APO 96225

Larry Rottmann's poem APO 96225 explains today's society and our view of war. In today's world, no one wants to think of the horrors going on in foreign countries. No one wants to think of the terrors that occur due to our own soldiers actions either. The government paints a pretty picture over every action that goes on in war. This poem reminded me of the events in the Vietnam War. No one in the United States really had a clue what was going on over there. The government informed the US that the soldiers duties were justified; however, Americans came to find out later that US soldiers were killing innocent civilians and some were treating them in complete inhumane ways. As I read the poem, I seemed to compare the boy writing to his mother to one of these soldiers. The son kept telling his mother about just the weather and anout the rain. When his mother insisted that he tell her more details, he said, "Today I killed a man. Yesterday, I helped drop napalm on women and children," (Rottmann, 846). The mother wouldn't even write back to him. The news was completely depressing, and she didn't want to hear it. The parents of the son did not want to hear the horrors, just as the US didn't want to hear of their soldiers demeaning work in Vietnam.