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We Slept With Our Boots On
They unloaded the dead and maimed right before our eyes
They washed out the blood, we loaded our ruck’s and then took to the skies
Over the mountains, villages, and valleys we flew
Where we would land we had not a clue
Bullets are flying, the LZ is hot
We’re leaving this bird whether we like it or not
30 seconds they yelled, Lock N Load and grab your shit
Get ready to go and make it quick
My heart is pumping adrenalin through all of my veins
I run as fast as I can through the lead rain
The noise is tremendous, terror I can’t define
The only reason I survived that day was divine
I kept pulling the trigger and reloading and pulling some more
You do what you have to do, with that I will say no more
We fought from the valleys to the mountain peaks
From house to cave, to car to creek
Dirty and tired and hungry and scared
We slept with our boots on so we were always prepared
Those majestic mountains so steep, so high they kiss the skies
The Hindu Kush has changed so many lives
Up the mountains with heavy loads we trod
Who knew hell was so close to God
Beauty and terror are a strong mixed drink
So we drank it like drunkards and tried not to think
Good men and bad men, Mothers lost son’s
Everyone loses their innocence when they carry guns
Washed in the blood, and baptized by fire
I will never forget those who were called higher
They say blood is thicker than water, well lead is thicker than blood
Brothers aren’t born they’re earned. In the poppy fields, the tears, and
the mud
And when I get to heaven to Saint Peter I will tell
Another Paratrooper reporting for duty sir, I spent my time in hell
By Steve Carlsen


Steve Carlsen was born and lives in Dowagiac Michigan. He joined the United States Army in October 2000 and went to Infantry Basic Training, and Airborne School in Ft. Benning Georgia. He then reported to D Company 1st battalion 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. 82nd Airborne Division in Ft. Bragg North Carolina. He deployed to Kosovo in November 2001 as part of peace keeping operations. He Deployed to Afghanistan in of December 2002 where he participated in combat operations. He was honorably discharged from the Army in 2003. He currently attends Southwestern Michigan College wher his professor, Dr Michael Collins challenged him to write about his experiences.
http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html

This poem is based on his experience in the war. The writer and his comrades were placed in a ship and sent to battle. They were ordered to get ready for the battle below. They landed and the writer dashed out and kept pressing the gun trigger. He was lucky to survive in the middle of a warzone. He kept advancing with his comrades, fighting in different terrains. They were all exhausted, scared and hungry.



Point of view
The point of view is from a soldier’s perspective. He is terrified as he and his comrades were place in battle. There were loud noises and gunshots everywhere, making the writer nervous and worried that he would be shot or blown by a grenade. “Bullets are flying”, “The noise is tremendous, terror I can’t define”, describes the chaos at that time on the battlefield, bullets shoot pass you such that bullets were flying through the air as rapid speeds and huge quantities. The noise created by the military equipment and the battle caused terror to build up in the writer’s body as he describes terror I can’t define showing that the fear he felt was not imaginable. From “ My heart is pumping adrenalin through all of my veins”, we can tell that the author is a timid person as he is worried of being sent to the battlefield.. “The only reason I survived that day was divine”, illustrates that the writer was pessimistic and felt that he survived not because of his skill but because he was lucky. He did not feel that he would survive in the first place and thus, he was pessimistic. His statement is reliable as he was able to sense the surroundings very well, he is able to elaborate on the surroundings and people’s feelings during the war and thus, he is reliable. The speaker’s function in the poem is to bring about the awareness of the terrors of war. I feel that he is a timid soldier who is brought into the war forcefully and not on his own will, but I can say that despite being timid , he was able to repressed his fear and continue the battle. By being able to do so, he has very strong willpower and deserves to be praised and respected by his comrades.

Situation and Setting

The writer is in the middle of the war. He is brought into the battlefield by a plane. He witnessed the huge casualties of war even before being brought into one. The dead bodies in the plane was first unloaded and then they writer and his comrades boarded the plane. The writer probably starts to feel scared a she might be thinking whether he might end up like the dead soldiers who were unloaded off the plane. They all were worried as they did not know their destination. Once they alighted, they ran in all directions with bullets flying all over the place. The writer and his comrades advances and shoots at the enemy, fighting in different terrains. They kept their boots on, in preparation for the next battle which would come any moment. The writer then went to describe the mountains, “Those majestic mountains so steep, so high they kiss the skies”, the writer describes the harsh terrain that they have to climb, showing the hardships that soldiers suffer during the war.”Who knew hell was so close to God”, shows that the writer felt that every step forward up the mountain seemed a step towards hell. The settings and backgrounds describes the horrors of war and the hardships they suffer, telling the audience that war is horrible and causes many casualties.

