In the Buzzwell text we see the lack of words or use of abstract words on multiple occasions. An example of this is on page 274, with the title War is Hell. We also see Buzzwell struggling to find words for fear on page 292, when he is under heavy fire in a killzone in Mosul, as RPGs start raining down on them, where he writes "I've never felt fear like this. I was like, this is it, I'm going to die. I cannot put into words how scared I was." We see the same lack of words from Williams on page 282 "Sometimes I feel I have failed horribly. Even here. Even now. With this book. I have somehow failed to espress what life in war was like for us." This is the phenomenon that McLoughlin speaks off, that there are certain linguistic disclaimers to the description of war, as sometimes, words are inadequate and cease to describe the horrors of war, instead, the reader must take it upon themself and use their imaginations to understand what the author cannot express.

Both author give multiple reasons for writing their works and going to war. Buzzwell states that he not only writes to remember, but also because it helps sustain through the boredom of being in the army. Througout Buzzwells accounts, his reasons for fighthing aligns with the notions of masculinity and being a hero, he fights to be manly, and to get a taste for the action and to maintain honor by being "out there" and avenging the fallen.

Williams writes and joins the army rebeling against her exboyfriend Douglas. She fought for the community, but in the end of the text, she fails to find any reasons for the war and sacrifice that was made in Afghanistan.

When reading the two texts, there is very little notion of patriotism, the reasons for joining is mostly because there was nothing better to do and that it was a good opportunity.

Another reason that is shared for returning to the war and to fight is to be with your brothers, there is a notion of guilt in both the William and Buzzwell text, when they are out or attempting to leave.

Buzzwell:

Williams challenges gender stereotypes in the context of war. Williams writes "There was tremendous variety among the women in my company.", challenging the binary ideas of gender. She also recalls her time in training. "I could do thing i never knew I could do. Endurance, stamina, willpower. (...) I found I was strong beyond all my prior understanding." Williams thus challenges the traditional image of the woman as a sensitive, fragile being, by describing her physical endurance to be at the same level as her male collagues. As Cole writes, the binary categories are often broken down in war writing, and that is exactly what Williams does.
Williams:

As Williams returns to America, she displays a change with the use of binary terms: "You stay in your lane. And I always thought this was a great Army phrase. (Civilians should use it at work..." She now identifies as part of the army and sees the American people, like herself, as civilians.

 

- In the Buzzwell Text.

Buzzell also frequently challenges maculine ideals. "If Sgt. vance, who I consider to be a pretty masculine guy, was also writing in a journal, then I didn't feel so weird about writing in mine." alluding that writing a journal is a feminine thing, but that he does it nonetheless. In this sense, he challenges the idea of the masculine military man, that Peebles describes.

- In the Williams Text.
As Williams returns to America, she displays a change with the use of binary terms: "You stay in your lane. And I always thought this was a great Army phrase. (Civilians should use it at work..." She now identifies as part of the army and sees the American people, like herself, as civilians.

In the Buzzwell text, authority is not only claimed by title and experience, but Buzzwell manages to secure himself authority through his voice in his blog and his connection with the media. Buzzell's writing comes directly from himself, while he was in Iraq. Buzzell himself also writes, that it was meant as a type of diary. This means the experience probably hasn't been altrered, as he has had no time to spin the experience in a specific direction. This format gives Buzzell authority.
Meanwhile, in the Williams text, we see another side of authority, that which is won by the women in the army through their gender, Williams writes that it made her feel powerful, that her gender gave her a certain power over the males. Surrounding 'the claiming of authority' Williams talk about the "I'm sorry" attitude, often witnessed in women. She, however, explains that in order to survive you could not be hesitant and had to keep going in order to survive. Williams therefore decide to remain the "bitch-slut" in order to maintain her authority.

Innovative medium: US army trying to control the narrative, inserting themselves in the new medium (attending milblog conferences, offering up information = getting ahead of the ”surprise information” of the blogs).

Wall: mentions Buzzell’s blog: dissent, unacceptable. Unlike Border’s blog which was more patriotic and was included in the DoD’s narrative and information strategy.

 

Williams:

-          Notions of masculinity: Feminine masculinity = doing as many push-ups as the male soldiers. Has a way of looking down at the women in the military if they whine or bitch. 

-          Reasons to fight: Initially: prove her abusive ex wrong! Ultimately, staying as patriot, refusing to leave for surgery because she did not want to leave her comrades in arms.

-          Binary /contradictions: Women vs. men in the military. Women vs. women in the military. Civilian life vs. army life = struggling to cope with the dichotomy of two distinctive ways of life. Split personality at times: aggressive in her mindset towards the Iraqis / waving at the kids and smiling.

 

Buzzell:

-          Reasons for fighting/writing: Practical reason for joining: stability, economics. Then: not so much patriotism, but fighting for your team. Writing: Initially, to keep track of his war experience, to be able to look back. Then: giving people an insight/clarity into war and the military.

-          Binary categories: expectations of war vs. reality of war (boredom). Boredom at home vs. adventure of war (not fulfilled). 

-          Masculinity: during raids, action packed: feeling like a hero/feeling alive. 

P. 120: group of soldiers firing off a thousand rounds and barely hitting anything: military/male incompetence

-          Language/use of words: “…extremely tired and not in the mood to play soldier” (p. 222) - playing a child's game.

- Authority:
Although he is credible in the way that he is a veteran and that his writing is a milblog (and therefore own voice and his thoughts are put out immediately), he is at the same time not a very credible author. Before joining the army he was kind of a bum (used drugs, drank and had multiple charges against him)

- Words for War:
He found words for war by writing almost entierly journal style aka writes for himself and language is therefore not something he cares about being formal. He writes what happens.

