Soldiers as Complete People

Stanton portrays the soldiers not just as warriors but as complete people. He includes information about why they went into the armed forces. Also discussed is the soldiers’ relationships with their wives and children. The author additionally details in some cases the soldiers’ reasons for wanting to go into battle. Given all of these aspects of each soldier’s life the reader realizes they are not just warriors but also husbands, fathers, sons, and friends.

The soldiers’ relationships with their families are one of the main relationships on which Stanton focuses to prove these men are complete men. He tells of one man who is surprised when he learns he will be a father again during a 10-minute phone call from the American’s safe base K2. Stanton includes the story of one soldier who had actually filed his retirement papers because he wanted to...