Thursday, February 28, 2013

Links to Medal of Honor story and veterans themes

No one wrote comments when I posted this before, but I think it's important to connect our reading to our lives.  So let's do this as a blog homework for this weekend.  Here's the post again:

It is very hard to read about characters like Norman Bowker, Lt. Jimmy Cross, and Tim O’Brien and not wonder about the issues war veterans face today, with so many struggling in the return to civilian life.  
We have to question: 
  • What as a culture and as citizens do we owe these people?  
  • How can we understand their stories and challenges?  
  • How can we learn from them and support them?  
  • Is the system set up for their success or failure?  
  • What can we do to support or criticize that system?  Do we need to do both?  
  • How can we relate or connect on a person level?

None of these questions will be answered deeply without inquiry and listening.  That's the start.

Here are some links.  Let's connect our readings to this world!

Here's the link to some stories and videos about Clint Romesha, who just was awarded our nation's Medal of Honor.  (Yes, the same award that the popular point-and-shoot video game is named after.) 

Please read and listen to these links.

 http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/11/politics/medal-of-honor/index.html?iref=allsearch

http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/11/clint-romesha-on-the-medal-of-honor-its-not-about-me-it-was-everybody-that-day-up-at-cop-keating/?iref=allsearch

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2013/02/07/intv-tapper-romesha-soldiers-left-behind.cnn

 http://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/romesha/battlescape.html


Clint Romesha

15 comments:

  1. We can relate on a personal level by the fact that we all go through something in our life that's in our past now but still effects our future, and how you handle the situation determines on how positive your future will look. Everyone has to keep pushing on when things get tough.

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  2. Veterans and current soldiers of The United States go unrecognised a lot of the time. Their duties are over-looked and not many people fully appreciate the work they do for their country. As civilians, we owe a lot to these soldiers; they are risking their life simply to fight for something they believe in, which in the end will hopefully result in a better system of living.

    I think that soldiers' stories are fascinating because they are very unique. Only other soldiers will know the emotions that the soldier is going through at the time of the story. In order to understand the soldiers, however, they must step out of their comfort zone and express all their feelings so we can relate on a personal level. Although expressing their feelings can often be hard for them, I believe that doing so will help them lift weights from their shoulders.

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  3. We can relate on a personal level with Clint Romesha becasue of the emotion he brings. Clint is honered to recive this metal but he knows that this medal of honor means more than a metal for himself. This metal honors all those who faought with him in this war and those who have passed. I found it most shocking that Clint was 1 of 4 living recipipants to recieve this metal. He is blessed to have made it this far.

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  4. I believe what struck me most during the material was my own feelings about Clint Romesha. When President Obama awarded Romesha with the medal, it was extremely hard not to take notice to his face, and its emotion. Anyone could tell that this was a time of reflection for Romesha, but I believe after reading The Things They Carried we can see much more. His medal comes from one of his bravest moments, but this was made of many smaller moments. War stories that people would never believe experiences that they could never feel. The question I choose was “How can we understand their stories and challenges?” I believe that we will never fully understand what happened, or be able t feel what he felt. The best way to try to understand is simply to listen. Listen to what these individuals have to say, accept not only their venting but their wisdom. Listening may not directly correlate with understanding, but hopefully can help with the transition back into civilian life.

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  5. We owe a lot to people who return home from war. They went and risked their lives so that we could continue to have the freedoms that we have now. We owe them support and care, we need to give them somebody to talk to. We also need to help keep them positive so that they don't feel as if they are still fighting the same battles that they did in war, at home.

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  6. We can learn from the stories that the solider shared with us because we can see what we have to improve on like the weapons, better planning, and better plans to attack the enemy. We can suport them by helping them deal with their issues. What struck me the most was that there was only four people that recived this metal.

