War in the media

After the Hurt Locker won so many Oscars at the Academy Awards, I have been paying more attention to war in the media. I was especially curious to see the reaction of soldiers to the movie itself. In this segment of interviews, the soldiers say they enjoyed the film, but thought that the idea of the main character "going rogue" was not a very realistic or accurate portrayel of people in the armed services. The Army is all about being "An Army of one" and listening to your superiors in order to function effectively as a group, so i can understand why the soldiers did not particularly subscribe to the notion of going rogue in the movie.

The movie and the movie's recent fame does a good job of highlighting the heroic actions of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan today. This self sacrifice needs to be appreciated even if your opinions on the war are negative. I believe that the film also highlighted all the problems that come with war, such as stress and the violence that affects people's lives on a day to day basis. The Hurt Locker really brought the war from the back of our minds to the forefront. I feel that people in America have sort of tuned the war out. It is not a recent development and the negative emotions associated with violence and death is not appealing to anyone. The news still covers the war but I feel like the number of stories decreases by the day.

And yet the reality of the war is still here with us. A British soldier just saved himself and other members of his troup by making an instinctual decision of throwing a live grenade away from the roof they were on.

This man above was a hero today regardless of the reason he was in the situation. The media does not need to repeat this to us, but instead we as people need to become the heros and pressure the politicians in our country to end this war. Maybe we are doing good, but the war piece of it is really bothering me. This difficult situation needs to be resolved so this man doesnt have to pick shrapnel out of his face for the next 4 years.