Language/ Diction
Metaphors
1. Bullets are flying

2. bird

1. Bullets do not fly. In the poem, the bullets are shooting at the plane in the sky. The bullets are described a flying, probably to show that the bullets are moving at rapid speed in the air, thus the author describes the bullets as flying.
2. The author describes the plane as a bird. He describes the plane as a bird to show how vulnerable the plane is from being shot by the “flying bullets” in the sky, he feels that the plane is not safe and secure, and thus uses a bird to represent a plane.

Hyperbole

1. The noise is tremendous, terror I can’t define

2. Those majestic mountains so steep, so high they kiss the skies

1. The writer describes his terror he felt can’t define, showing how horrible the situation was at that time. He exaggerates the situation to intensify the terrors of war. This allows the readers to feel the terrors of war.
2. Mountains cannot reach the sky no matter how high they are. The author describes the mountains in this way to describe the long distance they had to travel and the hardship they suffer. The writer also wants the readers to imagine the distance travelled by the soldiers and understand how the soldiers felt at that time when they were climbing the mountain.

Irony


1. Who know hell was so close to God
2. baptized by fire


1. Hell is supposely found below Earth while Heaven is above Earth. So hell cannot be so close to heaven. This is the irony. The writer phrases it this way to show that as they climb the mountain higher and higher, they felt that they were once step closer in going to hell.
2. Baptized means being immense in water. But the writer writes baptized by fire showing the irony as water puts out fire and instead of water, fire replaces water. The writer writes it in this manner to show that they were immersed in fire in the battlefield.

Personal Response

I am disturbed after reading this text. The poem describes the casualties in detail such as unloaded the dead and maimed right before our eyes, placing me out of my comfort zone. I realized that war is far worst than I imagined and the hardships and sufferings of the soldiers cannot be define. They withstand unimaginable torture everyday in their life, where they are worried that they might be killed or forced due to circumstances to kill someone. They feel that everyday is a living nightmare where they felt like they are in hell. War causes casualties and many people suffer from war.

Interpersonal

What is your view on prejudice?
Prejudice is found everywhere and has been in existence since the beginning of time. As long as there are people, there are prejudices. It is inevitable that prejudices exist in our daily life but we ourselves must be able to manage our own as well as society prejudices. It is neither right or wrong about having prejudices but we must constantly be aware of its existence.

Can you list some examples of prejudice?
There can be prejudices about race, religions, social economic background, physical appearance, gender.

What is your view on discrimination?
It is neither right or wrong about having discrimination but we must constantly be aware of its existence. If we were to adopt a positive attitude towards ‘perceived discrimination”, we will not be angry at all times. We must find the root cause and try to correct it through persuasion, education and even through legislation. We must try as much as possible to provide a level playing field for everyone. It may not be perfect but we must still have faith in it and persevere to achieve it.

Can you explain the different forms of discrimination?Examples of positive discrimination is when we encounter people who look down on our social economic background. If we were to acknowledge this action as a challenge for us to work harder than others, in this country we have the opportunity to excel and possibly reach the same level.
Examples of negative discrimination is when somebody exhibit discrimination towards a another person through words or actions. The recipient react through it using violent means to even out. This just reinforced the subject of negative discrimination.

What will you do if you come across discrimination?

I will try to stop the act within my means if not I will seek assistance of the police. I will not use violent means to resolve the discrimination as it is wrong and sending the wrong message across. Throughout history, too many lives have been lost because of acts of discrimination.

Naturalist

The mockingbird lives in Maycomb as it eats ants, beetles, grasshoppers, seeds and berries which can be found in Maycomb easily. As Maycomb has farms, the mockingbird likes to live there as it likes to eat the vegetables the farmers grow.
The mockingbird likes to live in open ground where it can hunt for food and roam about, it does not like to live in dense forests.
The climate in Maycomb is suitable for the mockingbird to live in.
The mockingbird lives in many countries as it does not need many conditions to survive. Maycomb has mockingbirds as it is a common bird which can breed in many countries.

As mockingbirds are especially fond of invasive multiflora rose thickets, I think that there are multiflora rose thickets in Maycomb. There are many small animals such as grasshopppers, beetles and ants in Maycomb as part of the diet of the mockingbird are grasshoppers, ants and beetles. There are also trees which produce berries as mockingbirds feed on berries.