- Reasons for writing (war):
He writes so that he will be able to look back at his writing and remember his time in the war. Later on when he started writing on his blog instead of his journal, his purpose changed to an opposing narrative (against the mainstream) even though it was not un purpose.

- Language:
His language is very “young” and free-spirited. Uses words like; “the army guy was completely selling me the army like it was some fucking Cub Med vacation.” (p 21)

“But being a computer geek sounded about as exciting to me as a hand job.” and uses words like jazzed (talking about not being interested in going back to school). (p 26)

- Binary catagories:
When you are outstationed in a war, the wall between your comrades (your country) and the civilians starts to unravel. Can be seen in the scene with the children at school (p 114)

Expectations vs. reality (of war)

- Masculinity:
In the army you are always surrounded by people which makes you wish for alone time. Although, Buzzell seems to enjoy his comradeship with his colleague Sgt. Horrocks. p 258. also gets moved to a squad he really likes and they become very close friends. (p 275-76)

Williams:
- Narrative:  against official narrative - talks about death, pointing her gun at a child, her PTSD

- Reasons for writing (war):  

tells the story for women soldiers - to “let people know what i feels like to be a woman soldier in peace and in war” (p. 15)

women vs men and women vs women. pits them and their behavior against each other. 

describes herself as part of the typical masculine view of soldiers/masculine collective yet viewed as outside of it because of her gender.

Doing push-ups. outrunning the male soldiers, liking the smell of guns = masculine

- Authority:
She's an own voices author. Therefore, she is experienced in what she is writing about. 

 

Milblogs are a subgenre for warblogs and are written by members or veterans of the military. Melissa Wall states that “ a milblog is a window into the social relations of the military arena.” She talks about how milblogs shed light onto current events, and present a truer version of the narrative than the one created or pushed forward by mainstream media (or the military).

Stacey Peebles also mentions that milbloggers seek to communicate against the stream of large scale media, which they believe aren’t telling the whole story. Both Wall and Peebles insinuate that authorities (within journalism and the military) are not telling the whole story. 

 

Kate Mcloughlin says that “war defeats language” and that there are three reasons for fighting (and writing about), which include imposing order and chaos, keeping a record, and survivor’s guilt

 

Buzzell in his piece, is very matter of fact in his writing style, he uses colloquial terms and he swears a lot, he presents a very personal account of events.

He tells is own story, he doesn’t agree with the narrative spelt out by the military, and he is very casual about joining to army, as he essentially did it for the money.

Williams is also a straightforward writer, she doesn’t waste time with descriptive language or setting the scene, she gets right to the point. 

She uses her own story to let people know the truth of being a woman in the army. She uses her own experience in order to create a realistic, unexaggerated account of events. 

Both Williams and Buzzell have an authentic voice because of their very personal stories. They’re looking into and explaining everything about their military life, ensuring that no detail is missing. Their stories are their own, presenting an authentic account of their experiences, instead of the one constructed by their superiors, or the one the military wants to believe is the “average” or “typical” soldier’s life. 

Mcloughlin argues that although the correct words are hard to find when describing war, the stories of war still need to be told. She presented the need for secondary pieces of media. 

The mainstream media only speaks of the censored version of events and smaller pieces of media such as those presented by Buzzell and Williams are needed to fill the gaping holes in the media’s version of events. 

Buzzell decided to join the army for monetary gain, he had no desire to join prior to finding out how much it paid. He also stated that his reason for fighting was because he wanted adventure, he mentions that he was not one of those people who was traumatised over 9/11, who then felt obligated to join.

He decided to create the milblog as a way to pass the time, to escape boredom, and as a way to remember his time in Iraq. 

Williams is not so forthcoming with her main reason for fighting, however, she does mention that a secondary reason for enlisting was to prove something to a prior boyfriend. He always said that she wasn’t tough enough to join, and she used his negative words to encourage her through the initial training. 

Her reason for writing is obvious, she says that she “wanted to write a book to let people know what it feels like to be a woman soldier in peace and war.” Williams just wanted to present a female’s perspective, one of which is grossly underrepresented in the army.

Cole mentions that people are placed into their seemingly fixed locations (man-woman, soldier-civilian, injured-healthy etc.) but that war mixes them altogether so that their role is no longer obvious. 

Cole: “Arranging people in their seemingly fixed locations,only to see how war smashes apart and rearrange its human participants”.

Buzzell’s view aligns with Cole’s in that he does not identify his experience through binary terms, he does not seem to categorise people and the aspects of war as he speaks of them as a whole, and not separate entities. 

Williams,conversely, feeds into the binary terms of being a female soldier. She states that women are either a bitch a slut, that there is no spectrum and their is no “good” option. This also sheds light on the sexism within the military as a woman can never just be a soldier who has a job to do, that female soldiers must have some ulterior motive to joining.

The binary category of man-woman is quite evident in William’s writing, the entire reason she wrote her book was to ensure people knew how it felt to be a woman in the army, how a female’s experience differed from a man’s. 

Williams often contradicts herself, on one hand she states that the life of a woman in the army is difficult and unfair when compared to a man’s, but then she feeds into the toxic masculinity within the army as she calls her former husband a “big pussy” for crying while worried something may happen to her in the army.

Peebles speaks of what makes up a military man. She references brotherhood, bravery, self-sacrifice, the pursuit of honour (and therefore, the avoidance of shame), aiming to achieve the hero status that all soldiers hope to hold. 

Buzzell does not to exemplify the stereotypical male in the military. He doesn’t pretend to be brave or courageous, he simply joins for financial gain. He speaks openly of his delinquent past, and his past charges of assault and battery. 

