No Easy Day Image

This image represents that even though someone died yesterday, today will be a harder day.

He Said She Said Poem

Purpose

Author Mute

We did what we were told We did what we were told

We fought We fought

We killed We killed

I survived I survived

How can I survive? How can I survive?

I don’t know

But I will try to pass by

I have to keep fighting

I write I can’t write

I can’t think

I can’t move

I can’t talk

I’m on my own I’m on my own

I have no where to go

No place to eat

No money

No friends

No job

My life is in my hands My life is in their hands

Yesterday was easy

Today is hard

Tomorrow will be harder Tomorrow? I don’t know...

My pencil keeps me going

I write today

For tomorrow

To fight for my life

No Easy Day Final Essay

Life after serving in the military will never be the same.  Soldiers attempt to cope with the real world in many different ways but may never be okay.  Many soldiers are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  It is an anxiety disorder that may occur after a traumatic incident with life long lasting effects.  This can lead to their personal deterioration.  One form of coping with the after effects of war is through writing literature.  We have seen through several of the books we’ve read in class how war affects the individual.  In the novel “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’brien, we can see how each soldier is mentally affected by the war.  The author establishes that it is not the truth that is important but the act of storytelling.  We know that we can not actually understand how war actually affects each individual since we are not in war, so the best we can do is try and understand it.  Tim’s purpose is to explain the importance of storytelling over the truth.  We also saw this in the novel “Slaughterhouse-Five,” written by Kurt Vonnegut.  We learn the difficulties and how war affected the individuals in a way that they can’t even write about an event that was such a big part in their lives and something that haunts them forever.  Vonnegut was told that writing a book against war is useless if his goal is to prevent war.  His purpose in writing the book is his way of coping with his PTSD.  He tries to understand how and why events unfolded to benefit himself.  

In the book I read, “No Easy Day,” Mark Owen, the author, writes about his experience with the military and ultimately the events unfolding to the mission that killed Osama Bin Laden.  There are several aspects that drew controversy to this book.  First of all, Mark Owen is not the authors real name, it’s Matt Bissonette.  It is greatly looked down upon to publicize events such as these.  It is required by the military that before anything is publicized that it be reviewed by the operational security.  Thousands of soldiers submit pieces of literature about the military for review every day.  If they are not allowed, they just get thrown out.  It is a long process to have everything you’ve worked on to get shut down.  Bissonette disobeyed this and went on to publish his book without their review.  This was problematic and caused huge debate when it was released whether to take it off the shelves.  One side was that Bissonette illegally released his book without review and contained classified information.  The other was if they shut down his book, it would deny a veteran the opportunity to cope with their lives.  He also disobeyed an agreement his team made that they are not to speak of missions sought out by his team.  This is a big step for the military community.  It provides support to many soldiers who are suppressed to express their feelings and attitude towards the war and their experiences with it.  

After doing research, I found that it has been scientifically proven that writing helps deal with stress and other problems following war.  “Deep disclosure improves mood, objective and subjective health, and the ability to function well.”  Many people use literature to help them deal with problems they’re having.  They use it as a “person” to talk to and let out their feelings.  Diaries are a common example of this.  That’s why many people hide their secrets and problems and how their day went as a way to cope with it in their diaries.  It relieves the stress and makes it easier to keep secrets so you don’t get the urge to tell someone else because it’s in their diaries.  Writing has also been shown to bring back memories from even before combat that were forgotten as a result.  “Findings like these underscore that writing is an easy, inexpensive, independent and relatively universal way for people can resist the mental and physical ravages of stress and disease.”  Many people choose to write rather than seek therapy because they don’t want to spend the money or feel comfortable sharing these stories with other people.  More importantly they choose not to share because it is against the stigma of the army.  They are pressured to not share their experiences because it is against the code of honor so many soldiers chose to write about it.  Because people are looked down upon for sharing their war stories, Bissonette makes the first huge change within the military community.  Matt Bissonette sets an example that it’s okay to write and share war stories.  

Sources

"Open Up! Writing About Trauma Reduces Stress, Aids Immunity."Http://www.apa.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2014.

“Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD Information and Treatment” http://psychcentral.com/disorders/ptsd/ N.p.,n.d. Web. 22 May 2014

“Writing May Help Troops with TBI, PTSD Heal” http://www.armytimes.com/article/20111214/NEWS/112140331/Writing-may-help-troops-TBI-PTSD-heal. N.p.,n.d. Web. 22 May 2014

PTSD As a Person

His name is post traumatic stress disorder.  But people call him PT for short.  He’s someone you never want to face.  He’s always picking on people who’s already been in a bad situation and people that have already gone through so much that don’t deserve it.  Especially war veterans.  You will never look for him or expect him, but when he finally comes around, it’s bad.  So if something bad happens to you, you already know you’re also going to have to deal with him.  When he’s there, there is no getting rid of him.  He haunts you.  You know why, but at the same time you don’t.  He makes you remember all the bad things you don’t want to think about.  He even makes you forget about all the good times.  He bothers you every second of the day.  If any incident even close to the terrible incident you had earlier, you already know PT will be there to remind you and cause you pain.  When he’s around, you will get nothing done.  You can’t stop thinking about all the things he’s reminding you of.  They’re so bad you can’t function.  

You don’t want to take PT out in public with you.  He will embarrass you in public and make you look awkward in ordinary situations.  He will make you worried about things you shouldn’t be worried about and makes you remember the terrible incidents from just about anything.  You are welcome to bring PT to the therapist, but chances are he’s still going to want to come with you and won’t leave after.  Sometimes writing about the things PT reminds you of kind of helps, but he even makes writing hard.  He keeps poking at you old things you don’t want to listen to which obstructs everything you really want to write about.  And even when you try to write about the terrible things he reminds you he bothers you so much you can’t even write about them.  

The worst part about PT is he wakes you up and doesn’t let you sleep.  He makes you think about your terrible experience that made him come in the first place.  And when you’re sleeping he will make you have the worst nightmares every night multiple times a night.  You just can’t sleep with him around.  He’s someone you’ll never want to see, but once you see him it’s already too late.    

Letter to Audience

The military lives by the concept that the only easy day was yesterday.  In other words, even though yesterday was hard, today will be harder and you will have to work harder and do better.  If you do well one day, you will have to do better the next.  It’s motivation to keep working hard because there is always room for improvement.  If you beat a record, you can beat that record yourself again.  This is why the book is called “No Easy Day.”  I intertwined this concept throughout my genres because I feel that this is a very important motivation for the military to always do better and keep improving which makes our army so powerful mentally and physically.  My thesis was arguing that Matt Bissonette’s purpose for writing the book was to establish that it’s okay to write about your military experiences as a method of coping with their trauma.  This concept is important to the thesis because it even reflects the after-life of war.  A veteran should be able to live comfortably after serving for their country but many times this is not the case.  Many soldiers face the effects of posttraumatic stress disorder, which shows the difficulty of life after war.  I wanted to research how this affects their daily lives and what many soldiers do to cope with its effects.  

What Am I?

What am I?

They tell me to keep going.

but how can i?

I have to hide what I’ve seen,

to protect our kind

I put my pencil down

just one last time

The thoughts,

stuck in my head that I can’t unbind,

yet I can’t write a line

They call me a Unit

but what am I?

A Soldier in the past,

when it was easy

now i reach my demise

Who is here to help me

No, not even my divine

But I can.

not fight my mind

No Easy Day

Q4 2nd Blog Post "No Easy Day"

I choose this book for several reasons.  When I went to the library last year it covered the first book rack was recommended this book by several people working at the store.  At the time, about a year ago, there was a lot of different perspectives and false information spread through media and other sources about the mission leading to the death of Osama Bin Laden.  I wanted the information shared from a first person perspective of someone who was actually on the mission, because there’s nothing as close to the right information as a primary source.  This is also extremely rare because so much of the information is classified and can’t be shared, so hopefully this book contained a lot of information I wouldn’t be able to get otherwise.  I picked out this book a couple weeks after seeing the movie Zero Dark Thirty.  This movie was about the investigation in his finding and everything that lead up to their mission to kill Bin Laden.  I knew the book and movie would definitely have different information that’s presented and conflicting perspectives.  It’s also interesting to see how someone a part of Seal Team Six would describe these events and their thoughts on how Special Operations would deal with the situation.  I picked this book up recently because for some reason I never got to it.  Finally reading the book after several years of the event would also be interesting to see what I knew about the mission from general media and comparing it to the actual event from the book.  

