Turner's unapologetic acceptance of the Iraq war's misery stands out to me. A line in "2000 lbs" comes to mind, "trying to comfort the living in their grief, to console those who cannot accept such random pain..." as if the soldiers themselves CAN accept such pain as normal. The title "Dreams from the Malaria Pills" makes me laugh a little. I had to take some serious anti-disease pills when I went to Africa, and those things do give you weird dreams. I can only imagine how much worse it must be to have medicine influencing your nightmares while in a combat zone. I can easily see how soldiers and vets are drawn to Here, Bullet. Brian offers a rare poetic voice of one who has experienced the worst of the war in Iraq. He can create art that soldiers can appreciate and relate to personally with each other, like a musician playing the blues for those fallen on hard times.
I would argue that Vietnam and Iraq wars were more similar than they were different. The booby traps set by the Viet Cong were much like the moderns IED's laid by terrorists. During both wars, America fought against an enemy not easily distinguishable from the civilian population. The biggest difference is the terrain: thick jungle in Vietnam, urban centers in Iraq. Both are extremely treacherous situations in which enemy attack can come from any number of directions at once. Snipers in the trees are now snipers atop buildings. Instead of underground tunnels, the enemy now hides in buildings. The enemy in both wars hid among the civilian population.
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