I chose the book Black Hearts by Jim Frederick because it was recommended to me by First Lieutenant Smaldone. He had to read it as course material during his training at TBS (The Basic School). Officers go to TBS following Officer Candidate School where newly commissioned officers learn to lead and inspire fellow Marines. Black Hearts is a non-fiction story about the 502nd Infantry Regiment’s deployment to a region south of Baghdad, Iraq and it’s breakdown of leadership, morale, and discipline. The Unit was known as “The Black Heart Brigade.” and were deployed in late 2005 to the Triangle of Death. A name given to a region of Baghdad which saw constant combat activity and violence from 2003-2007 by U.S. and allied forces. March 12, 2006 is the day where a few young men from Bravo company First Platoon will perform the most heinous act the Iraq War will see. Black Hearts reveals to us why some men fail in the battlefield and why leadership at the highest level can have an everlasting effect on the morale of the men under their command. In the accounts of the unit’s Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Tom Kunk, was not seen as a great leader if one at all by the accounts of his subordinates. A memorial service was held for Three soldiers …show more content…
The story gives me a newfound respect for the Army and the soldiers who were deployed in Iraq around that time because of the constant harassment the insurgents gave the unit. Not because of the war crimes that were committed. It was a magnificent book about the implications and psychological effects war can have on people and what it can lead them do, It has a lot of examples of good and bad leadership that I can take away from it and apply it to my own leadership style. And I can be more prepared in dealing with peers and subordinates in times of
In 1980, a "coming-of-age" young man, Scott Meehan, enlisted into the U.S. Army Special Forces as a Medic. Known as one of the last "street-babies," he was able to enter the elite program immediately following Basic Training, AIT, and Airborne school. Twenty-five years later, married with two "Army Brats" traveling the world, Meehan was all he could be before retiring as a Major. Discover a soldier 's career through insightful vignettes describing his early special forces training, assignment to Berlin during the Cold War, encounters with the KGB, ROTC training, Desert Storm, and his three tours to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) where he was awarded the Bronze Star. A thrilling story that reads like a novel of an American hero whose parents were
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a book about a girl named Melinda Sordino. In the beginning of this book the audience meets Melinda as she is the main character and she describes her first day of high school starting with an assembly. Throughout the book you read about her life but she goes back to the past recalling of something that happened at the end of the summer; in a couple of instances she comes across someone that she refers to as “IT”. When reading you don't know who this “IT” is but it is developed over the story by her having flashbacks to that night or dropping a hint of what happened. During a seminar at the beginning of the book Melinda meets someone named Heather who is new and becomes her friend but ultimately leaves her
Robert gave a clear visualization of what he went through, I could only imagine how it felt fighting for our country. The story gave me a cleared understanding of what happening during 2001 and the years following. I knew about what happened to the World Trade centers but, I didn't know much about the wars and fighting that happened. It really showed what men and women go through everyday to fight for our country. This book shows so much respect to these people.
The sergeant was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for trying to rescue a badly wounded comrade in Afghanistan. His patrol had come under a fierce attack, and Jared ran out three times into a wall of bullets and grenades. On his last attempt to save the private, he was killed. "That 's something I have to live with every day. ... [He] never gave up on anything, no matter what it was," Paul says of his son.
We all have our highs and lows. For the men who served in Vietnam the lows outweighed the highs. Looking through the psych lens at the chapter “Speaking of Courage” shows the fact that the Vietnam War devastated many soldiers mentally. The soldiers that made it home from the war were mentally scarred for life. Norman Bowker kept his feelings bottled up inside and never shared them with anyone.
Another reason I was fascinated by this book was that my grandfather served in WWII and was awarded the Purple Heart. In one section of the book, the authors describe the bombing at Pearl Harbor and those who received this awarding during this event. My grandfather was one of them. Therefore, I became suddenly interested in the book and wanted to continuously read. I would recommend this book to others, because of the shire fact that everyone should be aware of those who risked, and even some who lost their lives to protect our
Being their first hand, O’Brien is able to show people how it is. What the soldiers go through on a day to day basics. Being able to show the world how war was, helped the world to understand it. By openly writing about war, more people were able to help the soldiers. The transition from war to civilian life is a hard one.