He originally wanted to join the Marines but decided to join the Army instead as joining was much easier. He was convinced that the only place for him in the army was the infantry, as his “heart was dead set on being a trigger puller”. This relates to the notions of masculinity as being on the frontline, being the fighter is deemed the most masculine place. He also downplays the role of the cook in the army.

Although he does not speak of honour and courage as a soldier, he still plays into the masculine stereotype - being the fighter, the one that holds the power.

Williams speaks of femininity and being a woman but also speaks of the men. She does not place the military man on a pedestal, does not exaggerate their honour or their courage. She, in fact, drags them down to their instinctual weaknesses, she talks of their fixation on sex and sexuality. 

Even the title of her work is a reference to a chant used in the army - Love My Rifle More Than You. This chant aimed to transfer a man’s affections/obsession from women, to their weapons. The existence of such a chant shows that women are a weakness of men, that they can be distracted from their job and they need to love their weapons instead. She also speaks of how women are treated by men, how women are mere objects “..there for the taking - at least some of the time”.

Although she speaks of the pitfalls in masculinity in the army, she also doesn’t allow room for the movement away from the exact toxic masculinity that she complains about  - she speaks poorly of her former husband for crying, referring to him as a “big pussy”.

Williams also goes on to say that women have power over men. How women normally considered a five in everyday life, are a solid eight within the army, simply because they’re female. She refers to the low percentage of women in the army, and how that feeds into the men’s obsession with them. The “Queen for a Year” relates to how the attention given to the women by the men fuels their egos, and makes them believe they are queens.

Despite all the admiration, the obsession is not related to who they are as soldiers or people, but merely due to their bodies. They’re considered to be sexual objects and Williams speaks of the bidding that takes place for her to reveal herself to the men - in this situation, she holds the power. 

Robin Anderson called out the traditional media. “The media and other entertainment formats tried to find formats, genres, narratives and styles that would make the war seem real but shield the public from death”. Wall also mentions that milbloggers are strong new voices in the description of war. This is because the difference between traditional media and the stories from Buzzell and Williams is that the latter doesn’t shield the public from death and the truths in their stories. They don’t shield things from the reader because it is their own experiences and they don’t care if it shocks the reader, they just want to show the reality of the army from their own perspective.

In Buzzell’s story, it ends with the deletion of his blog, for he considered it too much hassle to continue it based upon the negative reactions by his superiors. In the end, the military seemed to have the final authority, they claimed it was to protect operational security and that he had the right to freedom of speech, however, even Buzzell knew that “soldiers don’t have freedom of speech”.

The battle of authority seems to be a fight between the military, the small media writer, and mainstream media. All are fighting to be the truth of war in the eyes of the public.

 

In Williams’s excerpt she is struggling to find words for describing the time she spent as a female in the army. When people ask her about the war, she jokes about what happened because it is hard for her to talk about all the gruesome events, which occurred in the war. On page 175 in ‘I love my rifle more than you’ she says: “I understood people were saying this to be nice. But what could I say? What was I supposed to say?” (Williams 175). Furthermore she says “Oh yeah. I watched a guy bleed to death. And I smelled burning shit all the time. It was super” (Williams 176). There exists an inadequacy of words as Kate McLoughlin says (McLoughlin 18).

 

In Buzzel’s excerpt he is struggling to find words as well. He says about his journal: 

 

And it was all repetitive, and every day was pretty much the same as the day before, and I realized that I was writing about the same shit over and over again. I cringed at some of the stuff I was putting down on paper. It just wasn’t coming out right” (Buzzel 125)

 

This is what McLoughlin is talking about in ‘War and Words’ when she quotes the Iliad and says that “It would take a god to tell the tale” (McLoughlin 15)

Kayla Williams may have writing this book, to tell her story from a military woman view. And to tell how the men are treating the women, for example when they asked her to show her boobs (Williams 22). And to talk about military masculinity as ‘Making a military man’ tells that she struggle with it and in particular about the "gender boundaries and be considered a true brother in arms"  (Peebles 50). 

 

Colby Buzzell wrote this blog to tell his story to his friends and family and to tell more about what really happened (Buzzell). His motive for writing his blog and later My war was perhaps because he was bored, but later on maybe because of the excitement of the fight as McLoughlin puts it in War and words. 

 

The title killing time in Iraq is ambiguous, because he is both bored, but they are also killing people in the war.

 

 

 

Sarah Cole mentions many binary terms in ‘People in War’: Enemy and friend, civilian and combatant, men and women and so on. She writes about being injured and healthy as two binary terms.  

In Williams’s text ‘I love my rifle more than you’ Williams sacrifices her health and well being to stay in the military with her comrades. She skips out on an important foot surgery to keep on fighting. 

 

In Buzzel’s ‘My War’ some of the binary terms are young and old. Buzzel believes that he is too old to get to join the army, which might be general believe, but he is proven wrong. 

 

 

 

Buzzel tried to take the authority away from the military service’s public affairs specialists by writing his blog and telling his own story without consulting anybody else. He uses his freedom of speech. He does not want to let the media control how news get out to the public as Andersen writes about in ‘From Tragedy to War After 9/11’. He wants people to know the whole truth.

 

 

The narrative of modern american wars has historically been dictated mostly by the military themselves, but with the increasing use of social media a number of soldiers begin posing a direct challenge to the authority of the military. These warbloggers, as they are called, showcase an unfiltered and direct view into the life of the soldiers themselves and how the war is progressing. 

