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Elizabeth-Faith lost during night

Elizbeth, I find your blog to be very interesting. As Wiesel becomes fully involved in the Holocaust he begins to question his faith. Which I would find it hard not too. It seems that people question their faith with far less horrific events. You brought to my attention that he was there mostly because of his faith. I had never thought of this before. It seems that I would completely doubt my God that I put so much trust into prior to the war. Although Ellie was seriously angry with God he never fully gives up on him. Even after he states that God is dead, he mentions him and mutters prayers to him. It is interesting to look at the perspective of a veteran who fought in the current war. He offers the view of war and God being completely separate and you cannot make excuses for it. I think that this would be extremely daunting for anyone who has ever fought in a war. I find that everyone whether you have ever been involved with war or not has to constantly check their faith and that it is okay if it continuously changes with changes in your life. 

“I could become angry, yes, begin to visualize scenarios of shooting or stabbing a rebel. “The rebels are responsible for everything that has happened to you.” I imagined capturing several rebels at once, locking them inside a house, sprinkling gasoline on it, and tossing a match. We watch it burn and laugh” (113).

You can see how right away the mentality has instantly changed. The RUF (Revolutionary United Front) did the same thing when recruiting their child soldiers. This is evident when the boys at the rehabilitation center meet and realize they fought for opposite sides. All the anger feed to them by each side towards the other, comes out in a full on brawl in which six people end up dead. One of the boys from the RUF states,

“We fought for the RUF; the army is the enemy. We fought for freedom, and the army killed my family and destroyed my village. I will kill any of those army bastards every time I get a chance to do so” (134).

This happens after they are removed from the war and it shows how they have completely transformed into animals. Needless to say the center has a lot of work ahead of them in order to restore the children’s lives.

Although the war ended in 2002 and Ishmael was released before this time. There are still many investigations going on in regards to the internal conflict. Just last week,

“Three senior leaders of the Sierra Leone rebel group, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), were sentenced to long prison terms by the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL)”

They were found guilty in February for war crimes committed against humanity including, “unlawful killings, rape, forced marriage,” and “acts of terrorism.” The article goes on to say that several hundred more people should be investigated and fairly tried without the possibility of the death penalty. I am glad that justice is being served and that these unfathomable crimes are not forgotten.

Amnesty International, Senior Rebels Sentenced to Long Prison Terms in Sierra Leone, April 9, 2009

For instance, “As a medic, Rat Kiley carried a canvas satchel filled with morphine and plasma and malaria tablets and surgical tape and comic books and all the things a medic must carry, including M & M’s for especially bad wounds, for a total weight of nearly 20 pounds.”

Each member had a different weight to carry seeing as how they all had very different jobs, but as a soldier you carried everything that you owned amounting at least to 50 pounds. They carry other things as well.

“They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing- these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight” (21).

Although soldiers today carry these same emotional burdens their physical loads seem to be getting lighter with new technology. This new technology includes a robotic exoskeleton that helps them carry more weight. It was developed by Lockheed Martin and allows soldiers to carry up 200 pounds for greater amounts of time and less effort. The exoskeleton is made up of battery powered titanium “legs” that attach to the soldiers legs. The micro-computer ensures that the “legs” move in sync with the human body.

The army is also making great improvements to soldiers’ combat apparel mostly trying to lighten the load, especially for those who are going to Afghanistan. Combat gear has recently been made fire resistant. The helmet used now is three pounds, at least a half pound lighter than what it had been in the past. It protects better against bullets and covers the neck.

A lighter load does not mean a lighter conscious though it may help in the trek. I think what was true in Vietnam will always be true about war and that is with “all the mysteries and unknowns, there was at least one single abiding certainty that they would never be at a loss for things to carry” (16).