The novel suggests that it is important to continue to tell stories; by doing so someone’s life lives on, someone’s legacy lives on, someone’s contribution to our world lives on. Through stories, generations of people will learn about tales of survival, triumph, and failure. By listening to the stories in the novel readers are challenged by having to decide whether the author is telling a true war story, based upon its detail, or one that is not true. Tim O’Brien does this by not having a clear fence between non-fiction and fiction, he believed that: “telling stories seemed a natural, inevitable process, like clearing the throat…it was a way of grabbing people by the shirt and explaining exactly what happened to me…all the mistakes id made, all the terrible things I had seen and done”
The North Vietnamese government along with Viet Cong fought to reunite Vietnam in the 1950s. This led up to the colonial war that initially started with France and America. America wanted to stop the expansion of communism to be worldwide this led up to start a 19 year old war in Vietnam. The occupation of the war in Vietnam was followed by American soldiers who were drafted and were forced to fighting the war. In If I Die in a Combat Zone by Tim O'Brien the author communicated to the reader the experience and struggle he went through while he was fighting in the Vietnam war.
In life, it takes bravery to push through hard times. However, in war, it takes an extreme amount of daringness just to survive and help friends survive. In Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, this gallantry is shown through many of the character’s actions throughout the book. This novel follows the main character, Richie Perry (Perry) and his squad through struggles and successes in the Vietnam War. Perry is a young and inexperienced soldier who finds war to be much more brutal and terrifying than he ever expected.
The lieutenant was charged with delivering an important message to a Cuban general. The book was seen as the perfect portrayal of loyalty and obedience. There are multiple tactical lessons that can be taken from this book/essay, not only to include how individual ethics can create an enormous impact.
Jim Frederick’s book Black Hearts: One Platoon’s Descent Into Madness in Iraq’s Triangle of Death is focused on a crime and all the events that had led up to it. By the fall of 2005, 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division was approaching deployment to Iraq. The book talks about the soldiers deployed to the Triangle of Death during a very dangerous time. 101st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division was taken over by insurgents at a checkpoint just southwest of Mahmudiyah.
Each man of the platoon seemingly haunts themselves in wanting the freedom to go home or to just simply to get out of the war zone they are stuck at so they fantasize about the lives they wish to live when it is all over and their tour is completed. The men even fantasize of shooting themselves so they’ll be sent to a hospital in Japan or wherever just so they can just leave the hell forsaken area they in. Yet, what is putting a hold on all of these thoughts is the pure will all the men within this platoon to not be seen as a coward. The bond these men hold toward one another that they would rather walk through hell day in and day out than to be seen as a less than to their compadres. The intangibles these soldiers come in with mean nothing in comparison to the baggage each man carries in seemingly wanting to die rather than being called a “candy-ass” or
I think in this story he shows how war alters the soldier’s perceptions of right and wrong, just like telling a war story you do not know if it is truthful or not. I think a good example of soldiers not knowing what was right and wrong was when Rat Kiley was torturing the water buffalo. The torturing of the water buffalo may feel wrong to the reader, but we do not know if it is truly wrong. This story is hard for me as the reader to believe because at the beginning of nearly every section the author says, “This is true” or “It’s all exactly true” or some other variation to prove the stories truthfulness. If a person is always trying to convince you that is something is true I have a hard time believing it actually is.
Bloods: Black Veterans of the Vietnam War The historical identity of the African American military experience is deeply rooted in the life and legacy of author Wallace Terry. His legacy has been immortalized in the scores of periodicals and columns he authored throughout his career. Well-read and well-traveled, he brought a balanced context to the field of journalism. To date, he is one of Black America’s greatest contributors to African American journalism.