Soldiers like Buzzell and Williams have been successful at finding words to describe their experiences in Iraq (and elsewhere). In Buzzell’s case, the reason he started writing about the war was not to one day publish a book but to remember the things he experienced and be to think back these events many years later. I believe writing down the things he experienced had therapeutic properties, the same way writing a diary has for some people. I believe Williams’ reason for writing is different. I do not believe she published a book about her time in Iraq for therapeutic purposes but to tell the war story from the point of view of a woman. She identified the lack of women’s voices and decided to do something about it by writing about it using her own language (which is very different from the one used in official press releases by DoD). She may have even been frustrated about the way the story had been told by the media and felt that it was her duty to tell it from another perspective.

Buzzell and Williams’ texts gives the reader an insight into the minds of young Americans who decide to join the military and provides us with information that is very different from what we are used to hear from the media and the official military channels. The official narrative tends to be the main reason people join the military. It is portrayed as patriotic, because they want to fight for their country and their loved ones and so on. Those were not the reasons why Buzzell and Williams joined (not at the time of their enlistment, anyway.) Buzzell joined because he wanted a job with a steady income and stop being a loser, stop living with his parents etc. Williams joined because she wanted to prove herself, because of her anger towards her boyfriend, who had abused her These were not exactly the noble reasons for joining the armed forces and are very different from the ones propagated by Uncle Sam, or what we see in movies such as Black Hawk Down, Red Dawn, Top Gun and other over the top movies that glorifies the US war machine.

Being a soldier has remained a masculine occupation, as Williams’ text shows. The gender identity terms are obvious and never really break down. It is always the elephant in the room, with the men always wanting to have sex with the women or get a glimpse of their breasts etc. It is safe to assume that the differences between men and women is quite evident in the military.

Writing allows those involved to take control of their lives and how it is portrayed by the media. They are most likely frustrated about the way CNN, the Public Affairs Office of the DoD and others keep talking about them but not talking with them. This seems to be what prompts soldiers to tell their stories themselves, allowing them to have total control over the narrative. There are plenty of things that officials keep hidden from the public for various reason, the most important being to maintain public support for the wars that they wage. It is not in their interest that the public finds out about the way they torture people (most of whom probably innocent civilians), how bad they are at aiming, how their Rules of Engagement promotes the killing of civilians if there is the slightest possibility of them posing a threat. Both Buzzell and Williams talk about these things, effectively bypassing the official narrative that DoD tries so hard to control.

Melissa Wall: Changing the narrative: Wall mentions how Milblogs can serve as an alternative to the narrative provided by the military. The military often tries to control the narrative and Milblogs can depict a more realistic world. Williams' and Buzzell's texts can provide new narratives.

1.     Finding (or struggling to find) words for war (look at the language used). Andersen. 

The narrative is being told through the eyes of Colby Buzzwell, and it is a blog (milblog) published in book form. It is partly an autobiography and partly a description of the life of a soldier during the war in Iraq. It is written from a first-person perspective and you get to know what and how CB feels – and how others feel, according to him. The language is very vivid and written in an easily understandable manner, however, I do not know if a lot of soldiers would use the word ‘thus’, and he seems much more intelligent in the end compared to in the beginning of the ‘story’. The book/blog is very authentic and even though we see it through one person’s eyes, which we have to bear in mind, he does not shy away from feeling afraid, vulnerable, sad, or that soldiers are also people with emotions. Furthermore, the dichotomy good vs. evil is also used here, however, it is much more nuanced. He describes the children of Mosul as very innocent, curious, kind, and happy – and that is a big contrast to the war and the terrorists.  

2.     Reasons for writing (and for fighting). McLoughlin. 

He stops writing, because he does not feel that there is anything to tell, however, he starts again 8 months in, I believe. In the beginning, he wants to look back and recall how it was to be in a war. But it disappoints him. I cannot remember why he choose to start with writing, but one reason could be that no one is telling the actual story. As he says in the end: “The whole time I was in Mosul I didn’t meet a single embedded reporter while I was there. Not a single one”. Additionally, the media are telling a very vague version of the actual events and the government isn’t keen on telling the ‘correct’ stories either, which can be seen in George W. Bush’s statement about Samara (p. 121) and CNN’s report about the 12 dead (p. 302). He tells how the war is, at least from his point-of-view, and he provides a place where people can see how it actually is to be in Mosul. However, he does state that ‘I cannot put into words how scared I was’, thus making his descriptions real but very far from the feeling of being there. 

 

3.     Binary categories – or the disintegration of these? Cole.  

Good vs. evil is also used, but not in the traditional way. It is not America vs. Iraq. There are people and especially children, who represents something good and innocent even though they are not Americans.  

 

Life in Mosul vs. life back home (or purpose/meaning vs. indifference) could also be seen as a binary category. I mean that in the sense of doing meaningful work or be part of a team. He sees the people’s’ magazine, and, from my point-of-view, life back home can seem indifferent. He also says: ‘And for a second, I was actually glad I was here in Iraq’ (p. 275)

 

There is a disintegration of ‘bravery vs. integration’. At one point, he is talking with a solder called ‘Malcolm’, which is terrified about going to war. He openly admits that he is afraid, and CB talks with him and says that he does also feel fear, but you just have to do it. You can be both be brave, but also be vulnerable and that is not the typical image of a solder. 

4.     Notions of masculinity. Cole. 

CB does not try to make himself any better than he is. In the beginning, he drinks, he is lazy, and he have no goals or prospects for the future. Therefore, he joins the army – for financial gains. He does not pretend that he is courageous and admits that he is afraid on several occasions. He does not speak about honor, but on at least two occasions – in the beginning and when he is FOB – he does not get to be a part of the squad. He feels useless and potentially emasculated. He does not fit well into the description made by Peebles, however, there are aspects where he is typical ‘masculine’.  

 

5.     Claiming authority

I consider CB a credible source, because he has written it as a dairy, blog, and the language is explicit – he swears a lot. Furthermore, he has seen it all and is quite open about everything he writes about. Obviously, there is no such thing as total transparency and you should always keep that in mind. 

