Abstract
For the typical American soldier, despite the perverted film sermons, it wasn’t “getting another Jap” or “getting another Nazi” that impelled him up front. “The reason why you storm the beaches is not patriotism or bravery,” reflects the tall rifleman. “It’s that special sense of not wanting to fail your buddies. There’s sort of a special kinship.”
An explanation is offered by an old-time folk singer who’d been with an antiaircraft battery in the Sixty-second Artillery: “You had fifteen guys who for the first time in their lives were not living in a competitive society. We were in a tribal sort of situation, where we could help each other without fear. I realized it was the absence of phony standards that created the thing I loved about the army.”1
Translations from the Iliad are here from Lombardo (1997). Line numbering refers to Lombardo’s line numbers. I thank the editors for their very helpful comments and suggestions. I thank Colin Yarbrough for closely reading my final draft and making several key observations that improved how I here convey a few key thoughts and ideas. I dedicate this chapter to the late Joel Cryer, PJ and friend, and to Michael T. Palaima, combat controller, brother and friend, for their stories told and untold.
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© 2014 Peter Meineck and David Konstan
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Palaima, T.G. (2014). When War Is Performed, What Do Soldiers and Veterans Want to Hear and See and Why?. In: Meineck, P., Konstan, D. (eds) Combat Trauma and the Ancient Greeks. The New Antiquity. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137398864_13
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