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Cargando... Outside the Wire: American Soldiers' Voices from Afghanistanpor Christine Dumaine Leche
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A riveting collection of thirty-eight narratives by American soldiers serving in Afghanistan, Outside the Wire offers a powerful evocation of everyday life in a war zone. Christine Dumaine Leche--a writing instructor who left her home and family to teach at Bagram Air Base and a forward operating base near the volatile Afghan-Pakistani border--encouraged these deeply personal reflections, which demonstrate the power of writing to battle the most traumatic of experiences. The soldiers whose words fill this book often met for class with Leche under extreme circumstances and in challenging conditions, some having just returned from dangerous combat missions, others having spent the day in firefights, endured hours in the bitter cold of an open guard tower, or suffered a difficult phone conversation with a spouse back home. Some choose to record momentous events from childhood or civilian life--events that motivated them to join the military or that haunt them as adults. Others capture the immediacy of the battlefield and the emotional and psychological explosions that followed. These soldiers write through the senses and from the soul, grappling with the impact of moral complexity, fear, homesickness, boredom, and despair. We each, writes Leche, require witnesses to the narratives of our lives. Outside the Wire creates that opportunity for us as readers to bear witness to the men and women who carry the weight of war for us all. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
Debates activosNingunoCubiertas populares  
 Google Books — Cargando...GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)958.104History and Geography Asia Central Asia AfghanistanClasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio: (5)
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The stories she collected do a far greater service to the Soldiers in Afghanistan than any op-ed written from the safety of a person's computer desk. And the stories relayed by these Soldiers give a more vivid account than some who claim to be polished writers.
One story begins "Today is just another day on Bagram . . . " a storytelling device that prepares the reader for the reality that there are no normal days on Bagram or in any theater of war. The author then takes the reader through the mortar attack from the sounds and other senses to the bodies unloaded in the aftermath.
Other stories deal with the troubling home life that Soldiers bring into their duties overseas, abuse, broken relationships, some good relationships and the stress of staying in touch.
What makes the scope of these stories stand out is the fact that every specialty is affected. There seems to be a hunger for war stories from the public, which in many ways shows public support.
But it also shows a negative trend, a fetish for a certain type of war story, wanting to hear the firefight, the roadside bomb, the ones that confirm the public's preconceptions.
Leche does not give into that. Not only are the stories by infantry and drivers but by cooks, by communications specialists, by medics -- all are affected and all have a story to tell. The tale of guilt, depression and avoidance by a food service worker who serves a Soldier a meal then sees the same person when called in for morgue detail shows the psychological toll cuts across all walks.
Many more powerfully written stories. Leche deserves our gratitude for inspiring these Soldiers to tell their stories and for sharing them. (