 

1.     Finding (or struggling to find) words for war (look at the language used). Andersen. 

Williams (and Michael E. Staub) has a very direct writing style, which makes it quite similar to the writing style of Buzzwell. Her language is very easy to understand, and she also uses a lot of swear words. It is obvious that we see the things happening from her perspective as well and she does a good job (in my opinion) to describe how it feels to be a woman (e.g. zoo animal at on page 22) in the army, and how men are looking at women in the military (p. 19). Her story seems very authentic and she does not shy away from her troublesome past nor her reasons to join the marines (p. 41). But she, herself, feels that she lacks the words to describe how war was really like: “Sometimes I feel I have failed horribly. Even here. Even now. With this book. I have somehow failed to express what life in war was like for us”. 

2.     Reasons for writing (and for fighting). McLoughlin. 

One reason for KW to write could be to show the life of a woman within the military – with the advantages (e.g. Queen for a year) and disadvantages (e.g. slut/bitch) of being a woman in the military. However, she does say that the reasons for her joining the marines was partly the benefits of enlistment (p. 41) and to prove her former boyfriend, Douglas, that he could go fuck himself (p. 41).  

3.     Binary categories – or the disintegration of these? Cole. 

Civilians vs. Soldiers

Men vs. Women

Slut vs. Bitch

Innocence vs. evil (children vs. the war). 

4.     Notions of masculinity. Cole. 

The notion of masculinity is evident in the situation with her former husband Mark(?), where he cries in public: “It made him look like a big pussy” (p. 51). Furthermore, she also describes how women have control over men in the army, because they are a scarce resource (p. 19) and the ‘deployment scale of hotness (p. 19). But that goes the other way around – men also get more attractive. 

 

She also loves her gun and the strength that follows with it. It feels empowering. Furthermore, the marines have showed her a side of herself that she did not know was possible: endurance, stamina, willpower (may seem as a criticism/celebration of her own gender).    

5.     Claiming authority

Just as with CB, the story is very authentic, and KW does not seem to shy away from how it actually is to be at war – and how it is to be a woman in the marine. Her story is very different compared to the mainstream media – just as CBs.  

*"She made me think about how - we Americans are so willing to bomb other people's countries" p. 34

*She gives an inside into how women in the military is being treated 
*Personally she also wants to show her ex husband that she could get into the military

*Women being discriminated in the military by men: “I’m just saying,” he said. “We see you girls in your T-shirts. We can see your boobs. You know we’re watching.” - Millblogs (Wall- Inside communication) 

*Women using their sexuality to achieve power: "You could use your femaleness to great advantage. You could do less work, get more assistance, and receive more special favors" p. 20.
*The miscommunication between civilians and soldiers: "It was very girly—my ex-husband gave it to me, and the gift may have contributed to our divorce. It certainly showed his lack of understanding of my position. I’m in the Army!" p. 126

*"I love my M-4, the smell of it, of cleaning fluid, of gunpowder: the smell of strength" p. 15. 

*The higher she gets in the military ranks, the more authority and respect she gets: "This unit was the only unit in which I never experienced any discomfort or harassment. No one made inappropriate comments or stepped out of line" p. 123 (Wall- Disrupting the natural order) 
*Overall, she has a great authority as she is the main perspective in the novel

*Buzell emphasises the hectic and frantic everyday life in the camps: "I freaked the fuck out and ducked down in the hatch and I yelled over the radio, “HOLY SHIT! WE GOT FUCKIN’ HAJJIS ALL OVER THE FUCKIN’ PLACE!!! They’re all over goddamnit!!!” p. 250
*War talk vs institutionalized talk: "Whatever, that’s no big deal, that’s like saying instead of telling the media that you returned fire with your M4, tell them you returned fire with your “self-defense mechanism.” p. 138
*He is praised for telling the truth because nobody else is telling the truth.

*It seems to be a decision made because of boredom:
"I was sick of living my life in oblivion where every fucking day was the same fucking thing as the day before, and the same fucking routine day in and day out. Eat, shit, work, sleep, repeat" p. 29
*Buzzel also struggles to find a full time job, and doesn't feel like he is making enough money. Therefore he decides to join the Marine (though he ends up joining the army instead)
* He writes to be able to remember what it was like (124)

* Kids from the suburbs either go to university or live with their parents- Buzzel doesn't fit into any of these categories after he joined the army
*The media vs military: Acknowledge the different linguistic features used in military vs the everyday language
*Those who have been in war and there fore "gets it" and those who haven't. 
*Rumor vs truth
*Army vs. marine

*The continuing swearing leans more towards the masculine language 
*When defending himself for writing a journal, Buzzel notes that if Sgt. Vance, who Buzzel views as a "pretty masculine guy" can write in his journal, it is also ok for him. This points at the idea, that writing, especially journaling or writing about one's feeling is un-masculine, but if other masculine guys  from the army can do it, so can he. (124)

*The role as a "Machine gunner" during the Iraq War offers some problems
*As he positions himself as one who didn't go into the war because of a great need to fight for his country but rather because of necessity, he distances himself from the official narrative, which tries to attract soldiers through ideals "of protecting freedom". This gives his voice another tone than the rest. Readers can go to his blog to get a sense of what its "really like" rather than being fed official polished narratives. His experience may just be one out of many, but it gives him the authority which comes with being the one (or one of which) who gets to tell the story. As his blog is discovered by the military leaders, it is questioned whether he in fact does have the authority to tell the story. 

§  Finding (or struggling to find) words for war (look at the language used)

 

Buzzel:
Buzzel's account of war is focused on stories of technical operations, practical examples, descriptions. His account does not go in to a deeper analyzes of experiences, there are not a whole lot of emotions going on except boredom, or brief relief of this boredom.

