Jaclyn Nishihira
Dr. Anne Scott
17 September 2014
HON190
Good vs. Good
In the world of war/ territory of a war zone, not everything is clearly defined; there are many gray areas where principles and ideals are often muddled and overlapped so there is no clear distinction. Looking at this in a moral sense, one might notice that war is rarely good versus evil, but is in fact, good versus good, rather, one idea of good versus another, for each side believes that it is fighting for what is right. War between two enemies does not bring about resolution, but destruction instead. In all actuality, there is no true victor in war; who is to decide [don’t really want to say “who” because I do not answer the question with a name] what is good and what
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Connolly, as a leader of all of the men, demonstrates that his idea of good is to do simply do one’s job and follow orders, ignoring how one might truly feel. When one of his men, Ramirez, expresses his feelings of sadness for Nizam, a young, injured girl all alone the in mountains, he tells him, “I don’t mind your feeling sympathetic toward her…but you need to keep it under control…There’s no place in war for a sentimental soldier” (260). To Connolly, the aspects of war are very black and white: “Our job is to fight the enemy, clean up, and clear out…we don’t get involved in people’s lives. The boundaries of our actions are clearly defined” (270). Captain Connolly conceals his emotions, no matter the circumstance, to portray himself as a strong man because to him, being manly is good, along with never letting your guard down. This is his way of being a courageous and honorable leader. The way that he addresses his men, sometimes swearing at and reprimanding them when they begin to feel emotional shows the reader how important it is for a soldier to hide his emotions in order to perform his job. Connolly is also ignorant in the way that he perceives all Afghanis as evil, Taliban or not, he classifies them all the same. When one of his soldiers questions the true identity of the dead insurgent and what is to happen with his body, Connolly replies “This guy attacked us!...I could hardly care less about what they do with his fucking corpse!”