Married To The Bomb

Married To The Bomb

In the movie we watched this past week, “The Hurt Locker”, we saw how the soldiers live their lives on a day-to-day basis.  We saw more than just nasty war scenes.  We saw more than just American soldiers firing hot lead into the enemy.  We saw more than dead bodies lying bloody on the streets.  In the movie, we finally get to see the psychological side to a soldier’s mind.  We finally get to see some things these soldiers do when they aren’t on specialized missions.  We saw many things they do to pass time and to enjoy themselves.  At the end of the film, we finally get to see how difficult it is for some of these soldiers upon arrival back to the United States.  But, what is it like adjusting to the real life after living the military life for so long?  How can he or she repair relationships with family members and loved ones back home?

    The things that these soldiers have to adjust to are far more severe than we will ever realize.  Having to go from full blown battle field to normal 9-5 workday is an immense change.  In The Hurt Locker we see how difficult it is during one scene.  We see James in a grocery store having a mental breakdown over one simple decision such as choosing a cereal to buy.  These soldiers deal with situations like this on a daily basis in America.  They have to make such major decisions in the battlefield to simple decisions at a grocery store.  Psychologists have done research to show that many soldiers cannot evolve back into the normal life.  They find that some of these soldiers, such as James, are so addicted to the things they did overseas that it consumes their lives and their thoughts.  The quote “War is a drug” opens the film and the film proves that to be true.  We see this implied throughout the movie with James defusing bombs.  He lives to defuse bombs, just as an addict would live for that next high.  He would go out of his way and put himself and his men in danger just to find a bomb to defuse.  The way his character was portrayed was scrutinized by many different soldiers, veterans, and movie critics.  Some people think that he was portrayed as something that no soldier wants to be seen as.  Soldiers say that they do everything by the book and are very cautious and they hate being portrayed as a savage by movie producers and other  members of the media.

    After returning from war, these soldiers have to rehab many relationships that have suffered over their time of service.  The family members back home have a very tough job to cater to their loved one and try to help them out.  These family members are often neglected by the soldiers and treated cruelly by them.  The men or women that are arriving  home probably feel grateful to have made it back, but once the reality of normalcy sets in, these war heroes often feel depressed about what has happened, what they missed while gone, and the things they have seen.  Families have to be patient with the family and provide them with crucial advice to help repair their relationships.  The ones that the soldier talks to  doesn’t have a clue what he has witnessed, but he or she must try their best to understand and do their best to make the veteran feel better.

In conclusion, the families that are blessed to have a soldier be a part of their lives have it pretty tough upon their return home.  They have to deal with post traumatic stress disorder, excruciating flashbacks, mental problems, scarred memories, and dysfunctional mindsets.  These soldiers  cannot control the way they feel or the way they act.  Their minds have been trained to act and think a certain way.  The way they think cannot be changed over night, yet it takes years to control what goes on in ones brain and in their thought process.  Families have to realize this truth and apply the concept to their lives to help the heartbroken veterans on a daily basis.  Relationships cannot be repaired by one person, it takes two to tango.