Parker Zerilli November 18th, 2011 English 12, Mrs.

Powell

All Quiet on the Western Front

War. How can one simple three letter word carry such a heavy connotation? This planet has seen the destruction of nations and peoples and also the creation of new countries and governments through this state of hostility. Whether discussing the war waged between Kings and knights, the trenches and blood soaked fields of barbwire which made up World War I, or the heat seeking missiles, hidden IEDs and EFPs and the destructive power of nuclear energy today, war remains the same life taking, soul crippling vehicle of destruction as seen throughout history. World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War all drafted young men into the armed forces to fight for the United States of America. The problem with drafting young men into the military is that they are young men; they are innocent in regards to war and the exposure that takes place. As Paul noted, their pale turnip faces, their pitiful clenched hands and the fine courage of those poor devils, the desperate charges and attacks made by the poor wretches only whimper softly for their mothers and cease as soon as one looks at them(Remarque, 130). The recruits that Paul speaks of have never experienced the devastation of war and its effects on the mind and it is a pity that they go into war and have to face these horrors at the age of nineteen. Daniel Laguna, after registering for the draft at the age of seventeen posing as an eighteen year old, was one of the first to be deployed to Korea when the Korean War

broke out. After stepping on a landmine and losing a foot, he was sent home. Once there, Daniel felt that theres nothing to learn from war that can be applied to civilian life unless you are going to be a killer (Laguna). As a sniper in Korea, Daniel had the responsibility of killing from a distance, but as a sniper one must watch the person very carefully and examine what they are doing. When he shoots, he sees that bullet enter the person, that was just a second ago full of life, and sees that person fall to the ground. War changed his mental state and he became an alcoholic to cope with post traumatic stress. World War I changed the lives of millions of young men in many different and horrible ways. Many men died, many men suffered the most horrific of injuries and many men would never be mentally stable ever again. Paul Bumer knew firsthand what kind of toll war could take on a person. Of the physical wounds, Paul renders it as men living with their skulls blown open; we see soldiers run with their two feet cut off , they stagger on their splintered stumps into the next shell-hole(Remarque, 134). This image of men with holes in them, body parts missing, or their insides oozing out has been documented in past wars, but never before at such extremity. Like Paul, Coronel Kauzlarich, of the Second Battalion, Sixteenth Infantry Regiment of the Fourth Infantry Brigade Team, First Infantry Division of the United States Army, experienced numerous incidences where a man had been ripped open by an IED, had his leg cut off, or was decapitated by shrapnel. One of the worst injuries to his platoon was Duncan Crookston who didnt have his legs. He didnt have his right arm. He didnt have his left hand He couldnt speak because of the tracheotomy tube that had been inserted into his throat

(Finkel, 229). Duncan died after suffering a fever of 108 for two hours and became another number on the list of people killed in Iraq. One thing a soldier learns quickly in war is to adapt to the most deplorable living situation. During World War I, soldiers who were on the front lines lived in something that more or less resembled a hole in the ground, at times had to live in several inches of water and were exposed to all variations of diseases. Paul mentions dysentery, influenza, typhus- scalding, choking death (Remarque, 283) and speaks of the types of diseases that bring about death in the trenches. Still the parachute-rockets shoot up and cast their pitiless light over the stony landscape, which is full of craters and frozen lights like a moon (Remarque, 123). He feels as if he on another planet as the parachute-rockets light up the battlefield, giving a view of the alien world. Daniel Laguna lived in a trench similar to those of Pauls time, ate rations from cans that were thrown at me, and would come out to see who was still alive in the morning (Laguna). It is a terrible way to live, always in fear of a bomb or mortar landing on your trench, living like a rat, and eating food out of cans that were thrown at him, yet this was the life of the soldiers in World War I and Korea. In conclusion, despite being different areas of the world, fought with different weapons and at different times in history, war has always been the same thing, young men serving their country and fighting for what they believe is right. War has been a vehicle for good and other times for bad, but no matter what the justification for fighting, war is a life ruining, soul crushing monster of death and destruction.

Works Cited Page

Autobiography of Daniel Laguna; Korean War. 1992. MS. Roseville. Finkel, David. The Good Soldiers. New York: Sarah Crichton /Farrar, Straus And Giroux, 2009. Print.