Exploration 4 Taylor Fenton

      One of the chapters that stood out to me was Field trip. This is where O'Brien took his daughter to Vietnam. The theme that stood out to me was the power of innocence. This little girl has no fears or worries about asking her dad about the war and it seems stupid to even take a trip to Vietnam. My favorite quote is "("you know something? Sometimes you're pretty weird, aren't you?" "Well, no," I said. "You are too." She pulled her hand away and frowned at me."Like coming here. Some dumb thing happens a long time ago and you can't ever forget it." "And thats bad?" "No," she said. "Thats weird.")" (175).  This theme is important because it shows how the younger generation doesn't realize to the extent the war had on people. We are naive. Before reading this book, I have to admit that even myself, a 19 year old girl, didn't truly understand. Although I understand more than his 10 year old, who has no filter.
        For my research I was intrigued by the fact that some veterans really do miss war, and don't know what to do when they are out of it. Sort of like Rat Kiley after getting out of his normal routine as a medic. I found this amazing TED talk from a Afghanistan veteran, Sebastian Junger. He explains that the enormous amount of adrenaline is what intrigues soldiers. He tells a story about how they didn't get attacked for almost a week and soldiers became bored and the Lieutenant was saying he wanted to get hit because he was that bored. Another thing that completely shocked me was a story about Sebastian's fellow soldier. He invited him to a dinner party after the war and a women goes up and asks "what do you miss about war?" he replies, "mam I miss almost all of it." Coming from a man with PTSD who is still completely traumatized. So why? Sebastian explains that in the war you create a certain brotherhood and connection with the men. You have the mentality that you put the safety of everyone else above your own. So when you leave the war, you loose that love and trust. You don't really know if the people at home would do the same for you if it came down to it.

Link to TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/sebastian_junger_why_veterans_miss_war?language=en&utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

This is Sebastian Junger and he is an American journalist who saw first hand what the soldiers went through.

Works Cited:

Junger, Sebastian. “Why Veterans Miss War.” TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, 18 May 2016, www.ted.com/talks/sebastian_junger_why_veterans_miss_war?language=en.

http://www.sebastianjunger.com