Depravity Of War In Brian Humphrey's 'Soldiers Stories'

Words: 564
Pages: 3

(SS Evil): In “Soldiers’ Stories”, the depravity caused by war creates a possibility of being involved in unimaginable situations. Tragedy encompasses fellow soldiers and families alike. The occupation of one U.S. soldier, Second Lieutenant Brian Humphreys, is to retrieve the soldiers who were injured or dead in combat. He writes during one job, “Perhaps the explosion had somehow killed a farm animal…. The marine gives his buddy’s name and asks me to help find his head. Fuck” (Humphreys 382). These quotes give the reader images that demonstrate the severe consequences of war. “At one point the casualties got so bad that it seemed the room was closed for a week at a time while notifications were made” (Humphreys 382). The deaths became too frequent; the survivors were unable to access the Internet because their superiors had to notify the next of kin of the deceased via E-mail.
(Hiroshima Evil): The Iraq War veterans’ descriptions of the depravity of war expose how far America was willing to go to end World War II. The iniquitous behavior from our government was illustrated by the frequency of the bombs used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As terrible as the Hiroshima bombing was, the U.S. did not stop there;
…show more content…
Commander Edward W. Jewell is a medical doctor on a non-combat hospital ship called the Comfort. He wrote journal entries during his term on the Comfort. In September 21, 2003 he wrote; “We hope to hear something concrete about our own status: What is planned for us, how can we offload our patients, and, mostly, when can we go home? Instead of insight and clarity, we got more obscuring mud in the eye” (Various Authors 378). He documents his frustrations about the lack of information him and his colleagues receive. Furthermore, the lack of systematic organization in the military creates disorder within his community and his