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  7. What as a culture and as citizens do we owe these people?
    I remembered a Somali proverb which says “The hero of someone is the warlord of another” as American citizens these soldiers are our dignity and without them no one would’ve enjoyed the peace that we have today. To other countries they may call them whatever they like but our existence depends on them and a nation without a strong army is not capable of playing an important role and that is the role our veterans play in our being. They should be respected as fathers and provide them everything they may need.

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  8. in my own opinion i think we owe these people because of all the harships they go through in daily basis and how they risk their lifes to make sure we live in peace. we owe them a lot of respect because they're the ones who protect this great nation and served with pride and dignity.

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  9. Addressing the question on whether this system is built for veterans finding jobs after the war, I don't think it is. Usually soldiers in war are very young, usually coming right out of high school. So, these people are spending the prime of their life in the army, when most people are going to college. So when they come back, they are already behind other people their age. When you include the horrifying experience that is war, and potential mental and physical disabilities, all the sudden it is a lot harder to get back into the swing of things upon returning. All this makes finding and keeping a job a lot harder for veterans.

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  10. I just think that it is horrible to see these men put up on pedestals, being awarded for their bravery, and yet they are miserable, miserable because their comrades, their friends, often deserved even bigger awards than they did. As far as connecting on a personal level with these people, just imagine that one person you love more than anything in the world. Now, imagine that person is falling off a high cliff and you have incredibly long arms, which would enable you to save them, but, no matter what you do, by the time you grab that person, they have already hit the ground and died. That is the same kind of feeling these men face. Remember it. Hate it. Fix it.

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  11. As a culture and society, we do owe our veterans much gratitude. As we live our lives, day to day, this isn't something that sits on the front of our minds, unless we're personally affected or interested. The veterans that come home from the war are "ideally" admired, shown gratitude towards and thanked for their service. It's a subject in which we all get mighty serious about and nod our heads in silence, but are we truly invested in the happenings of pre, during and post war for these veterans? These veterans have subjected themselves into years of harsh, abnormal living conditions. These vets' emotional, mental and physical states have experienced dramatic changes. This is something difficult to relate to. Reading "The Things They Carried" was a great way to touch the understanding of these vet's lives, for me. Continuing to read stories, articles and watch interviews of different veteran stories breaks my heart even further and inspires me to get involved in these individuals lives, and appreciate these vets, like Clint, on an entirely different level.

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  12. The system we have created for these soldiers is to break them down mentally enough so that they can endure basically anything, even killing another human being. By doing this to them, I think that we need to offer them a smoother transition back into society. Almost like a halfway house, because they also have not been exposed to the world we have been living in for awhile. We need to find a way to get these soldiers that have served our country back into society, that way they don't feel lost or alone because it can all be very overwhelming. The guy that died because of a drug overdose, probably wasn't sure what to do after experiencing what he had gone through.

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  13. We can relate on a personal level with Clint Romesha because of the emotions and feelings he had when honored the metal of honor. To clint it was him just doing a job and he felt he needed to help his fellow comrades to everyone else he's a hero. He took the metal as for all those who fought beisde him on the battle field. What struck me the most was that he tries to make the best of things by remembering that good memorable times with his troop and the ones who had passed. Which could be the best thing to do. I can also relate on another personal level with experiencing the scary thoughts of having loved one risk their lives serving on the battle field with my dad, so this really hits home.

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  14. We owe our freedom to the men and women fighting for us. They keep our country safe and allow us to live normal, day to day lives. The soldiers protect us and our way of living, doing the best they can to keep the battles off our soil. From my understanding we owe them everything and it is great to hear we honor the troops with medals, but it does not seem enough. I think we generally take them for granted and do not often honor the sacrifices they make for us.

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  15. In my Opinion what we owe these soldiers is respect. Respect for what they do for us because if wasn’t for them our country would be invaded by drugs, violence, and notorious world lords. In reality we treat our soldiers when come from combat like piece of trash but They owe us many combinations of things include first respect, shelter when the comeback home, support either at home or overseas also support them even if it comes to financial.

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