Years Apart But Still the Same

In both Komunyakaa and Turner's poems, the idea behind all of them is clear: war has a profound and long-lasting impact on those who experience it. Though the wars these two poets fought in are separated by years, one can still sense that both men have the same feelings as Komunyakaa waded through rivers with branches on his head in Vietnam and as Turner experiences a suicide bomber in a marketplace in Iraq. War has definitely changed since Vietnam. With the advent of highly sophisticated weaponry, the war is becoming less and less face to face. But at the same time, the same fears are present in both Vietnam and Iraq. As Turner says in "What Every Soldier Should Know", an American soldier talk to old women and play with small children in Iraq, but they'll never know if these people would dance over an American's dead body. It's the same with Vietnam. The idea of one "real" enemy is lost. The roadside bombs are indiscriminate about who they kill and no one knows who set it up.

Both Turner and Komunyakaa experience a new level plane of existence. In "Facing It", Komunyakaa stares at the Vietnam War Memorial and sees himself stuck inside the memorial, as if he never escaped the war. He questions his existence as he sees the names of men who never made it home. Maybe he's just a ghost, staring back at the people reading the names. In "R&R", Turner, and other soldiers, create a get-away from the pain and death. The beach getaway is Turner's escape, where his adrenaline can slowly re-accumulate as he relaxes on the sand. To some, they may seem crazy. But to both Turner and Komunyakaa, this is their life. Whether it be Vietnam or Iraq, their experiences aren't really that different save the people and the landscape.