, that soldiers actions seem a little less surprising. I mean as a soldier, America sends him over there to kill. Not only is that his job, but it's all he can do to feel any sort of masculine power or pleasure over there where there's no women or even any sort of recreational activity. Uberfacts tweeted "Shooting a gun causes the same chemical reaction in the brain as a passionate kiss." Shooting a gun becomes more than a job to many soldiers, but addictive in the sense that it makes them feel good while living pretty bad conditions. It's important to look at not just what people do, no matter how horrible, but why they do it. If we can understand what causes it then we can stop these problems. Unfortunately today's world requires young men to make these kinds of sacrifices, become soldiers, and accept the side effects of everything that comes with it. That's why it is important to know who you are and have a strong sense of self before putting yourself in these moral bending situations. Also it's important not to judge those who do even what seems as pure evil, because there's always an explanation. I believe Junger does the American soldiers justice in his novel by showing Americans back home the side of war they don't usually see.

WAR by Sebastian Junger PART I

War is a non-fiction book about one journalist, Sebastian Junger, telling his story of when he followed a platoon based in a remote outpost in Afghanistan. His goal: to show what war is. Not what it is to those back home, but what it is to those fighting in it.
He follows Second Platoon, part of Battle Company, who arrived in Afghanistan late May of 2007. Thier base was called the Korengal Outpost, because it was in the Korengal Valley. Known as the KOP, it was thought to be one of the most dangerous outposts in all of Afghanistan. That's not the only thing that set this platoon apart. Its dangers didn't only come from the Taliban, but also from games within the platoon.
Junger writes, "In Second Platoon you got beat on your birthday...before you left....when you came back. The only way to leave Second Platoon without a beating was to get shot. No other platoons did this; the men called it 'blood in, blood out'... the violence took many forms and could break out at almost any time. After one particurlarly quiet week- no firefights, in other words- the tension got so unbearble that First Squad finally went after Weapons Squad with rocks. Men wound up bleeding and heated after these contests but never angry; the fights were a product of boredom."
I believer Junger shares this story to show what happens with the mixed effects of war and boredom. At war, soldiers spend all their time anticipating a firefight, or being in a firefight. Either way, they are constantly living under an adrenaline rush. The soldiers of Second Platoon, being stuck at an outpost in the middle of nowhere in a foreign country, on top of them living under this constant adrenaline rush, release the tension build up with violence. I mean, they're in war. Violence is their job. Without anything else to do, it makes sense they would use it recreationally as well.

GERSON INSTITUTE

Their motto: Everyone has the power and tools to heal themselves, they just need to know how.
Recently, I was in San Diego, CA and had the incredible oppurtunity to volunteer at the office of the Gerson Institute. The Gerson Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing education and training in the Gerson Therapy, an alternative, non-toxic treatment for cancer and other chronic degenerative diseases. The Gerson Therapy is a natural treatment that activates the body’s extraordinary ability to heal itself through an entirely raw diet.
At Gerson, I spent an entire morning preparing lunch. Every hour or so I would get handed a fresh juice. It was a great experiance all around. One specific moment, however, I will remember forever. In the kitchen I was joined by this woman who brought all this positive energy into the kitchen by energetically singing along to the soulful music playing on the radio. At the end of my time in the kitchen Eric, my mentor, asked me how old I thought she was. I guessed about 40 years old. She was 67 and has had cancer for six years. She has not used any sort of chemotherapy or western medication, but does the Gerson Therapy. The cancer has not spread and she is a healthy woman with tons of energy. I knew eating raw will make someone look younger, but I was amazed by its effects on this woman with cancer. I eat extremely healthy and I try and eat mostly raw, but this moment reminded me the power food alone has on someone and has driven me to want to become as close to 100 percent raw as possible.

My message to everyone else out there is that while everyone wants to be younger, thinner, as well as the best academically and athletically, what you eat alone can affect all of that. Logically it makes sense what goes into the body will directly affect how it functions. If absolutely no poison, artificial chemicals, pesticides, carcinogens, or anything else unhealthy enters the body, and an immense amount of nutrients is put into the body, one has to wonder what positive effects this can have on the body’s ability to function. Many environmentalists also admit it is better for the environment as well.
As far as all of the health problem in today's society brought on by bad eating habits, the reverse of that should be good eating habits. Not medicine. The medicine that drug companies provide to solve some of these problems come with hazardous and sometimes life threatening side effects. There has to be a natural way to get rid of illness without bringing on another one. The drug company corporations care more about making money than the common good of the people. They have successfully lobbied congress to make the use of food as medicine illegal in America. That is why researching this topic and proving eating healthy alone can make a difference is essential to the progress of human health. The Gerson Insitute is working to change this, and unfortunately they have to practice in Mexico and Hungry because their work is illegal in the United States. This is wrong in itself.

