Johnathan Shay’s book Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character compares the Vietnam soldier’s experience of war with Achilles experience in Homer’s Iliad. Shay's argument is that "the nature of catastrophic war experiences not only cause lifelong disabling psychiatric symptoms but can ruin a good character." Both the Vietnam War and Trojan War changed the psyche of the soldiers that had experienced traumatic events. These soldiers from two distinct time periods experienced those symptoms through the betrayal of what is right, the death of a special comrade, and going berserk. By linking those examples with the tragedy of Achilles in the Trojan War, and the soldiers in the Vietnam War, it shows that these effects of combat
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When the United States government was issuing out the M-16 it was a seen as a betrayal by many soldiers as the weapon malfunctioned many times to the point they went back to use the M-14. Shay points out that in Homer’s Iliad there are instances of weapon failure as well, but explains that it did not cast doubt on the moral structure of the army and that they were less dependent on military institutions because they provided their own equipment for battle. The Vietnam soldier needed to depend more on the military because warfare has evolved significantly since the time of the ancient Greeks. In a review by Arthur G. Neal, he gives other examples of how themis was violated “superior officers that were incompetent, who sheltered themselves from the risks they exposed others to and who gave improper and malevolent orders.” If the soldiers could not trust their own government or superior officers to provide the essentials to survive in war, then who was to be trusted? The effect undoes a soldier’s character as it leads them to constantly questioning everything, possibly ruin relationships with their loved ones, and to cut their ties away from society. The only ones who they felt like they trusted the most would be the other soldiers fighting right alongside them. When one of their special comrades died it hit them hard
When the United States government was issuing out the M-16 it was a seen as a betrayal by many soldiers as the weapon malfunctioned many times to the point they went back to use the M-14. Shay points out that in Homer’s Iliad there are instances of weapon failure as well, but explains that it did not cast doubt on the moral structure of the army and that they were less dependent on military institutions because they provided their own equipment for battle. The Vietnam soldier needed to depend more on the military because warfare has evolved significantly since the time of the ancient Greeks. In a review by Arthur G. Neal, he gives other examples of how themis was violated “superior officers that were incompetent, who sheltered themselves from the risks they exposed others to and who gave improper and malevolent orders.” If the soldiers could not trust their own government or superior officers to provide the essentials to survive in war, then who was to be trusted? The effect undoes a soldier’s character as it leads them to constantly questioning everything, possibly ruin relationships with their loved ones, and to cut their ties away from society. The only ones who they felt like they trusted the most would be the other soldiers fighting right alongside them. When one of their special comrades died it hit them hard