The job is described as being boring and trivial, not heroic “We went out, did our shit, and then came back early in the morning.” (267) The usual shit.

 

For him to talk seriously about the ethics of the war in Iraq, is somewhat hard as most of the soldiers around him will shut him down if he tries to start a conversation with the slightest of questioning of the war.

 

Williams: 

Williams struggles to convey her experiences in the war. When asked about it she is unable to find words for what should be said and what could be said (175).
She even feels that she has let down the readers of her memoir through her inadequacies of truly conveying the experiences of war laid out in the book.
When she tries to put words on the horrific events she has witnessed, she seems to distance herself from the events through a casual mention and irony: Oh yeah. I Watched a guy bleed to death... It was super" (176)
The language itself is very colloquial through the incessant use of swearing, thus creating a certain aura of authenticity

 

§  Reasons for writing (and for fighting)?

 

Buzzel starts out by writing so he will be able to read, for his own benefit, when he gets older. This, however, changes when he goes through his readings after a while and realizes that his writings are painfully dull to read, so he stops writing, until the 8^th month of his deployment.

The dullness of the war, and his boredom arguable ends up being one of the reasons for him to write again.

 

His reasons for fighting are basically economic as he struggles to hold a job for longer periods of time. His search for adventure and some sort of fulfillment of himself also rates high the reason behind. As the military promises that you will “be the best version of yourself”

 

Williams:

She wants to prove her ex-husband wrong in his assessment, that she does not have what it takes to be in the military and lack the grit.

§  Use of binary categories – or the disintegration of these?

 

Buzzel:

The expectations of war - reality   

Heroism – Shame

Adventure – Boredom 

Friend – Enemy

 

Disintegration:

The Iraqi people themselves. 

 

Williams:

Men – Women

Bitch - Slut (Army's binary definitions of females)

 

§  Notions of masculinity

 

Buzzel:

The rough hypermasculine language as well as breezing through explanations of being attacked by RPGs, IEDs, etc.

The close bonds between the soldiers

The sarcastic language. Sarcasm when he responds to some of the mails. Sarcasm when he writes the list of tips for when you deploy in Iraq (points out to stay away from dudes with negative attitudes meaning himself)

 

Williams:

15% of the U.S Military personnel are of the female gender and are classified in the military lingo as either sluts or bitches.S

§  Claiming authority

 

Melissa Wall discloses the incessant struggle between external forces (millbloggers) and internal forces (the military/ DoD) struggle to claim authority and control of the narrative concerning the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

The military service’s public affairs specialists were the traditional shapers and disseminators of the DoD accepted narratives about the war effort and claimed the authentic top-down, one-way flow of information to the mainstream news media.

The millblogger’s challenged the DoD’s claim on authority and authenticity of the war narrative by creating public narratives without the internal power structures consecrating them, thereby challenging the established conventions for communicating the war effort, in terms of content, production, and dissemination.

The real struggle began, when external entities (mainstream media) began recognizing and attributing authority to the independent millbloggers, circumventing the official information supplied by the DoD and the subsequent struggle over the right to create and disseminate war narratives ensued.

To reclaim its authority to legitimize war-related public communications and controlling the narrative, the DoD applied sanction, such as rules and directives against unofficial millbloggers and took an active role in the millbloggers’ conferences to deter them from creating independent social capital and consecrating rites without their influence.

 

 

Reasons for writing (and for fighting): Buzzell reason for writing journals during his time at war is to benefit only himself, not others. He sees other men writing, men he thinks is very masculine and therefore accept it as normal behavior. His writing style is very personal, direct and filled with swearing and insider army terms, seems almost like pages directly from his journals. Buzzell writes that the reason why he is writing a journal is to remember his time in the war when he grows old, when in fact the writing might also be a therapeutic effect on dealing with death and destruction. Buzzell is not a recruiting poster boy and his reasons for fighting is very practical. He sees the economic benefits and a break from his everyday boredom where every day looks the same. Although when he begins to write, it is clear to him that in the army, every day looks different from home, but still the same as the one before. 

 

Finding (or struggling to find) words for war: Buzzell writes honestly about his lack of words to describe the war (292) but also uses humor to distance himself from what actually is happening. On page 221 their vehicle is hit and Buzzell instantly is a relief because it might look like they get the rest of the day off and because he is tired he is “not in the mood to play soldier.”  

 

 Reasons for writing (and for fighting: Williams explains her reason to write in the very beginning. She writes that she wanted to let people know what it feels like to be a woman soldier in peace and in war (15). Her reasons to fight is, like Buzzell, financial stability (41). Furthermore, she was stubborn and wanted to prove an former boyfriend wrong (40), who didn’t believe she was cut out to be in the army. 

 

Finding (or struggling to find) words for war: In contrast to Buzzell’s journal writing style, Williams is more informative. She knows her words are going to be used to inform about women in the military, therefore it seems a little less personal and honest. Like Buzzell, she tries to hide behind humor and sarcasm when she describes sex in the army and says: “It becomes a simple matter of supply and demand.” (21)  

 

Cole. 

-        People in relation to war: 

-        Combatant à civilian

-        Expectations à reality (Buzzle)

-        Young à old (Williams) 

-        Injured à healthy
 “.. the dichotomy that most powerfully challenges the belief structure of war is that of injury versus health.” (Cole) 

-        Enemy à friend (Cole)

-        What is real à what is fake (Cole) 

-        She acknowledges these propagandistic terms; however, these explains that these categories break down and disintegrate through time.  

-        They go against the authority when they right these blogs

-        Buzzell and Williams show different views of authority and what they will do willingly in regard to forced. 