AFGHANS STILL FURIOUS ABOUT ACCIDENTAL QUR'AN BURNING

As of this post, six Americans have been killed in an Afghan response to what they see as the U.S. burning of their Islamic holy books. As soon as Afghans heard two copies of the Qur'an were burned by American soldiers, they broke out into crazy riots around U.S. bases. According to a March 1st article from CBS News, shooters include both Afghan men in army attire as well as one in civilian clothing ("Afghan Gunmen Kill 2 U.S. Troops", 2012). Of course if these protesters weren't so radically insane and took a second to understand and evaluate the situation, they might realize their reaction is absurd and only makes them look savage to the rest of the world. The U.S. did not burn the Qur'ans to make a political statement against the religion of Islam. The copies the U.S. had were being investigated for having hidden notes in it by terrorist groups. The U.S. has issued many apologies and only got rid of the Qur'ans to prevent anyone from using any of the potentially dangerous notes inside those particular copies.
I'm not sure how these Afghans find a moral equivalent to accidentally burning a Qur'an for security's sake, with killing real people. If they hate the American soldiers so much our soldiers can leave and tell the Taliban to come back and oppress the Afghans again. The most ironic part is that in their Qur'an, the holy book they are making this whole big deal about, it states it is against Islamic law to kill innocent people.

I understand these actions are those of some extremists and this post is not a view or stereotype of all Afghans, just the individual people (extremists) that have been rioting and shooting at the American soldiers.

THE END OF WHITE AMERICA?

According to this CBS news article by the year 2050 it is possible that whites may no longer be the overwhelming majority in America. The article gives statistics showing minorities made up 48 percent of American children born in 2008, compared to 37 percent born in 1990  (CBS News 2010). With this trend continuing it might continue to get higher before it caps. Now this article was back in 2010 and I'm not sure how the exact numbers look today, but it is interesting to think of an America where the minorities outnumber the majority. In this possible future, do you see our government positions still being occupied by an overwhelming ratio of white people? How about our top schools being mostly all white schools? Even if the white population isn't as predominant, will the white population continue to be the most dominant race in terms of social and economical class? Or will the minorities have a big enough population increase to finally give them the strength and opportunity to fight for their equal standards of living?
In a white yet 'unracist' America, incidents such as what happened at UC San Diego back in 2010 where a student hung a noose on campus, still exist. (For more information read this article). Now I understand these are college kids, and in the presence of their friends they may act in ways they normally wouldn't. Their morals might bend in order to be liked or seem cool. However, even though this kid was probably not racist and would probably be against the hanging of an actual black person, it doesn't excuse the act. Even without racist intentions the African American students, who make up only 1.6% of the undergraduates there, still feel the impact of discrimination. Through simple acts like these, they feel as if their race's suffering is still just a joke to white people. Maybe some day when White's are not in the comfort of being such an overwhelming majority they will start to think of consequences for their unintended racist actions. I think it will be good for America if the minorities were to become greater in population than the white majority. Not only will it embrace diversity within our culture, but maybe tear away at the core problems of racism in today's society as well.

WRONGFULLY CONVICTED MAN SHOWS SURPRISING OPTIMISM

What would be going through your head if your final hearing in court for a crime you know you did not commit sentenced you to 30 years in prison? I got the privilege of hearing Terrill Swift speak, an innocent man who served 17 years in prison for the the rape and murder of a woman. After the police lied to him to get him down to the station, they then went on to lie again to get him to sign a false confession. He thought he was signing his innocence. Throughout Swift's entire presentation I was surprised with his positive outlook on the rest of his life. Instead of hating on the police, or trash talking a system that caused him this injustice, he spoke excitingly of the fact this that this tragic life experience showed him what he wants to do with the rest of his life. Locked up at the young age of 17, Swift now speaks to the youth teaching them their rights and most importantly to read the fine print. It's inspiring how someone can take something bad and see the good out of it. Swift is the perfect hope of a peaceful and progressive society. Instead of seeking revenge, he is focused on what he can do to prevent it from happening again to other people. It's nice to know he is not just stating a problem with our justice system, but actually working to stop the problem. I admire his selfless character and determination to help others even though he has been dealt a pretty bad hand himself.

Not that money is important compared to the years of life those wrongfully convicted victims have lost. No, that's priceless. But here are some interesting statistics to look at anyways. Wrongful convictions have cost Illinois taxpayers $214 Million in the past 35 years.