Fox News, New Robotic Exoskeleton Helps Soldiers Carry More Weight, March 11, 2009

USA Today, Tom VandenBrook, Army gear gets tailored for Afghan mission, March 31, 2009

“DEAR DADDY/ Bertil Erling/ ARE you VERY LONESOME?/ Do you LIVE in A housE?/ SUNDAY We EAT VERY GOOD./ Ruth Erling”

A letter written by six-year-old Ruth Erling to her father, Bertil Erling who was an Army chaplin who was stationed in the Pacific.

I never really thought about how war affects the people fighting in it, or the affect it has on their families. This was until my Political Science class last year when a classmate gave us a talk about his time as an officer in the marines. I became a little less ignorant and even more so with this class. Yet I have still only considered the person fighting or the loved one at home. The letter above, from the book Since You Went Away, has called to mind the children with military personnel as parents and how they are affected by war. I find the letter to be especially interesting because you feel the innocence, caring nature, and curiosity of the child at the age of six.

I was separated from my father through divorce, but I at least knew he was relatively safe and close. I can not imagine what it would be like to be separated due to war and having to grasp the concept of it at a young age or any age for that matter.

I have blogged about a woman before who writes blogs on her site named, Confessions of an Army Wife. She explains in a blog, “Daddy is Absent” how her daughter is affected by war.

“As soon as we got in the house, our DD was asking for her Daddy. She was calling, “Da-di, da-di”. I told her that Daddy is away for a while and he is at work. Every morning as soon as she wakes up and get out of her room she will always call Daddy. I let her peek out the window and explain to her where Daddy is.”

This young girl is two and has a harder time understanding the “where abouts” of her father, although it is obvious she realizes that he is not with her. It seems that the situation would be extremely hard for the parent remaining at home to not only worry about the spouse over seas but to constantly be reminded of it through a child that does not fully understand. Depending on how long the person is deployed; the child could go through different stages, first being aware that someone is missing, then realizing that they are living somewhere else and then maybe the scariest realization is that that other place is most likely dangerous. Although it is hard, it is important for the parent to try and have the child understand to the best of their ability, “Confessions of an Army Wife” agrees by saying,

“I think when your kids are growing up already and your spouse is in the military, it is the time that you need to explain more to them why their parent is away and not always at home. When hubby was deployed overseas our daughter was still a baby so she is not looking for him yet. This is why it is always emphasize during briefings when the service members are deployed to give importance on the children. They are the one’s most affected by the absence of a parent/parents because of call of duty.”

The child needs to be aware of the purpose the parent is there, their personal reasons for joining the military, and the importance of the war. All these things should be addressed so the child can attempt to understand the absence of their parent.

Confessions of An Army Wife, Daddy is Absent

I was looking at the information provided by Wikipedia regarding the Auschwitz concentration camp complex. After describing the operations within the camp it goes on to explain that it was managed by Heinrich Himmler’s SS. One officer under the SS was Rudolf Hoess, he started at Dachau concentration camp and grew respect learning and perfecting mass murdering techniques. He was appointed commandment of Auschwitz, which became the most efficient murdering camp of the Nazi Final Solution. He was hung on April 16, 1947.

This sentence could seem satisfying to many people, he paid for the insane massacre he helped to create, but did he?

As I read that he was hung, I thought to myself, yea, because that was acceptable back then, to hang people. Then I thought about it and realized that it is still acceptable today recalling Saddam Hussein’s recent hanging and the craze it created when leaking unto YouTube.

With all the hot-topic issues out there I have always seem to avoid thinking about the death penalty, until now. Amnesty International is an organization that works to eliminate the death penalty. The Secretary General of the program, Irene Khan, talks of the multiple executions in Asia and the Middle East and how they have no place in the 21st Century.

The article goes on to talk about the cruel and inhumane ways the death penalty is carried out across the world for example, “In Saudi Arabia, where execution is usually by public beheading and is, in some cases, followed by crucifixion, at least 102 people were executed.” When I read this I find it to be medieval and can not believe it goes on today.

