We Slept with Our Boots On

Someone once said, "War is a delight only to those who have not experienced it". Indeed, when we are young and innocent, we may find war a fun subject of play, something we always look forward to be involved in. However, it does not take long for us to open our eyes to the reality of war and witness the cruelty of it.

And that is exactly what Steve Carlsen is trying to bring out in his poem "We Slept with our Boots on". Steve Carlson is an ordinary soldier who has experienced 3 years of war. 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 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.

Well, he may seem like an ordinary soldier, but it is exactly, being an ordinary soldier that allowed him to experience the worse of war, and the cruelty of fighting your own kind. The theme and central idea Steve is trying to bring out in his poem is that once you are involved in war, you are eternally scarred, and will lose your innocence forever. This was clearly brought out in the line "Everyone loses their innocence when they carry gun".

Steve Carlsen is a experienced poem, as can be seen through the techniques he used to bring out the theme he wants to convey to his readers. Firstly, let us look at the structure of the poem. Steve's poem is seemingly untidy, with no clear structure at all. Also, the clauses are very short in the poem, most are just 3 words: "30 seconds they yelled, Lock N Load and grab your shit". This creates a extremely fast paced poem, and Steve uses this to show fast paced war is - you are either fighting for your life, and running for your life. It is just so terrifying that you can't settle down. The moment you have settled, something suddenly pops up, and you have to defend your life again.

This is also brought out through the story line of the poem - the poet and his comrades running and fighting for their lives. They were so afraid and unsettled, that they don't even dare to take off their boots when sleeping. This, being put as the title, further emphasizes the terror of war.

The setting is in a battlefield, somewhere between Pakistan and Afghanistan, as the poet wrote "Hindu Kush". The first line also shows how "They unloaded the dead and maimed right before our eyes".They probably referred to the enemy, and the enemy might be miaming their dead comrades to make sure they are dead. Therefore, this setting may be one of a lost battle on the poet's side, and he and a few comrades were probably the few who survived. Hence, they had to fight and run away, for their lives.

The POV is mainly 1st person POV "I" with occasional switches to "We". First, the poet would show his own personal feelings, emotions and actions, and then he would proceed to show a collective action by using "We". This is probably to link "We" and "I" together, to show that his terror, his feeling of injustice is also shared by everyone who is involved in war, and they experience exactly the same thing as him. Hence, this poem may be representing the emotions and feelings of all involved in the war, and gaining our sympathy for them.

The use of language is smart. For example, the writer uses the line "baptized in fire" to show the hopelessness and cruelty of war. As we all know, baptism is a tradition whereby all Christian have to be submerged in water before being saved. This is a symbolism of being washed of our sins and having hope for the future. However, in war, there is no water, so it symbolizes that the poets sins of killing accumulated in war can never be washed and forgived. This brings out the cruelty and sinfulness of war. Also, instead of having hope, the writer is "baptized in fire". This shows how hopeless, cruel and torturing war is, to the point where it defies convention.

Another possible interpretation: baptism is a tradition for Christian to gain a new life by washing away their old sins. However, in war, the only thing the poet can do is to defend his own life through "fire", which is fighting with guns, but not water. This illuminates the terror war brings to soldiers, especially ordinary soldiers like Steve Carlsen.

Other techniques being used include the repitition of the word "and". "I kept pulling the trigger and reloading and pulling some more ... Dirty and tired and hungry and scared". The constant use of "and", show how never-ending, dreary and tiring war is. The soldiers have to constantly do something in order to save their own lives.

In conclusion, I think Steve Carlsen is a great poet. He uses much technique such as repition of certain words, symbolism and vivid imagery. His poems are always open to many interpretations like the phrase "baptized in fire". Furthermore, he experienced the most basic of war itself, and this story shown through the poem is a very true and honest depiction of war.

Indeed, war is a cruel and terrifying thing. It is also meaningless terror - after all, it is just human vs human. In the end, nothing is gained, only precious lives are lost, and families separated. I can only summarize my personal response in this one quote, "Older men declare war. But it's the youth who must fight and die! Mankind has to put an end to war, or war would put an end to mankind".

Jonah Heng 2P105

Surprise Winning

Henry spoke softly. When being asked a question, he will either nod or shake his head, and no more would be heard from him. Everywhere he went, you could always see him poking his nose into a thick textbook. He wore a thick spectacles from morning to night and had pimples all over his face. He did not own any communication device - not a handphone, not a pager, not even a e-mail address! Everywhere you see him, he would be drifting in a world of his own.

Therefore, it came as a big shock to all of us when Henry finally spoke up and announced softly on Monday that he was going to give it a try at the coming speaking competition. Even when we found out he had training sessions at home, our confidence in him did not move an inch. After all, this was the way he had been all the time - the reluctance to speak up, the tendency to drift into solitude, and the timid quivering in his voice even when he finally speaks.

We encouraged Henry nonetheless, for it wasn't easy for a man like him to step out of his own world and muster the courage to speak. While we were full of praises for him, Henry produced his second sentence, "I am... no ... I think this... this competition .... is a .... no .... good for .... a ... a ... training... ". We immediately shouted a "Yes!" in unison, and congratulated him for being so courageous, although his second sentence only worked to further waver our confidence in him.

Finally the day came. It was a Saturday, and we all came to support Henry. The topic was "Should abortion be allowed in countries", a topic that can never be found in Henry's textbooks. By the time we reached the auditorium, we have more or less given up our hope on Henry. There he was - with his big spectacles, a long wordy script, and his hunchback, standing amongst 2 other young, bright, energetic and charismatic speakers who had already memorized their scripts. Tom and Hong Ming have always been known for their gift of gab, as proven during weekly debate. No, Henry is definitely not going to stand a chance against his opponents.

Almost everyone laughed at Henry, some said he must have gone crazy, some commented that Henry is too arrogant and he should know his limits. It was during then when my friends and I noticed Hong Ming twitching about. Hong Ming, dressed in navy blue overalls, with his hair combed, started to turn pale. Putting his hand on his stomach, Hong Ming approached the teacher-in-charge and asked if he could be excused to the toilet. From then on, we never saw him again until the next day. Apparently, Hong Ming was down with food poisoning.

Just as Hong Ming rushed off for the washroom, Tom went over to Henry's waiting position and whispered something into his ear. It was inaudible, and it was only after the competition that we learnt that Tom said, "So, its just me and you left. You are going down". Apparently, the saying "Pride comes before a fall" is very accurate. In the process of returning to his waiting position, Tom accidentally tripped and fell on his floor. It turned out that he broke his left leg upon falling on the floor, and had to be sent to the hospital immediately.

And there was Tom, the only participant left, standing safe and sound on the stage. In the end, he clinched the title of "Hwa Chong Institution's Best Speaker 2010" without even opening his mouth on stage! The unbelievable turn of events were all to our pleasant shock. With a uncertain smile of incredibility, we looked at each other, then turned to the timid "nerd" in front of our eyes, and back and forth. It turned out the impossible was possible.

Three years has passed since that incident, but everytime I looked back to that day, I can still never believe my memory. It was indeed a surprise winning none of us ever dared to dream of.