Brian Turner and Hugh Martin use very similar methods of
describing modern warfare in their poems. Turner uses a very blunt approach to
describing different situations he encountered. For example, he describes
escaped zoo animals attacking people and horses in a direct and vividly
descriptive manner. Turner examines the enemy and the conflicts they face. He
talks about the high money rewards they receive for killing and attacking
Americans.
Hugh Martin is a master of suspense. He accomplishes this by
telling two stories simultaneously throughout the same poem. Right when a
crucial moment is occurring in one story, he switches back to the other. Like Turner, Martin is also able to show the
enemy through his lenses. This allows the reader to feel the emotions of a
soldier in combat.
Modern warfare contains a lot of the same conflicts seen in
the Vietnam War. In both, soldiers are fearful of the unknown because they do
not know where the enemy threat will come from. In both wars, American soldiers
were fighting rebel civilians, as opposed to a uniformed army. This anonymity
of the enemy is what causes soldiers to have to take extreme precautions at all
times. The biggest difference between fighting in Vietnam and fighting in the
Middle East now is probably the technology differences. Rather than worrying
about booby traps in the jungle, soldiers must now be fearful of IEDs in the desert
and cities.
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