Since You Went Away again.
My google aggregator picked up an article from the New York Time that had me thinking about Since You Went Away. It also contributes to the idea of the Iraq war being the “internet war”.
Six fallen soldiers blogged about their experiences since January of last year. Each wrote to their loved ones through email, facebook, or blog. All the themes that we discussed in class about Since You Went Away were present in most of the emails/blogs. Themes like imminent loss, romance, and updates of everyday life.
There was one story in particular that caught my attention. It was of Staff Sgt. Juan Campos. Here is one of his emails…
“Hey beautiful well we were on blackout again, we lost yet some more soldiers. I cant wait to get out of this place and return to you where i belong. I dont know how much more of this place i can take. i try to be hard and brave for my guys but i dont know how long i can keep that up you know. its like everytime we go out, any little bump or sounds freaks me out. maybe im jus stressin is all. hopefully ill get over it….
you know, you never think that anything is or can happen to you, at first you feel invincible, but then little by little things start to wear on you…
well im sure well be able to save a couple of bucks if you stay with your mom….and at the same time you can help her with some of the bills for the time being. it doesnt bother me. as long as you guys are content is all that matters. I love and miss you guys like crazy. I know i miss both of you too. at times id like to even just spend 1 minute out of this nightmare just to hold and kiss you guys to make it seem a little bit easier. im sure he will like whatever you get him for xmas, and i know that as he gets older he’ll understand how things work. well things here always seem to be……uhm whats the word…..interesting i guess you can say. you never know whats gonna happen and thats the worst part. do me a favor though, when you go to my sisters or moms or wherever you see my family let them know that i love them very much..ok? well i better get going, i have a lot of stuff to do. but hopefully ill get to hear from you pretty soon.*muah* and hugs. tell mijo im proud of him too!”
love always,
your other half
A family man trying to survive and remain as tough as nails. I think this letter has all the elements from love to fear. He tells his wife that he misses her and their child. Along with the love that he feels, he tells her that his mental state is deteriorating from all the bombings and losses of his men.
He returned from Baghdad for a couple weeks to his hometown in Texas to spend some time with his family. Unfortunately, he was called back to Iraq. According his wife, “I cried and I have never ever cried before…It was just really, really weird. He knew, and I kind of knew. It felt different.” By this, she meant that they both knew that they weren’t going to see each other ever again.
A situation so similar to what couples went through almost 50 years ago. It does makes you think that human nature will remain constant, even though the ways we express ourselves change.
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It hard to try and understand what people are going threw and what they have gone threw. Sometimes it really is not our place to step and say something but sometimes people just want to talk so inside their head they do not go crazy. The hard part for me and others i am sure is to try and wrap around this idea of understanding. “You can not understand if you were not there” Yes i understand that but how about those who want to try and help and listen i guess that is the only thing you can do is listen. The one thing i can do is be you.
It has to be so difficult to be in these situations and lose people that you just met and became friends then the next they are gone. Not to mention all the things that are going on in your mind about your wife, girlfriend, or lover. It is hard to try to place myself in someone else’s shoes that i have no idea to compare it to.
I would have to have to be in the place of either side of the pond, the side to have to stay home and hear you have lost someone or the side where you are putting your life on the line and you left the one you loved behind and now they are leaving you behind.
April 15th, 2008 at 10:23 pm[...] Since You Went Away again. [...]
April 16th, 2008 at 9:45 amWow, this post is different from a lot of the blogs that I have read. Much like the criteria for letter writing in Since You Went Away about the letters needing to be positive and following this particular forum, I feel that many of the blogs that I have read how followed the same forum also; how much they miss their family, what they have been up too, and wishing they could come home. This particular email was striking in that you could feel the love and fear. He completely expressed himself with no hidden feelings. I have rarely been able to view anything so moving within my blogs. They are all similar with the exception to this one. I agree with David’s comment about not being able to understand. I can only imagine what his wife’s email in return must have been or her reaction while reading it. In our society it is normal for a women to have those reactions, but very uncommon to see those kinds of emotions coming from a man. I am glad you were able to find those emails. Where did you find them?
April 16th, 2008 at 11:19 am