-        Furthermore, these subjective narratives are difficult to control for the Army which gives the ‘authors’/’bloggers’ power and hence makes them the new authority. 

-        Just as Wall writes in her article that these milblogs/warblogs are mainly written by veterans, family of veterans, or strong supporters to the terror wars which all show different views of ongoing wars or conflicts hence giving them a variety of viewpoint and opinions. 

-        Andersen highlighted that it was all about the control of the narrative. 

-        Which Wall also shows this tension within the military field, and the issues about publishing military intel.   

 

 

 

-        Military masculinity à self-sacrifice in pursuit of honor 

(She defines military masculinity as the hero the one who stands out)

-        She talks about the importance of the Male bond, comradeship, and brotherhood. 

-        Heroic actions are less focused on what is right (mythical echoes all the way into today’s hero’s

-        Also shows this binary term of Honor vs. shame

-        However, Peeples states that there is a change in the term ‘Masculinity’ from the time of the Vietnam war and till now. 

-        E.g. “The confidence once seen in expressions of strength and essentialist masculinity is no longer the norm” 

-        Not the standard idea of the masculine ideal. 

-        He is lazy, and did not enlist due to honor 

 

In “War and Words”, McLoughlin discusses the difficulties in war-writing, but also the reasons for writing about war and the importance of it. Some of the reasons include writing as a catharsis, writing so the future generation can be told and writing for those who cannot tell their own story. The milblog and military memoir gives authenticity and hopefully also an honest look of what military life is “behind the scenes”. 

 

Buzzell’s language is colloquial and sarcastic. He frequently uses slang: acronyms and swearwords. 

It does not necessarily seem like his language is a consequence of struggling to find the right words. His language reflects his personality and could just be a choice of narrative style. Although, he does have a blog post where he posts the lyrics from “Another State of Mind”. The lyrics express pain and vulnerability, something he is not capable of expressing himself, as he has to live up to masculine and military norms. 

 

Another thing worth mentioning, is the fact that Buzzell’s memoir is primarily made up of his blogposts from when he was in Iraq, meaning that there is not as much room for reflection. Usually people look at events in retrospect and have time to immerse themselves in a subject matter, before finding the words to express their thoughts and feelings. 

 

Williams language is also colloquial and filled with slang. She states in the last pages of her memoir, that it remains hard for her, to find the words to talk about war and the reasons for going to war. She further adds, that she has failed to express what war was like “for us”.

 

“But when I meet random civilians, I feel like they don’t understand things” (Williams pp. 282).

 

“Things” is an inadequate word as it lacks meaning. It illustrates the amount of complexity there must lay in these “things”, since she doesn’t even make an effort in trying to elaborate her feelings or thoughts.  

 

 

 

Buzzell expresses how he kept a journal, so he is able to remember what being a soldier in Iraq was like (Buzzell pp. 124). He writes for his own sake and begins blogging mainly out of boredom. 

But throughout his experiences from what he has accomplished through his blog-writing¾the increasing interest from several readers, people complementing his writing¾he might have found a new reason for writing. 

 

A reason for sharing his experiences online, could be to give others a possibility of getting an insight of what life is like for a U.S. soldier in Iraq. It does not seem as though he had any intention of being known, as he expresses his bafflement when he finds out that he is mentioned in a news article. He also quotes Bukowski, “These words I write keep me from total madness” (Buzzell pp. 320). 

 

In the beginning of his book, he tells the story of his pre-military days. Basically, to share the story of how and why he ended up in the military. He clearly describes how the US recruit their soldiers and portrays it negatively. It gives an impression of how flawed the system is and also an impression of how flawed and desperate the people who sign can be. This seems as an important aspect to his story. It was completely random and for economic reasons that he himself joined. It was not because he wanted to be a hero. What led him to become a soldier, was his inability to find out what he wanted to do with his life. 

 

From the first page of Williams memoir, it is clear what her purpose with the book is: to give a voice to the women in the military, more specifically a female perspective on what it is like to live in a male-dominated “world”. She focuses a lot on gender roles and sexual harassment together with degrading remarks towards women. She also expresses another reason, which is to “capture the terror, the mind-numbing tedium; and the joy and the honor” (Williams pp. 15).

 

Her reasons for enlisting were 1. To prove her former boyfriend wrong. 2. She wanted to be an interpreter. 3. The job sounded interesting. 4. Money: cash bonus, money for graduate school.

 

“Enlisting meant I would not be geographically stable but would be financially stable. This is certainly one big reason that there are so many low-income whites and minorities in the military.” (Williams pp.41)

 

 

In “Love My Rifle More than You”, one obvious binary category is gender.

 

Another binary position is that of combatant and civilian. Both Williams and Buzzell use the word “civilian” when speaking of regular people, making a clear distinction that there is an “us” and a “them”, as if soldiers are a distinct race. 

 

“I ended up fleeing so I didn’t have to deal with my own family or civilians” (Williams pp. 277).

 

Another binary category is their reality towards the world. There is the world of the military/Iraq in contrast to the world they came from: America. They are two radically different realities, with different cultures and different values. 

 

In a blog post Buzzell mentions something he read in People magazine.

“I read how Survivor’sRob and Amber are in love, Kelly Osbourne is in rehab […] And for a split second, I was actually glad I was here in Iraq.” (Buzzell pp. 275). 

 

Williams has the same attitude towards America and the people. “Everyone in America was fat. Everyone was on some stupid diet. […] How was I willing to go and die for these fucking people?” (Williams pp. 275)

 

 Notions of masculinity

In “Making a Military Man”, Peebles states how some soldiers have expressed, that being a soldier is a performance, meaning that to be a soldier, one has to put up an act. 

