Martin Stick Soldiers

Martin is a very calm writer with a sense of disparity. He uses different experiences he has had and uses them to try and find meaning in what was said or done. I read M-16A2 Assault Rifle and Home From Iraq, Larry's Tavern. In M-16A2 Assault Rifle Martin talks about how he cleans his gun and whips the rust and dust from it. He mentions the sweat and sandbags and how he holds onto his weapon and sits for hours, waiting for anything to happen. He talks about when he has cleaned it for hours, all he wants to do is take it home and put it on the mantel piece so that it cannot be used for destruction anymore. Like as if the cleanliness of it creates a purity that should discourage it to be fired again. Martin often seems like the soldier who is practical. He comes off as an average man, but with no sense of urgency apparent. He seems content or at a least calm when he is sitting and waiting. In Home From Iraq, Larry's Tavern Martin recounts his experience with a man who wished he had gone off to war, but had not because of his bum knee. The man is jealous of Martin because he had that experience and now carries it with him. Martin doesn't say how that effects him but the man would have loved to have been able to claim battle experience. "The horror of not going" is in the man's eyes. Martin feels bad for this man, not because he did not get to go, but because he envies Martin so much. He does not see why this man is so envious of battle. It is certainly a thing that men and boys must think about, the experience of battle and how it changes, challenges and stays with someone.