The Pacific

I just finished watching the last episode of HBO's miniseries, "The Pacific." There are 10 episodes and it has taken me a little more than a week to watch them all late at night (yes, instead of doing my homework, I know, but it is the summer and I can). It's one of those things that I have nearly become consumed by since I started watching it. As I sit at the computer with my headphones on, I pause the movie occasionally and look up stuff on the internet. I have learned a ton.

I like history, but as with anything, if you don't practice (or in this case continue studying) you lose it. One of my favorite courses at the U, taught by Ron Smelser, was the Age of Total War. It was an excellent class and one of a few that I would call my "favorites" (along with the History of Rock 'n Roll with John Costa and the History of Utah with Floyd O'Neil). In this class we learned mostly about WWI and WWII, but entirely about wars in Europe. This year when I taught U.S. History, I did a lot of studying in order to teach fairly about the war in the Pacific during WWII as well. I did my best and the students were engaged most of the time. My student from Brazil (with Japanese grandparents who immigrated to Brazil after the war) even told us of her grandmother's brother who died as a Kamikaze.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is that I still have a lot to learn and I didn't teach nearly enough about the personal aspect or the day-to-day life of a Pacific marine. Because of all the foul language, I don't think I could ever share much of this series with my students, but it at least gives me a better understanding.

Anyway . . . again . . . while watching this, I wasn't entirely thinking about teaching, I was just thinking about the war and the people who fought it. A few days ago, after watching only a couple of episodes, I told my sister that I didn't like it as much as "Band of Brothers" because I didn't feel like I knew the individuals as well and that it wasn't really connected. I've changed my opinion. It is still not all connected by people, but you really get a better feel for the characters by the end. I didn't actually cry or anything while watching it, but inside, it is very emotional and gut-wrenching. To think about living in the mud near dead bodies, near your own filth, in the same clothes you've been in for weeks, scared to death constantly; to think about being married for a few short months, having your whole life ahead of you, then having it ripped to pieces by guns and ammo; to think about coming home to a bunch of people who love you, but have absolutely no idea what you've been doing and you have no idea how to interact with them in any sense of normalcy; I can't even imagine this.

I'm not going to say that every person should go out and watch this show. It's graphic, it's gory, it's bloody, it's full of f-bombs, and honestly has a bit more boobage than "Band of Brothers" ever thought of (in just a couple of episodes). It's probably not a movie that someone like me should be watching, but a part of me also feels like I owe it to all of the people who fought in this war to be educated about what happened. If you also feel that sense of obligation to know and learn more, then I highly recommend it. If you feel like this is not something that you can stomach and that you can respect and appreciate without it, that's fine, too.

This also gets me thinking about war in general. We could sure solve a lot of our federal economic problems right now if we were to simply get out of this war. James was supposed to be deployed this past June, but ended up choosing to be out in September after 14 years in the Guard, instead of re-enlisting. As his wife (and now a mom), I was relieved. However, James would really like to put in another 6 years and is exploring avenues with which he might do that. James was deployed for 18 months to Iraq and returned in 2005 just before I met him. He's in artillery and ran convoys back and forth across Iraq. He's told me about being in a vehicle for 12 hours without stopping even to go to the bathroom. He's told me about freezing in the northern part of Iraq in the snow. He's told me about being on the same airplane for more than 24 hours on the way back home. He's told me about his admiration for the Kurdish people. I know that Ronald T. Wood was an acquaintance of his who died and that James will forever remember him on his license plate. I know that the blue triangle is his car window is significant. I know that when we were first dating, we were standing outside my mom and dad's house, a firecracker went off, and James jumped 3 feet.

I don't think the war that my husband fought was like the war in the movie I've just finished, but that doesn't make it anything less like a war. I don't really know what his experience was like, but I'm sure it wasn't fun. My sister-in-law and my brother-in-law both deploy soon. My cousin's husband just joined the Navy and will likely deploy. If James re-up's he will likely deploy again, too. Despite all the heroes and great stories, all the motives and political explanations, all the good guys and all the bad guys, war boils down to people; individuals who train to kill and live to stay alive all in the name of freedom and peace. What I think I learned most from watching this movie is that war sucks. For a country or for a people, victory is good and sometimes seems necessary. But, for the individual person fighting it out, there isn't anything good about it.