In the political arena sometimes the effects of war go unnoticed by politicians, and various significant figures all for an agenda that may or may not be justified. There is a wide range of effects war has on soldiers such as emotional distress, physical injuries, and psychological health to name a few. Through meticulous observation Remarque "All Quiet on the Western Front" does a nice job of highlighting soldiers the change a soldier goes through both during, and post-war. Furthermore, soldiers in their minds go through flashbacks of memories or even seek a place of refuge to forget some of the experience during war. War is seen as such a harsh type of
environment so some soldiers create pictures in their mind to sort of find a place of peace. "I often become so lost in the play of soft light and transparent shadow, that I almost fail to hear the commands. It is when one is alone that one begins to observe Nature and to love her. And here I have not much companionship, and do not even desire it. We are too little acquainted with one another to do more than joke a bit and play poker or nap in the evenings. Alongside our camp is the big Russian prison camp. It is separated from us by a wire fence, but in spite of this the prisoners come across to us" (Remarque, 1929). The soldiers during war become use/immune to extreme conditions, and that over time alter a soldier's perception and self-identity which can be seen by others through the soldier's actions. Over the course time soldiers in general become numb to horrific events, and it is in a sense becoming desensitized almost normal to see death it happens so much as described in Remarque passages with the soldiers teasing the cook for a deceased man food. When soldiers go through extreme conditions together it builds a bond in
addition many are taught the wingman concept to never leave a soldier behind I feel as though Remarque pointed that out, and showed how it affects soldiers when they are out of war the disconnect from civilian life and the loved ones as well. "I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another. I see that the keenest brains of the world invent weapons and words to make it yet more refined and enduring. And all men of my age, here and over there, throughout the whole world see these things; all my generation is experiencing these things with me. What would our fathers do if we suddenly stood up and came before them and proffered our account? What do they expect of us if a time ever comes when the war is over? Through the years our business has been killing;--it was our first calling in life" (Remarque, 1929).
Remarque presents a imagery in the minds of the reader on how war memories constructs a soldier postwar identities by showing a systematic process. The stripping down of a person to a rebuild with military core values, standards, and ideologies that basic training provides. A disciplined institution, a highly structured environment that military has, the experience of traumatic experiences in war, and the transitioning to civilian life have adverse effects on many soldier's lives. According to David Wood, "But now the cascade of combat veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is forcing mental health practitioners to a new recognition: the effects of combat trauma extend far beyond the traditional and narrow clinical diagnoses of PTSD and traumatic brain injury (TBI). The current crop of veterans is at risk of a “downward spiral” that leads to depression, substance abuse and sometimes suicide, as Eric Shinseki, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, said in a recent speech. Almost a quarter million Iraq or Afghanistan vets have been diagnosed with mental health injuries from combat service. Many more are not diagnosed, yet go on with their lives while experiencing short-term memory loss, headaches, insomnia, anger or numbness — conditions that can range from merely annoying to highly disruptive on the job and within the family". In addition, the feeling that people don't relate to you and/or you don't relate to people in the general civilian population can add insult to injury for many veterans. With the discipline structure of the military is part of many soldiers identity, and that when in post-war some soldiers use their military discipline to take on massive amounts of work or job duties to mask some of the pain and experiences.
I observe cultural memory can be definitively interpreted as events or experiences that has to be remembered that has the ability to be transferred one generation to another generation. According to Jan Assmann (2008) "Cultural memory is a kind of institution. It is exteriorized, objectified, and stored away in symbolic forms that, unlike the sounds of words or the Communicative and Cultural Memory 111 sight of gestures, are stable and situation-transcendent: They may be transferred from one situation to another and transmitted from one generation to another". The resemblance of things such as objects that bring a soldier memory back to a certain thing such as bomb fragments, weapons, and shell casings from rounds being fired off during war like when Remarque drawn imagery when the character Paul is stunned by a trolley that joogs the memory of shell casings. Due to each soldier having different experience it is difficult to understand the totality of soldier's experiences with war with bonds that built with other soldiers, and the structure that the military instill then either visiting home or adapting to civilian life. The human brain has a process with memory that induces chemical changes so the memories of war play a vital role having physical sensations to mental syndromes that is all connected in a soldier self-identity plus how the world & they view themselves. I would say in addition to soldiers a culture's identity, and memory collectively is greatly affected by war such the United States & Russia cold war many movies, books, and website have been created that help shape and mold a segment of American society. The Vietnam war has an effect on the both American soldiers, and American culture that has been engraved our history with Muhammad Ali religious stance on war, into Marvin Gaye hit song "Mercy MercyMe", and different social conscious groups that rose up against the Vietnam war which all is the memory of the people good or bad.
In essence, war not only affect soldiers themselves, but society enlarge in various ways ranging from mentality, to physically like radiation in Hiroshima, and cultural in music/film/literature. Also, note that war memories affect historical content depending on the culture, group, or individual telling the story.
Reference:
1.) Remarque, Erich Maria (1929). All Quiet on the Western Front. Preface and Chapters 1, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 12 (pp. 2-10, 25-35, 65-88, 89-94, 95-109, and 139-140).
http://www.myteacherpages.com/webpages/esimpson/files/AQWF%20-%20full%20text.pdf
2.) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/04/iraq-afghanistan-war-veterans-combat-trauma_n_1645701.html
3.) http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/1774/1/Assmann_Communicative_and_cultural_memory_2008.pdf (Jan Assmann, 2008)
4.) http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/11261/1/The-Emotional-Effects-of-War-on-Soldiers.html
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