In war, soldiers tend to have different opinions on how the war affects them. There are a few things that they share as well as defer especially coming from different time periods of war. One thing that they share as well as differ in is how a soldier pays the price psychologically for killing another human being. Another similarity as well as difference with soldiers is how war explain home for those who fought as well as what do soldiers sacrifice in the name of an abstract entity such as "the nation " with in which they identify. By observing Paul Baumer from the book "All Quiet on the Western Front " participating in World War I and Ron Kovic from the film "Born on the Fourth of July " fighting in the Vietnam War, the differences and similarities will be explained.
The prices that soldiers pay psychologically for being in a war which causes them to kill another human being are greatly expressed mentally as well as physically. There are certain factors that soldiers go through to deal with war. Perhaps the most important factor of war for a soldier is that one must develop a way of mentally coping with the experience. However, others that are not able to cope become vulnerable and cannot continue to fight. One question that many may ask is, "what is a soldier exactly coping with? " The answer is that they are dealing with the awfulness of war, meaning that the soldier must be in control of their response to death. After a soldier kills, they become psychologically impaired in many ways like having nightmares, or have painful episodes from their memories of war which in most cases is PTSD. According to the third edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defined PTSD as a condition exploding in response to a stressor that would provoke certain symptoms of agony (McNally 230). When soldiers develop PTSD, they become very distraught or more so even strongly depressed because of their experienced while in war.