I have interest in the military because of their varied ethics and their procedures for choosing soldiers and training and how they approach different missions.  After reading the book “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’brien, I found that Mark Owen could relate to the similar burdens of being in war.  It was different in that “No Easy Day” is written in modern day war so war is very different from the Vietnam War O’briens book was about.  The mental burdens are similar although Owen focused more on the physical burdens and only have short reflections on his thoughts about the missions he went on.  After reading about several of Owen’s missions including the one that lead to Bin Laden’s death, the missions are never perfect.  Something always goes wrong.  They underestimate the number of terrorists, a helicopter has a malfunction, someone gets shot.  There are so many factors that affect how the mission is run and so many split second decisions that need to be made by the soldiers that could result in life or death.  These decisions may have consequences that haunt the soldiers, in some situations where absolutely no good can come out of the situation.  The militaries decisions cause a lot of controversy about the ethics between what is right and wrong and what should have and could have been done.  I want to research the ethics behind the militaries decisions and how these decisions are made.  

Independent Reading Q4 1st Blog Post

The book No Easy Day written by Mark Owen and Kevin Maurer begins really slow but presents important details necessary to understand the procedures of the army and Navy Seal Team Six.  They spoke about their perspective and how they kept themselves motivated to keep going and work harder.  The training didn’t seem exceptionally difficult to me, but the environment was made to replicate extremely hard conditions which made the training significantly more difficult mentally.  The author spends a lot of time writing about what it took to stay in their divisions and be selected to move up rankings.  The “try-outs” to be selected to move up rankings weren’t particularly surprising, but I found out a lot more about what their roles were and the missions they went on.  As I was reading about the flashback of the mission he goes on, I developed a new insight about what war has become in the modern day.  Before I read the book, I always pictured there to be a lot of searching and small combat, with less fatalities.  I now understand that there is so much that can go wrong in a mission.  In their mission, the helicopters landed on the wrong house they were supposed to ambush and underestimated the guns the terrorists were using.  It surprised me because even with all the billions of dollars invested, with some of the best technology, and best trained soldiers, so many things can go wrong in war.  There are also so many cautions and risks that have to be taken with each mission and decision the soldiers have to make while in combat.  In their mission they have to do the best they can to complete the mission with the least fatalities and still protecting the innocent civilians, which sometimes has to be a decision a soldier has to choose between.  I now recognize that being a soldier requires an incredible amount of mental strength to motivate yourself through the rigorous training, deal with the constant deaths occuring every day in war, and continue to serve for their country.  The book was informational and helped get a better understanding of what war is like and what it’s like being a soldier but I never got attached to the book.  I had to force myself to keep reading a couple times, especially in the beginning of the book.  When the action in the book finally began, I wanted to continue reading because the mission was a lot like something I’ve seen in movies before, but I knew it was real.  The action scenes were the only parts of the book where I got attached to, but those were short.  There’s too much talking and not enough action in the book.  Although I had a hard time reading the book during certain parts of it, I found the information and Owen’s perspective very different from what I’ve always imagined which I found very interesting.

