Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The Things They Carried
Recently my battalion and I received an email on being a Second Lieutenant in the Army. The email basically told us to get your act together and be a good leader since a lot of pressure is on you, not to mention the lives of an entire platoon are in your hands and many have seen combat already and need Lieutenants to be focused and know their stuff. Having read this story I knew right off the bat that Lieutenant Jimmy Cross was going to mess up and get someone killed since he was greatly distracted by Martha, who did not even love him in the first place. Nevertheless, we have a saying in the Army that goes " a distracted soldier is a dead soldier." The statement is self-explanatory since in the story Ted Lavender was killed due to a negligent Lieutenant. Anyways this story was true to its title since the author explained in great detail what each soldier carried and how much it weighed. Nevertheless I relate to this story since we do ruck marches that consist of carrying 35 pounds or more of stuff in a ruck sack; it basically looks like a hiking backpack but we call it a ruck sack since that just sounds cooler than to call it a backpack. Anyways what I also enjoyed was the level of detail of the environment of Vietnam. I knew that it had a jungle habitat but never so mildew and marshy. Nevertheless I appreciate that at the end of the story Lieutenant Jimmy Cross finally figured things out and straightened up and became a Lieutenant. I have learned that in the Army that if enlisted soldiers continue to say 'sir' to a Lieutenant then he has not earned their respect. However if they start calling the Lieutenant 'LT' then he has earned his rank. Nevertheless for those who have read this story I must add to the fact that whenever a Lieutenant losses one of his men, it is he who writes the letter back home to that individuals family that their son or daughter is dead. So I would hope that none of you who have read this story ever think that officers have it easy compared to the enlisted guys.
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I still don't understand the "rucksack" thing instead of backpack, but if that's the way you like to cal it then fine. Anyways, i love how you can relate to the story and identify what is important and necessary in order to lead men effectively. You are going to need that.
ReplyDeletewow thats awesome that you can relate to this story so well. i really like the saying "a distracted soldier is a dead soldier" because that is true for everything in life. maybe not to the extend of dying but none-the-less being distracted in life is not a good thing.
ReplyDeleteAwesome blog Derek. I appreciate not only what you said but also your involvement in the U.S. military. While I was reading "The Things They Carried"and saw how infatuated and distracted Cross was over a girl who didn't even like him, I was pretty upset at the guy. I just kept thinking, "You're in the middle of a war and leading men who are counting you to lead them and make the right decisions and you're feeling pity for yourself because you can't get a girlfriend? Wake up!" Then later after Lavender died and Cross made the decision to put Martha out of his mind and be the leader his platoon needed I was very proud of him. Wether you are lieutentant, general, or just a regular soldier fighting in a war you need to keep head in the game focus on doing your job, no matter what personal circumstances you have back home.
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