Going into any part of America's military is quite an experience, an experience that only those who are actually a part of the military can truly understand. These soldiers, who become veterans if they can make it past war, go through scenarios unlike anyone could ever imagine. Not even today's Hollywood movies can fully put into perspective the horror that unfolds in front of these soldiers' eyes. But, writers can use rhetorical devices in short stories and articles to help us get a glimpse of what it's really like to be in the military. Sibohan Fallon, the author of the short story, The Last Stand, uses many rhetorical devices to get a peek into what it's like for wounded veteran Kit to com back from a tour in Afghanistan. Chris Adams, author of the article "Large numbers of veterans with PTSD live near military bases," also uses these rhetorical devices to help get his point across. Fallon indirectly faces the issue of what it's like for veterans to live on a military base with PTSD in her short story, while Adams is more forthright about the issue in his article. Both works utilize different rhetorical devices to connecting with the reader's different emotions and get the point across, using the overarching idea of pathos.
One of the biggest emotions these two authors tap into is sympathy. Fallon uses her word choice to accomplish this. She writes, "as if the soldiers started trying to procreate when they got their orders for Baghdad, tried to imprint themselves in a desperate scramble for immortality before ending up in the unknown" (Fallon 136). The strong words such as "desperate scramble for immortality" show how the soldiers realized how likely their deaths could be when shipped off to Iraq. The reader can see how scared the soldiers are through Fallon's word choice, and it evokes sympathy from the reader. Her word choice is further proven when Helena is talking to Kit in one part.