Home Based Learning Assignment

They unloaded the dead and maimed right before our eyes

They washed out the blood, we loaded our ruck’s and then took to the skies
Over the mountains, villages, and valleys we flew
Where we would land we had not a clue
Bullets are flying, the LZ is hot 
We’re leaving this bird whether we like it or not
30 seconds they yelled, Lock N Load and grab your shit 
Get ready to go and make it quick
My heart is pumping adrenalin through all of my veins
I run as fast as I can through the lead rain
The noise is tremendous, terror I can’t define
The only reason I survived that day was divine
I kept pulling the trigger and reloading and pulling some more
You do what you have to do, with that I will say no more
We fought from the valleys to the mountain peaks
From house to cave, to car to creek
Dirty and tired and hungry and scared
We slept with our boots on so we were always prepared
Those majestic mountains so steep, so high they kiss the skies
The Hindu Kush has changed so many lives
Up the mountains with heavy loads we trod
Who knew hell was so close to God
Beauty and terror are a strong mixed drink
So we drank it like drunkards and tried not to think
Good men and bad men, Mothers lost son’s
Everyone loses their innocence when they carry guns
Washed in the blood, and baptized by fire
I will never forget those who were called higher
They say blood is thicker than water, well lead is thicker than blood
Brothers aren’t born they’re earned. In the poppy fields, the tears, and the mud
And when I get to heaven to Saint Peter I will tell
Another Paratrooper reporting for duty sir, I spent my time in hell

Steve Carlsen

This poem was written by Steve Carlsen. He was born and lives in Dowagiac Michigan. He joined the United States Army in October 2000 and went to Infantry Basic Training, and Airborne School in Ft. Benning Georgia. He then reported to D Company 1^st battalion 504^th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82^nd Airborne Division in Ft. Bragg North Carolina. He was deployed to Kosovo in November 2001 as part of peace keeping operations. He Deployed to Afghanistan in of December 2002 where he participated in combat operations. He was honorably discharged from the Army in 2003. He currently attends Southwestern Michigan College where his professor, Dr Michael Collins challenged him to write about his experiences.

http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html 

Poetry Analysis:

• Point of View

 The poem has been extremely dramatic and the Steve has taken a 1^st person point of view, having been through that kind of experiences before. The poem has taken a tone of excitement of getting into an intense battle, and the fear of death. The poem thus depicts the trauma that Steven has been through, which is absolutely respectable and inspiring.

Steven states that “They say blood is thicker than water, well lead is thicker than blood”. It actually shows how the bond in the regiment develops as battle together, and as they depend on one another for survival.

Steven also describes the need to kill to ensure your own survival, it forces people to do things that were previously against your morals, which is to kill. The following phrase states it clearly:

“Everyone loses their innocence when they carry guns
Washed in the blood (of the dead), and baptized by (gun)fire”

• Situation and Setting

The poem starts off with the dead being loaded onto a helicopter. The persona had to sit with the dead bodies, which in a way already induces utmost terror in the heart, creating internal emotional conflict.

The scene next went to the landing zone, where the paratroopers were under attack but still “We’re leaving this bird whether we like it or not”. The usage of “lead rain” tells us that the troops were under constant fire and the lead referred to the bullets whizzing through the air. It was so impossible to get away unscathed, that the writer had to say that “The only reason I survived that day was divine”. The depiction of the battle is so intense that it creates tension in the reader, with the phrase: “My heart is pumping adrenalin through all of my veins”. This shows the horror the writer is going through as “We fought from the valleys to the mountain peaks, From house to cave, to car to creek”.

The irony behind this is that, amidst the war, if you could just observe, the terrain the battle is taking place on is so serene, it looks like paradise, with mountains reaching the skies. Unfortunately it had to be war, turning the once beautiful scenery into hell. Not only that, Steven empathises the fact that he is so close to heaven in this hell, which is the battle thus the phrase:

“Who knew hell was so close to God
Beauty and terror are a strong mixed drink
So we drank it like drunkards and tried not to think”

As well as:

“And when I get to heaven to Saint Peter I will tell
Another Paratrooper reporting for duty sir, I spent my time in hell”

Moreover, the poem ended off with “I spent my time in hell” which tells us how scary it is when going to war.

• Language/Diction

The poem has been written as a whole verse and as a first-person recount. The rhyming pattern is written in such a way that the ending word of a line rhymes with the next. For example, in the 1^st and 2^nd lines, there are the words eyes and skies. The word ‘hell’ has been used repeatedly to describe the battle. As mentioned before, there is a repeated use of symbols and metaphors to show the excitement and describe the scene in the poem. The language used would be the language of a soldier’s. For example, there is the word ‘shit’, referring to the necessities needed.

The meaning of this poem is to show how destructive and sensitive war is through the literal description of the experience of a paratrooper in the middle of an offensive. This would explain why men become so timid after coming back from war

The poem has made use of quite a number of symbols to depict the scene during the battle, like “lead rain” for the torrent of bullets, “hell” for the battle, “heaven referring to the skies, the scenery in the background of the war, and the close brush with death. Other usage of symbols will include “washed in the blood and baptized by fire” which shows the gore, the bloodshed and the sheer amount of ammunition used.

• Personal Response

Till this very day, war is still ongoing, with a good example being Libya. War is a violent way of resolving problems and expanding their influences like how the Vatican and the Romans once did. But even so, wars just destroy people’s lives, and the relationship between the 2 warring states/countries will just worsen.

Though you can sympathise with the poet, you don’t know how it really feels like to be in battle, till you have experienced it yourself. That is the only difference in understanding between a reader who has not been in war, and a reader who had battled before. Since the poem has been set in the current times, we would not have much trouble comprehending the poem. Overall, though, I feel that Steve Carlsen has done an extremely good job in helping us to identify with the scene, with its horrors and madness.