Home Learning

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.