Multiple Intelligence test

After completing the BGfL Multiple intelligence exercise, I am both satisfied by the result and have a better understanding of my own strengths and areas for improvements. It provide a summary of my different attributes in which I will work and seek guidance for my shortcomings. I will constantly take note and must not allow the result to determine who I am and will be in future. I agree to certain extent the results which reflect both my innate and externally acquired characters. The results allow me to further develop my interest in a particular area. I will work on my shortcomings and improve them.

Book Review " The Theif Lord"

Bo and Prosper are brothers running away from their rich aunt, Esther Hartlieb and their uncle. Their aunt and uncle wanted to adopt Bo after Bo and Prosper mother died. They did not want to adopt Prosper; they wanted to send Prosper to a boarding school. Prosper did not want to be separated with Bo and thus brought Bo to a station and together went to Venice. They imagined Venice to be a wonderful place as when they were young; their mother told them stories about Venice. Bo and Prosper met Hornet, a girl who brought them to her and her friend’s hideout. Hornet, Riccio and Mosca are children who lived together at a movie theatre. Scipio who calls himself the thief lord brings them blankets, pillows and almost everything they needed. He steals items and brings them back for them to sell. Bo and Prosper’s aunt and uncle went to Venice and hired a detective, Victor and asked him to find Bo and Prosper. Victor later met Prosper and followed him but he lost trace of Prosper after Prosper and Riccio took a boat. Prosper was given his first task to sell the items Scipio stolen to a man called Barbarossa who always take advantage of the children by buying their items at a low price and selling them at a price ten times the buying price. Prosper helped the children to get more money from Barbarossa by bargaining with him. After some time, Victor managed to find out almost everything he knew from Bo who told him everything including where they lived. Victor fell into a trap set up by the children and his wallet was stolen. He was accused of trying to kidnap a child and was brought to the police station. He was freed later. Victor found out where the children were staying, a movie theatre that was abandoned and was called Stella. Victor found out this information by going to the owner of the movie theatre’s house. Unfortunately for him, the son of the owner was one of the children who tricked him. He went to the theatre before Victor and told the children to escape. But they did not have time to escape and thus they set up a trap. Victor entered the theatre and saw Bo. He walked towards Bo and was captured by the other children who jumped onto him. With Prosper and Hornet holding one of his hands each and Mosca and Riccio grabbing on to one of his leg each. Scipio jumped onto him and the group tied Victor with a rope, stuffing a rag into his mouth. They placed him at the men’s toilet and locked him there with Mosca as the watcher. Prosper crept into the toilet and spoke to Victor. Victor told Prosper things he did not know like Scipio was actually a rich man’s son and all the stolen items were from his house. The next day, Mosca untied Victor and Victor helped him fix his radio. Prosper told his friends about the incident and went to Scipio’s house. Victor escaped when they went. Prosper found out the truth and went back to the theatre with his friends. They decided to bring forward their plan to steal a wing for someone and earn some money. Prosper however did not want to steal the wing and he woke up at night discovering that all his friends including Bo was gone , together with all the equipment. He rushed to the location and decided to help steal the wing as Bo would not leave. The children crept into the house without Scipio. They were caught by the owner called Ida and Scipio stole the wing and they met. The owner did not call the police and told the children a story about the wing. The owner agreed to give them the wing provided they allow her to follow the person who wanted to buy the wing. The children agreed and they ignored Scipio as they had found out his lie. They brought the wing and exchanged it with money. Ida followed the Conte, the person who had bought the wing but she went back after finding out that the person on the Conte’s boat had a gun and was firing at them. The children found out that the money given to them was fake. They also found out that Hornet and Bo were missing. Hornet was sent to a home and Bo was sent to live with his aunt. Ida and Victor rescued Hornet. Bo came back to them after a while but Prosper was already gone with Scipio to the island which had the merry-go-round that could make you younger or older. Conte let Scipio take a ride so that he can be older but Prosper did not want to become older. Barbarossa came to the island and took a ride on the merry-go-round and came down when he was very young. He was tricked and he broke the merry-go-round. The Conte being young already was very angry and wanted him to compensate, Barbarossa had no choice but to give the Conte all his money. Barbarossa did not want to sleep in the shop and Prosper allowed him to sleep in Ida’s house. Prosper found Bo and was elated. They followed Scipio’s plan and tricked Esther into coming to their house. Esther adopted young Barbarossa and went back to Esther’s house where he stole items from Esther and was sent to a boarding school where he made everyone call him the thief lord. Prosper, Bo and Hornet stayed with Esther, Mosca and Riccio went somewhere else and lived there while Scipio worked for Victor.