The Newest Video Game

(O'Brien, 156)

"The filth seemed to erase identities, transforming the men into identical copies of a single soldier, which was exactly how Jimmy Cross has been trained to treat them, as interchangeable units of command"

As the tired and disgusting solders search in this field, they finally fit the ideal mold of solders. It takes shit for them to be treated like shit. Training soldiers to view others as nonhuman is one of the most distasteful elements of war. Humans who treat each other as animals, targets, or other images are twisted, but thankfully most people and solders are incapable of holding such views. This is displayed in Tim's guilt of the death he witnessed and war tales everywhere. No matter how much training soldiers receive, when they are face-to-face with the enemy they simply can't overcome the thought of killing another human being. The book On Killing by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman looks at this by studying the physiological aspects of learning to kill in war and society. It's an interesting book that not only studies solders on the battle field, but also studies the effects of killing and war on veterans. The book also studies the concept of new technology that is further separating soldiers from the people they are killing, thus making it more like a video game. That mental barrier of personal guilt and moral wrongs is conquered and this will result in the deaths of many more people. Personally, this makes me nervous and I hope that there will not be a major world war ever again.