Milblogs

I found Officer Toby Dunn’s article You Think or You Know to be very interesting. He uses humor to relieve some of his worries in a bad situation. Earlier officer Dunn had encountered a dilemma in which one of his vehicles had gone missing but was later found in poor condition. During his investigation to find the source of the damage he stumbled across a man who said, “I think I might have hit a tree.” Officer Dunn replied by saying, “A tree is something you know you hit.” Later, while in the middle of a vicious mortar attack, a soldier spoke over the radio stating he “thinks” that a mortar struck next to him. Dunn wittily replied “You think or you know?”

This article helps illustrate how soldiers make the best of bad situations by incorporating humor to boost morale. Officer Dunn was able to make this remark all while under a heavy attack showing a great deal of character. I admire Officer Dunn’s ability to think rationally under pressure while others, myself included, would fail to do so.

Another article I read entitled A Close One by Eddie details a near death scenario. What I found most interesting about this article was his use of very common English and sometimes emotes to make fun of a bad scenario. It demonstrates that the men and women of the Army are just like civilians in many ways. They have flaws (the soldier accidentally forgot his rifle in this story) and are just as sociable as anyone else. Another intriguing aspect of this story is the brotherhood that forms between soldiers. They act to aid one another without even giving a second thought. This is a very admirable quality to have.

Overall reading these “milblogs” was an enjoyable experience. I learned how many soldiers in the military have different reactions towards unpleasant situations, how they overcome them, and how they used modern writing techniques (i.e. common dialogue, etc.) to explain their stories. This is an excellent example of modern writing and one that I would like to review at another time.