 

She asks the question “What makes a man” and “How do they represent themselves and, more particularly, their gender […]” (Peebles pp. 49) 

 

Generally, Buzzell portrays his comrades as ordinary men, like himself. The men seem quite boyish when they are not on the field. He does speak of masculinity, when explaining journal-writing.

Buzzell expresses thatthe reason he didn’t feel “weird” about writing in a journal, was because Sgt. Vance who he considers to be a masculine guy, also wrote in a journal (Buzzell pp.124). 

On page 260, he mentions how every Stryker would have a Maxim inside of it and on page 265, he shares that they found out that several soldiers took penis-enlargement pills after a drug test. It gives the impression, that men are unserious and spend too much time thinking of breasts and penises.  

 

Buzzell also posts a quote by Joan Baez “If it’s natural to kill, why do men have to go into training to learn how?” (Buzzell pp. 260) This quote expresses how being a soldier, does not come naturally and is not innate. 

 

Williams sometimes expresses her comrades as idiot horny boys, rather than men. She also expresses how they are primarily driven by sex, with no room to comprehend things that matter. “Their eyes on you all the time, your breasts, your ass¾like there is nothing else to watch, no sun, no river, no desert, no mortars at night” (Williams pp. 14).

 

As a woman in the military, Williams tries to escape the gender norm of “women are weak”, by proving men that she is stronger and more intelligent than they think.

 “Always been a girl that catches a guy’s eyes. And yet I do fifty-five push-ups in under a minute. Tough and proud to be tough.” (Williams pp.15)

 

“From Tragedy to War after 9/11” discusses the media coverage of 9/11 and “the war on terror”. The text mainly focuses on controlling narrative: the power of the media and propaganda. Censorship, discourse, representation. 

 

Buzzell experiences a fight for his narrative with those of the higher ranks in the military. 

As a consequence of blogposting, Buzzell was called in to the colonel’s office. The second time he was called in, he was no longer permitted to go on missions. He views this as a punishment, even though they say that they are not punishing him. He gets help from a journalist, who questions those in the higher ranks, implying that there reason for keeping Buzzell away from missions, is so they can hide what really goes on, from the general public. Suddenly Buzzell is allowed back on missions, which means that the higher ranks do not want the journalist to make a story out of it.

Buzzell is conflicted between his respect for the military and also his own rights for expression.  Every time he is called in, he is afraid and feels as if he has fucked up and still he writes posts which are cocky, for example when he welcomes his new readers at MI, clearly marking his territory. He then does an interview with NPR, to talk about military blogs in Iraq. The journalist is interested in the stories of the soldiers and why popular milblogs have been shut down. 

After Buzzell’s interview he ends up taking the blog down, before the military does, but even though he takes it down, which indicates losing, he does win by doing the interview first. 

 

William’s claims authority for the women of the military. The general public needs to know that women also do combat zones and that one third of MI is female (Williams pp. 16). But her narrative also represents the lives of the soldiers: the training and the missions they undergo, the sacrifice, the constant life or death choices they have to make, the breach of the Geneva Conventions during interrogations and also the tedious part of military work. She ends the memoir by criticizing the military and the war, saying that it took lies to get them deployed. 

 

Both Williams and Buzzell have a general negative attitude towards the military but also deep respect to their superiors and their comrades. It seems as if they have conflicted feelings towards war. On one side of the story, they believe in their jobs, they believe that they are helping people and doing a greater good, and on the other side of the story they mock it. Buzzell even wears a pin at some point, which says “FTW”. 

 

Both texts, seem to give an honest representation of what military life is like. Obviously, they are subjective. But they do not glorify war or the military and they are able to tell their stories as they are, without censorship, in contrast to the mainstream media. 

 

Narrative:

Buzzell goes against the “mainstream media” in the Anderson text. In the text by Buzzell, he starts by fixating on the military making people into killers. He mentions this several times throughout the text. In the text the military uses any means to get him sign up for the military. He is pressured to sign right away instead of having time to think it over and is coaxed into signing by the recruiter, who lies about the terms of the contract. The recruiter even gives Buzzell enhancing drugs to help him pass his physical test. 

Buzzell becomes more disconnected from “home” – the outside world, as the time in the military passes. The text clearly shows that the mainstream media only focuses on the military when there is a big story to tell. The media creates a contradicting narrative by painting a more violent picture and twisting the reality to play into the picture of “killers”. 

 

Authority:

Buzzell past of abusing different substances weakens his authority, but he is a veteran, and this strengthens it. Buzzell’s milblog also adds to his credibility but the fact that he voices his own personal opinion makes him a less credible author.

 

Words for war:

Buzzell writes what happens to him, the text is in a journal/blog style. The layout and his language make it very informal.

 

Reason for writing:

Buzzell writes for himself, to be able to remember what the war was like, maybe to make sure he still sees the whole picture, even years from then. Unintentionally Buzzell’s narrative changes when he starts writing his blog instead of the journal. 

 

Language:

Very informal and young. Uses a lot of slang.

 

Binary categories:

Civilians and combatants. The line between these two becomes harder to differentiate between. 

 

 

Narrative:

Very much against the mainstream narrative – she talks about death and PTSD

 

 

Authority:

She writes in her own voice and from her own experience, this makes her a credible author 

 

Reason for writing:

She wants people to understand just how it feels to be a woman in a male dominated field and a field where masculinity is such a big part of the job. 

 

Language:

The language is very personal, she uses slang and humor in her text it creates a stronger connection to her as a writer. She uses imagery and is very descriptive.

 

Binary categories:

Men and women – being discriminated and using your gender to your advantage. 

 

Masculinity:

Williams feels just as masculine as her male comrades, but she is often viewed different because of her gender.