Independent Reading Grapes of Wrath 4

From what I have captured from this book is that life doesn’t go as planned, and there will be many obstacles in the way, but you just need to find what makes you happy and work things out.  Life moves on one way or the other.  The families struggles show that as long as you stick with your family and work hard, things will be okay.  Alike the symbol of the character’s name Rose of Sharon, she is very optimistic and believes everything will turn out great.  Even though the family experiences tragedy after tragedy, the family continues to do what is best for it.  They are constantly on the search for a job, or food, or shelter, anything to benefit and help the family.  Many of the other families in the same struggle are very brutal and harsh to each other, however the Joad family is very hostile to others, sharing food and shelter, and even taking along another couple on their journey to California.  In the end, the family is still strong and together from what is left and the book ends with Rose of Sharon yet again helping out another person and nursing a man to health.  I came to understand that this was the theme of the book since the mood of the entire book is gloomy and always has some tension until the last scene where after everything bad that has happened, especially to Rose of Sharon, it ends with a smile on her face. Some of the methods I learned from Nabakov, Prose, Foster, O’connor, and Perrine were to read using a dictionary, read word for word, and paying attention to sensory details.  Reading with a dictionary at hand made a big difference on how I understood the book.  Even though I can use context clues and know a fair amount of the words, have a dictionary changed the book.  The little details and understanding the exact definition and the proper definition can completely change the meaning of a sentence.  Also, reading word for word changed the reading experience for me as well.  Even though this seems pretty straight forward, most of the time I just read.  But when I read a little slower and make sure I read and understand everything, whole new ideas can be taken from this.  Reading the book word for word also helped extract the sensory details that I would have not otherwise noticed as well if I hadn’t been taking the time and focus while I was reading the book.  Certain details I would have most likely just skipped and wouldn’t take in, but the sensory details create a much more powerful image and got me more engaged in the book and a feel for the environment which helps to understand the book better.  “Two gasoline pumps in front, a screen door, a long bar, stools, and a foot rail.  Near the door three slot machines, showing through the glass the wealth in nickels three bars will bring.  And beside them, the nickel phonograph with records piled up like pies, ready to swing out to the turntable and play dance music…”  This quote was from the beginning of a chapter giving a setting of what the bars along the highway were like.  Most times I would breeze over this type of information, but these details helped me understand the setting and what it was like for the people and understanding the characters.  When a picture is drawn in my mind, it pulls me into the book and I make connections.  This specific scene reminds me of many old western movies and what the stereotypical bar on the highway down south would be like.  I would recommend this book because this book was written in a very different and engaging way.  There were times that the book was very slow and hard to read but somehow managed to keep me interested.  There was always a struggle somewhere in the book that made me want to know what was going to happen next.  I like books that are realistic where not everything always works out so you never know what to expect.  This adds some suspense and since everything is realistic, it doesn’t leave the reader upset or questioning whether something like that could actually happen.  The book also brings the reader to the time period and creates a powerful image of what life during the Great Depression was actually like.  I would give this book a 7/10.

Independent Reading Grapes of Wrath 3

“The Grapes of Wrath” written by John Steinbeck ends in an odd yet satisfying way.  The book ends with the oldest son returning to organize migrant workers while he is being hunted down for killing a police officer and the job had just killed his friend and role model.  The family has lost many members including the daughter’s husband who ran away and left her pregnant which later turned out to be a miscarriage.  The family has traveled from Oklahoma to California with many struggles.  Once they get to California, they find out there are no jobs but they keep trying.  In the end, they still don’t have a job and wont for at least another 3 months since cotton season is over.  I think this was the perfect ending for a book like this.  Even though it ends with many questions dwelling and no real solution to their problem, it stays in character.  The book ends with one of the only positive moments in the entire story.  The family remains jobless and without food and a small shelter in a boxcar.  This seems no way to end a novel, however, for this particular book, I enjoyed the ending.  If the story were to continue, I don’t think it would really lead anywhere and wouldn’t have much to live up to.  From what I see happening if the book continued, is that the police kills Tom and the family remains in the same position until everyone gets sick and dies.  This sounds awful but I think this would be the reality of the story.  All of the crops around are dead and the Joad family is not the type of family to steal crops of food from others.  They would continue to look for a job as they are the type of family that doesn’t give up, but unfortunately it wouldn’t provide them with a job since cotton season has just ended leaving thousands more jobless with thousands of others doing the same thing and working for a wage so low they couldn’t support a family.  At this point, the family truly has no other options.  Especially without someone like Tom, who helped make the journey to California possible.  They also have no other place to go.  They can’t go home because nothing remains in Oklahoma.  I think the book ended the best way possible.  The book had no other lead than to hopelessness and tragedy for the rest of the family.  With the last smile from Rose of Sharon, the reader is left satisfied yet curious.  I’m still curious to know what the smile from Rose of Sharon means.  Her name is another name for Jesus, so could her nursing the man back to health mean that this is the start of a new beginning?  

