American Warrior byGary O'neal

In the book "The American Warrior," by Gary O'Neil the protagonist Gary describes a tale of when he was on the battlefield.  He tells of a time when he was held captive and beaten daily.  And he had a major decision to be made, give up highly classified government information that would leave America vulnerable or give up his family...his wife...and his kids and as any truly dedicated soldier would have done, he chose not to leak the information.   So far throughout this gory tale I can really see how war destroys not only people and their homes but the minds of the people that give their lives to protect America people.

The first thing that came across my mind was how war makes people do things they would most likely never image in they would do.  When the author said "War does things to man that causes them to do things they never thought they would" was a perfect example of what occurred in Gary's life.  This was shown when Gary came to the decision that he would choose his job over his family.  Remarks such as war causes man to do things they never thought they would do are usually made about addicts who are victims of some type of substance.  What many people don't understand is that war is a drug and unit we can find ways to help our troops like the protagonist Gary scarred troops will continue to  make these unfortunate mistakes.

The second thing that has occurred in Gary's unfortunate adventure is consistent nightmares that he says, "I wake up screaming, I hear my children for me to help my ind as a father tells me I must help my children but it is abruptly taken over by my extensive raining.  What I was told to do was to leak no information and to let nothing get in the way of the classified information and my mission.

After I read this, I came to the conclusion that war has gotten Gary very confused and he does not know how to listen to his conscience and what it tells him.  He simply follows orders that others have given to him basically causing him not to be the leader in his life any longer.  This war far has destroyed Gary due to his extensive military training he no longer knows the difference between the battlefield and real life this has overall destroyed Gary as a person not only as the person he was before but as a civil human being.

In the end Gary is yet another victim of war and its drug-like effects.  this is also an example for America that was doesn't stop when you leave the battlefield.  It follows and haunts you till you reach your grave leaving a shell of the former American that was strong enough to give their lives to America.