People believe this at the time due to the censorship present in the war and the underdevelopment of media and news sources. Henry’s comrade, Gino, buys into this idea of glory, but Henry, however, does not. Henry personally focused on the facts of the war instead of glamorizing it.
Alive Day’s soldiers share Gino’s point of view of joining the army to protect their country and to destroy the enemy. Many believed fully in the mission of the military and/or believed it would better their lives. Regardless of what has happened to her, Crystal Davis, who lost her leg in Iraq, wants to go back into the army to continue serving. “‘I can’t wait to go back and finish what I started,’” (Alpert). The reach and popularity of the military keeps on expanding
…show more content…
Soldiers featured in Alive Day talked about the gruesomeness of it and how they did things while fighting to save themselves that they regret. Veteran Dawn Halfaker focused in on her hatred of the war at one point, claiming, “‘War is horrible. I don’t like the sounds associated with it and I don’t like the smells associated with it,’” (Alpert). Similarly, Hemingway also talks about the gruesomeness and merciless aspects of war. As mentioned before, he focuses in on how deaths in the battlefield occur to emphasize the point of war being horrible. He sheds negative light on the military by showing how young most men are when they fight. Hemingway makes sure to also point out that there is nothing graceful or good about war and how everyone dies in the end eventually, either physically or mentally. "That was what you did. You died. You did not know what it was about. You never had time to learn. They threw you in and told you the rules and the first time they caught you off base they killed you. Or they killed you gratuitously like Aymo. Or gave you the syphilis like Rinaldi. But they killed you in the end. You could count on that. Stay around and they would kill you,” (Hemingway 327). As Hemingway mentions, war does not pity anyone and does not grant