I absolutely believe that people need to pay for their crimes but I do not think that killing them is the best solution. If anything it is putting them out of their misery and continuing this cycle of death. Someone kills many people so authorities can kill them and that makes it right?

 Amnesty International, CRUEL, DISCRIMINATORY, UNFAIR AND DEGRADING – THE DEATH PENALTY IN 2008

As I was looking at the pictorial essay inside Since You Went Away, I found it interesting that it highlighted a popular song during the time named, I Wish That I Could Hide Inside this Letter, song by Joan Brooks

It called to mind the differences between 1942 and 2009. In 1942 your life was about the war in almost all aspects.

The draft was instituted which required men from most families to enlist. Husbands, boyfriends, sons, brothers, cousins were all gone fighting in the war. The main connection between the two worlds were letters. Women spent a great deal of their time writing not only for personal reasons but also as a civic duty. There is a poster also inside the pictorial essay within Since You Went Away, and on the back is a message explaining the importance of the poster, “Mail from home is more than a fighting man’s privilege. It is a military necessity, for there probably is no factor so vital to the morale of a fighting man as frequent letters from home” (120). This shows how every aspect of life in the 1940s was affected by war.

All propaganda was directed towards war encouraging people to buy war bonds, use V-mail, and do everything you can to show support for the war. Another thing that is extremely different was the music. People like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra had popular songs. A lot of the songs during this period had to do with the war being about separation and love. For example As Time Goes By sung by Frank Sinatra,

You must remember this,

a kiss is still a kiss,

a sigh is just a sigh;

The fundamental things apply,

As Time Goes By. 

And when two lovers woo,

they still say, “I love you,”

On that you can rely;

No matter what the future brings,

As Time Goes By.

Moonlight and love songs never out of date,

Hearts full of passion, jealousy and hate;

Woman needs man and man must have his mate,

That no one can deny. 

It’s still the same old story,

a fight for love and glory,

A case of do or die!

The world will always welcome lovers,

As Time Goes By.

The current time period with the current war offers many changes from the past. In most cases you may have a friend who has a friend who is overseas. I personally have no personal connection to the war. It is easy for me to not think about it and never hear about it. Luckily with the technology of 2009 we are able to stay connected. Even though I do not know anyone that is over there I am able to know what is going on through the Internet. For people who do have relatives and friends over there they are able to communicate faster through email and webcams. Not only this but if the person is on leave they are able to travel home a lot faster. Even though the technology makes our lives easier the pain you feel with the separation remains the same. We can see that through a Carrie Underwood song named Just a Dream,

Verse 1

It was two weeks after the day she turned 18

all dressed in white, going to the church that night

She had his box of letters in the passenger seat,

six pence in her shoe

something borrowed something *blue*

and when the church doors opened up wide she put her veil down trying to hide the tears oh

she just couldn’t believe it

she heard the trumpets from the military band and the flowers fell out of her hands

Chorus

Baby, why’d you leave me, why’d you have to go

I was counting on forever, now I’ll never know

I cant even breathe

It’s like I’m, looking from a distance, standing in the background

Everybody’s saying, he’s not coming home now,

This can’t be happening to me

This is just a dream 

Verse 2

The preacher man said let us bow our heads and pray

lord please lift his soul and heal this hurt

then the congregation all stood up and sang the saddest song that she ever heard

then they handed her a folded up flag and

she held on to all she had left of him oh and what could’ve been

and then guns rang one last shot and it felt like a bullet in her heart. 

I talked in my post before about technology and the ease it offers us when being far away from loved ones. Now I wonder does it really make things any easier? I feel as though a military wife could read Vera Brittain and relate to her as if she lived in the same period. For instance Vera Brittain writes to Roland shortly after he has left,

“Sometime after you had gone, I began again to dream of all that may still be after the war—When you return, and to plan out work to make me worthier of the future and to fill up the hours until the sorrowful time is past… -Good-bye, my dear, and as much love as you wish” (136).

