Theater of War Summary and Analysis

"Peculiar to military language is the use of terms with significant unintended meanings which to the outsider may easily seem ironic. Mess is an example; so is fatigue. The conscript ordered to Fall out! at the end of a thirty-mile training march will find it hard to avoid an ironic response. . . The most obvious reason why 'theater' and modern war seem so compatible is that modern wars are fought by conscripted armies, whose members know they are only temporarily playing their ill-learned parts" (Chap. 6, p. 191).

Some writers associate the military with theater. The men are wearing uniforms and have character parts, like private, sergeant, etc. Before a battle, they calmly discuss the plans and tactics. If there was a siren, the speaker would pause for a fraction of a second, then finish his sentence before they would...