The thesis of this blog entry would have to be “Another Day in Iraq also known as another mind altering experience.” I decided to make a statement that I thought best suited what I comprehended from reading this blog. This statement might sound flimsy, but it can easily be back up with much information. The author of the blog consistently talks about how he is a soldier in service to the U.S army and all of the lives he’s taken in the name of war. The blog entries keep changing and it seems as if with each day, the solider digs a deeper hole in his mind of all the inhumane activities he’s participated in. The thesis is developed from the confrontation of the people at the Tigris river. This tells you that being overseas in this situation has taught him to resort to primitive actions such as survival of the fittest. This is just the beginning because later on he starts talking about how the sounds of bombs being fired from his side to the enemies was soothing and helped him sleep, simply because they had nothing to worry about since they were the ones with the big guns. It seems as if this solider has a struggle with himself and what he’s become because he asks many people, including himself if they’re proud of what he’s done. All these mind altering experiences eventually lead him to become wiser and sharper, as he states when he’s done with his 5 year stay in Iraq.
The individual in this blog is the soldier that is writing about his experiences in Iraq. The system in this situation would have to be the Army because he serves them and does what he is told, even though he eventually figures out what they’re doing is wrong and inhumane. The conflict between the individual and system is relevant to the thesis because as time passes as the soldier continues his service, he learns that he is changing and all the insane things he’s done. The experiences actually lead him to become wiser and a more understanding individual.
A technique that I noticed that worked quite nicely in the authors writing was being descriptive about the event, not so the visual part, but the part where he makes the reader think about what he says and what he’s actually doing. One example of this includes the beginning post where he talks about people he sees near the river and how he takes them out even though they might have never been a threat, but hey, better to be safe then sorry right? Another post he makes that is interesting is the one labeled “Red,” because it talks about the “true colors” of the world and how when you’re younger, you’re isolated from the “real world.”
I would compare this to the many war movies I’ve seen where soldiers start to think differently because they’ve been away so long. Eventually all the soldiers in these movies either end up going crazy because of all the carnage they’ve seen or they come out a much wiser individual, as seen in this blog. One movie in particular would have to be Jarhead.
These blog posts are extremely effective, even though the length is quite short. In my opinion, writing that is short and to the point is a lot more appealing and makes you think a lot more, than if you are presented with a bunch of information.
A word that I was not familiar with was IED. After going on Yahoo Answers, I figured out it meant Improvised Explosive Device. This definition fits in perfectly within the context the word was stated.
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