Angela Keyu Lu Prof. Beirich History 202B June 1, 2015 The Clash of Soldier’s Duty As a soldier in the military, follow commander’s order is their duty. Regardless of what soldiers were thinking about the war, as long as they put on the uniform, they are the soldiers, they are the one that fight for their people and their country; they have to follow their commander’s direction and order. Many soldiers choose to participate in the war due to their family needs, but later, after their training period in the military, they started to build their sense of duty and have an image of what they are going to do in this war, however, they often do not recognize the reality hidden behind the war. Both Bloods, Black Veterans of the Vietnam War: An oral …show more content…
However, as they experience the reality that crushed what they believed as the truth of the war, many could not handle to follow the command anymore. In the book, Blood, Edward finally understands what is really happening around him and he could not stand them even if his duty forced him. Edward knew that he could not be a killer and shoot those innocent women and child who does not even have a weapon in their hand. During one of the missions, Edward experienced something that make him even more afraid of following the order, “I almost killed him, then we went into the hut, and it was all these women and children huddled tighter. I was getting ready to wipe them off the planet.” The first time, Edward cried and had the experience of weak knees. Even though it was the commander’s order to kill all the people in the village, but it conflict with the soldier’s idealisms that soldiers were here in Vietnam to free them from communist, not to kill them. Things went out of control when soldiers started to kill many of people who were either old or weak, and even tortured a North Vietnamese Army to death (Terry 45). Edward was horrified and he mentioned how, “at least 200 guys lined up and the first guys took a bayonet and plucked the NVA’s eye out, then he sliced the NVA’s ear off, hit him in the mouth with his .45, loosened the teeth, pulled them out. Then they sliced his tongue. They cut him all over”(Terry …show more content…
Some of them entered the war believing that they are doing something that is meaningful and believed in their own understanding of the war and what it will be like. The truth is, they are totally wrong. In the novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls, both sides of the army were slaughtering each other. Guerrillas, which is on Robert Jordan side, were fighting against Guardia civil, and the fascists purified the town for those who voted socialist (Hemingway 138). Soldiers tried hard to blow up the train and kill the enemy with the grenade, but most of the enemies that soldiers killed were not the real fascists. Most of the fascists hid behind and massacred the civilians. Those people in the trench who fought against American soldiers were poor people too – they are not the ones who should be