Independent Reading Grapes of Wrath 2

Tom is one of the main characters in the novel “Grapes of Wrath” written by John Steinbeck.  I found Tom to be the most interesting yet mysterious character in the book.  In the beginning, Tom’s actions are of no surprise and a lot like what you’d expect someone who was just released from prison like, however, as the story continues, Tom constantly surprises the reader with is actions.  The story begins when Tom is released from prison and comes home to his families farm only to find out that his family has left the farm behind for their journey to California in seek of jobs during the Great Depression when the crops were all dying from the lack of rain and no one had money.  One of Toms first encounters was with a truck driver.  The truck has a sign that says “no hitchhikers.”  Tom responds “sure—I seen it. But sometimes a guy'll be a good guy even if some rich bastard makes him carry a sticker.”  This quote shows Tom’s intelligence and his attitude.  This is something you’d expect from someone that has just been released from prison.  He is the stereotypical hard guy coming from prison.  Soon you start to see another side of Tom.  Tom also has a soft side and is a family man.  He does what he can to help his family and takes the role as a leader.  You see one of Tom’s first acts of leadership and handiness when the truck breaks down.  “’Well, we got to tear the pan off an’ get the rod out, an’ we got to get a new part an’ hone her an’ shim her an’ fit her.  Good days job.”  Tom is the type of person anyone would want when going on a trip like this.  He is extremely handy and the family would not be able to make the trip without Tom.  He is very protective of his family and leads them the way.  Tom becomes good friends with a former preacher and takes on many of his values and philosophies.  When the preacher is killed, Tom retaliates and kills a police officer.  Tom’s violence has been fairly mild until this point.  After Tom has already been safe and run away, Tom decides to return and once again put himself at risk to organize the migrant workers, what the preacher was doing before he got killed for it.  I wouldn’t say Tom developed immensely as a character through the story but more during the time he spent in prison.  Tom seems to have always been a leader, but the time in prison and meeting the former preacher, has made Tom more protective of his family and wanting to do good for other people.  

Independent Reading Grapes of Wrath 1

The Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck, is about a struggling families journey to California in seek of jobs during the Great Depression.  The family faces many troubles on their journey as they must leave their home behind, losing many loved ones on the way, and having to sleep on the side of the road with very little or no food.  Once they arrive in California they discover that there are no available jobs and must live in several different camps to survive.  In the end of the book, the family remains jobless and lives in a boxcar on a farm.  A reappearing symbol in the book is Rose of Sharon.  Although, I am not very familiar with religion, from what I understand, Rose of Sharon is another name for Jesus. The book is centralized around finding new beginnings.  Jesus is the mark of a new era, and the book is about a family seeking a new beginning.  She is married to a man name Connie.  Rose of Sharon is always speaking of how great their life will be together once the baby is born and they get to California.  She has it all planned out and believes everything will be okay.  “We got it all planned up what we gonna do…Ma, we want to live in a town. Connie gonna get a job in a store or maybe a factory. An’ he’s gonna study at home.”  Ironically, none of this occurs.  Connie runs away and suddenly Rose of Sharon realizes the responsibility of having a child and brings a lot of stress to her.  She is constantly worried about the health of her baby.  Surprisingly enough, she has a miscarriage.  When everything goes wrong, this was least expected to me because so much has gone wrong it seems like the baby is the one thing to bring light in the book and that her name resembles Jesus, which brings life to earth.  The book takes an odd turn as the family finds a starving man in a barn.  Rose of Sharon uses her breast milk to nurse the man back to health.  “Her hand moved behind his head and supported it.  Her fingers moved gently in his hair.  She looked up and across the barn, and her lips came together and smiled mysteriously.”  This is one of the only positive moments in the entire story and happens in the last sentence.  The family is still living in a box car, with no jobs guaranteed for at least the next 3 months since cotton picking season is over, and many people in their family either dead or gone, but yet the book ends with a smile.