Crawford and the Iraq war - Essay Example

Indhu Kannan 27.07.2009 Crawford and the Iraq war Crawford an Ex-National Guard Specialist visualized the war in the Iraq. John Crawford the author of "The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell", shares his experience at the Warfield and the other soldiers. He speaks about Post-War Stress condition the soldiers went through. Crawford went to Iraq to take part in the war immediately after his marriage. Crawford's unit stayed at Iraq for 18 months which was only scheduled for 6 months. His long journey immediately after his marriage ruined his marriage life.

Crawford was trouble by the Iraq War. His books and his words state the trouble and trauma he went through and how it changed his life. He had been deployed at Iraq for 6 months which extended upto an 18 where Crawford witnessed the turmoils of the war. He shares the story at the Warfield and the life of the soldiers at the Warfield. Hinson (2005) says "Recounting his experience Crawford in A soldier's true story says the ancient city turned out to be a hellhole". Living amidst the bombs and the noises, life became horrible and difficult.

They transformed like animals, they had no feelings, no proper food or no peace of mind. Crawford witnessed fear, stupidity, resentments and breezy victories of the soldiers. The war damaged his life bit by bit. Being in the war filed, the sound of bombs, the soldiers' voices and the noisy environment gave sleepless nights to Crawford. He then took Valium tablets to sleep in the night and got used to those drugs. He found it impossible to sleep with out those tablets. Crawford visualized variety of feeling in the war field like anger, nervousness, isolation, liberation and defeat.

In spite of him leaving the war field, the images and the scenes from the war field came to his mind again and again. He spent sleepless nights even in his nation. There was always a post war stress that remained in his mind, which did not allow Crawford to lead his routine life. His regular life became complicated for him. He felt that every thing changed. In spite of Crawford coming from a war family, he was totally disturbed by the war effects. There was only one reason why John Crawford joined the army; he did not have sufficient money for his college.

He was less of two hours for completion of his graduation for which he did not have money. He then joined the National guards, but he never expected to go to the war. All of a sudden he was asked to leave to Iraq for duty. His duty in Iraq completely changed his life. Crawford felt that they de-evolved as animals from human beings. All the experiences he had from Iraq, kept Iraq closer to his mind and he was not able to forget even a sight or the smell from the war field. By the time he had returned from war, he had lost his time, feeling and love for life.

He went through the post war pains. He faced problems with his occupational, social and personal life. John got affected more than the other soldiers because he never thought of going to a war field; he joined army just to earn some money for his college. If he had already planned to join army to serve the nation, his idea and thought might have been different and he would not have suffered much. The sudden act of joining the army and the call of duty was all an unexpected event in Crawford's life.

And to add to that he had to leave his wife to whom he was just married. All the unexpected events and visualizing the actual war field damaged Crawford. He visualized the civilians of the nation having affected by the war, the noises, the blood stains and the sufferings caused mental trauma to Crawford which damaged his life. Citation Hinson, Mark. Free Republic Browse .Search 04.09. 2005 Retrieved on 28.07.2009 from http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1486341/posts