Similarly a women who has a blog named, Confessions of an Army Wife, writes to her husband a poem about his departure:

Be Safe Our Love, Our Hero

The time I dreaded had come my love,

You were called by your duty to secure our safety;

I don’t want you to go but it will be so selfish of me.

My heart bled when we kissed goodbye,

My tears fell at each tight embrace;

You wiped it with your kisses and with your loving caress.

I only want you to promise to be always safe,

Please take extra caution,

Because we are waiting for your victory and your sweet return.

This poem seems to be right out of Testament of Youth, as Vera often describes the emotions she feels and the hope she has for the future. There is another similarity in the way they feel, Vera Brittain writes in her diary,

“Morning,” it observes, “creeps on into afternoon, and afternoon passes into evening, while I go from one occupation to another, in apparent unconcern- but all the time this gnawing anxiety beneath it all” (142).

The army wife relates when posting,

 ”Although I am checking myself to think positively I can’t seem to shut off the little voice inside me of thinking negative. My husband is always telling me not to worry to much and everything will be okay. Still there are instances that pulls me back to worry on something.”

In both instances the women have this constant thought of possibility, good or bad, lingering in their heads. Yes, the army wife has the advantage of hearing her husbands voice maybe even seeing his face, but I think that if you asked her, she would not say that this advantage makes anything easier.

Confessions of An Army Wife, Be Safe Our Love, Our Hero

When Roland is away at war Vera Brittain fully immerses herself into nursing and caring for others. When this does not occupy her, her thoughts are entirely of Roland. Dreaming of the future they might spend together, agonizing over his letters and how, if at all, he might be changing. Although they keep a connection through their letters it is often a distant one, as she states,

“I feel a mixture of strangeness and independence and depression and apprehension and a few other things to-night. Though I am really nearer to you, and somehow feel farther away. Write to me soon,” I implored him. “London—darkest London –sends you its love too, and wishes—oh ! ever so much !—that it may soon see you again” (205).

Like Brittain the people I care about and love most, live apart from me. I often have feelings of strangeness and depression feeling so far from them. Unlike Brittain the only thing that I have to do to feel closer and make those feelings dissipate is to go to the Internet. Facebook connects me to my neighbor who I have not seen in a couple of days, to distant high school friends who I have not seen in months, and to my brother who lives in California. This past summer I would web-cam with my cousin who interned in Australia. Though being a world apart she was the first to see my new apartment, the first to see my new haircut. I continue to have a constant fear of my relatives’ safety when they are away yet this instant connection that we now have allows us to be comforted in the fact that they are but a click away, unlike Brittains circumstance, where things become much dire,

 “Lonely as I was, and rather bewildered, I found the cold dignity of reciprocal silence impossible to maintain. So I tried to explain that I, too, understand just a little the inevitable barrier- the almost physical barrier of horror and dreadful experience- which had grown up between us” (215).

The desperate feeling of uncertainty is not as prevalent in today’s society and war with the new technologies that have been acquired. Though new technologies are mostly seen as good there are both advantages and disadvantages with their use in war.

The Internet allows us to have an inside account of the war yet it can also pose a threat when dealing with leaked information. As a soldier, rules and regulations need to be followed when blogging or hosting a website. Yet for soldiers and families technology can provide a sense of comfort, security, and closeness. Sean Dustman, a navy corpsman, preferred war blogs over mainstream media to get his information before he himself left for Iraq, he says,

“This was where the real news that mattered to me was coming from, unlike what you saw through the regular media. Reading them (the blogs) helped me and my Marines prepare for the trip.”

While he was in Iraq he started his own photo blog, posting photos of his unit. This showed the importance of technology for his family as

“Relatives visited religiously — and let him know with instant feedback when he wasn’t getting new pictures up fast enough.”

Being apart from the ones we love is hard in any circumstance, though in this day and age it is so much easier with the aid of technology.

Ellen Simon, U.S. soldiers’ blogs detail life in Iraq, MSNBC Technology and Science