Most Succinctly BredKent State University Press, 2006 - 100 páginas A memoir on being a soldier "At this moment, the nation seems interested in soldiering. Not the politics that complicate the very act of service, but the dirty business of being a soldier. No one, except soldiers, knows much about the aftermath of such service. most succinctly bred opens the experience to those who want to know more without having to sit inside the sweltering temperatures of the tank's turret, without having to face day after day the real threat of dying."--Pat C. Hoy II Like Susan Griffin's A Chorus of Stones: The Private Life of War, Alex Vernon's most succinctly bred explores war by exploring around war, by operating in the margins. Vernon records his ongoing relationship with war and soldiering--from growing up in late Cold War 1980s middle America to attending West Point, going to and returning from the first Gulf War, and watching, as a writer and academic, the coming of the second Iraq war. Not merely a collection of essays, this book has a trajectory, and the chapters, appearing in rough chronological order, loop in and out of one another. It is not a narrow autobiography that attempts to account only for the writer's life; it uses that life to illuminate the lives of its readers, to tell us about the time and place in which we find ourselves. War has seasoned this reluctant soldier; it has wounded him as it wounds all soldiers. But war has not stopped Alex Vernon's life. A large part of what we read here is a fascinating story of recovery. He dares to tell the stories of recuperation without naming them as such, without being in the least maudlin about his experiences or his suffering. Full of surprises, most succinctly bred tells all of the truth tells all of the truth Vernon can muster in a language that is lively, rich, suggestive. This is a book that aims high in an artful, subtle way. |
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... West Point , New York , 1972 " I fucking hate army officers . " —Kurt Vonnegut's second remark to an assembly of cadets and offi- cers , U.S. Military Academy , West Point , New York , 1972 contents preface 1 ghosts in gray 2 guide us ,
... West Point , although I never saw a ghost , I heard a number of ghost stories . We all did . The place is ripe with spirits . " The Long Gray Line has never failed us , " General Douglas MacAr- thur once cautioned the Corps of Cadets ...
... West Point became West Point , the fort commands everything below . It is the true spirit of the grounds : singular in function and form , bare , sparse , the soldier's habitat . Sunk into the earth and disappeared , like its graduates ...
... West Point are official , public , regulated . Your roommate and best friend is also your platoon leader or company commander , and even if he isn't , he is still another cadet , and his ultimate allegiance belongs to the academy . Duty ...
... West Point colonels are not such rare birds . They flock there , and upper - class cadets enjoy a familiarity with them they won't have again until they become colonels themselves . " A real colonel ? " he asked . " The real thing , " I ...