Prompt: The United States recently instituted the draft in a new war against the nation of Afranistan and your number came up. It is the year 1965, you are a university student and you must leave within two weeks. Informal language, write a persuasive essay that explains why you should serve (or not serve) and convince others to do the same. You may refer to yourself as “this commentator” or “this critic” or “this draftee” or some third person variance. No first person allowed in this essay.
Military Choice Essay This writer receives a letter from the Defense Department dated October 3, 2001. This writer is someone who has been drafted to go off to fight in a war in Afranistan. This writer has a difficult decision to make within the next two weeks. This writer should not go to fight in Afranistan. There are many reasons as to why this writer should not go to fight. First, fighting in a war has lasting psychological effects on the human psyche. Second, fighting in a war has physical effects on the soldier. Third, fighting in a war has lasting effects on the veteran’s post-war life. Among these reasons, lasting psychologically damaging effects of the war is the best reason not to go to Afranistan.
This writer should not go to fight in Afranistan because of the lasting psychological effects the war has on soldiers. Everyone is aware of how much war can affect the human psyche. In the book, The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, the author talks about what the soldiers carried within themselves, “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. They carried shameful memories” (Bradford 72). What this means is that many traumatic events are experienced by the soldier; they carry them inside their hearts. Also, those same psychological disorders have a lifetime effect. These disorders are not just simple psychological problems that can be fixed with therapy; these psychological disorders are much more than that because they consist of nightmares, flashbacks, avoiding activities once enjoyed, trouble sleeping, and irritability (Mayoclinic). These psychological disorders last a lifetime. Recently, a veteran named Ken Asbury was interviewed about his war experience. Ken remarked that, “It isn’t the shooting, really, it’s all the stuff you have to see and you can’t get out of your head” (Roanoke Times). This means that even off duty, war still has psychological effects on veterans; what the soldier sees and experiences in the war will never leave the mind. These are the very reasons why the writer cannot go to fight in Afranistan. The war has lasting psychological effects on veterans, but the war also has lasting physical damages.
The writer should not go to fight in Afranistan because of the physical damage war could have on a solider. While the outcome of psychological damage affect the soldier’s mind, the physical damage affects the body. It is an obvious fact that war can physically damage a soldier. Recently, Mike Argento, from the York Daily Record, wrote an article about a veteran, Darnell Rias, and the physical effects that war had on that veteran, “Four months later, he was wounded, his back broken and his brain concussed when he drove over an IED while on patrol. Surgery and recovery and physical therapy followed” (Denver Post). What this means is that Darnell Rias suffered physical damages during his deployment, which is not uncommon. Furthermore, the physical damage that Darnell Rias sustained during the war affected his life afterwards. He still deals with the aftermath, exercising to maintain some flexibility in his back. He gets crippling headaches from his brain trauma. He suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and is acutely aware of his surroundings to the point of suspicion. It may have been only three years,
