Thursday, October 17, 2013

In The Field


Caroline Orr

In The Field

            Nothing throughout this entire book reminds me more of my experience of being a “Marina” at Camp Longhorn than this chapter. At Camp Longhorn, the age group of boys and girls going into the ninth grade participate in this program.  The Marine/Marina program is based off of the military. The founder of Camp Longhorn, Tex Robertson, a war veteran himself, started the program back in the 1940’s to teach older campers about respect and the rules of military and the feeling of being in a war. As crazy as it sounds, those three weeks of summer camp were some of the most challenging days of my life. When I look back on all my years at Camp Longhorn, I remember my Marina year as by far my best and most rewarding because of the lessons I learned and all that I had achieved.
            On a random morning within the first week of camp, before wakeup, the Marina officers bombard the marina cabins, (which float on the water) while screaming at the marinas and throwing them into the lake. Once in the water, the marinas have to swim to a far away ladder, get out and then sprint to the field where there are more officers waiting and pegging the Marinas with ice. Once all the Marinas have all arrived at the field and the officers have forced the marinas into perfectly straight and ordered lines, the officers go over ground rules and teach the marinas the salutes for each officer. Each year, the Marinas forced to wear certain outfits and hairstyles to ensure that they look as unattractive as possible at all times of the day through out the entire term, as they sing songs (for the rest of the camps entertainment), do team building activities, and help serve the rest of camp.
            Going to summer camp in the blazing hot mid-July heat for three weeks without air-conditioning and electronics, is not exactly the same thing as being drafted into the cold Vietnam War. However, these two situations both share the common factor of being sent away for a period of time to an unfamiliar place, with unfamiliar people that become your family within 48 hours. In addition to this minor similarity, my experiences as a Marina resembled some of moments in this chapter. For instance, through out the term we would constantly make jokes about anything and everything, from how we looked like aliens with our two rats nest pigtails on the side of our face, to the ridiculous skits we acted out, in order to make light of the situation. Azar does this too when he says “like those old cowboy movies. One more redskin bites the dirt, (158)”. In this moment, Azar is making an insensitive joke about Kiowa’s death in order to make light of the misery in the situation.
Another similarity between my camp experience and what the soldiers are going through in this chapter is extreme exhaustion. During my Marina year, we had nighttime raids that kept us up late into the night. On top of that, we were forced to sprint everywhere around camp. Just as the soldiers in the chapter “had not sleep during the night, not even for a few moments (158)”, we were sleep deprived. Lastly, and most importantly, one of the most anticipated Marine/Marina traditions is the Marine/Marina mud.  I could directly relate to the feeling the soldiers had while they were digging through the mucky mud in search of Kiowa’s body when we had to preform skits in a pit of deep stinky thick mud for the entire camp. However, instead of rain we had officers spraying us with water hoses that caused mud to fly through the air making it almost impossible for us to open our eyes.
            In life, there are some experiences that seem unbearable at the time, like war, but when you reflect on them, you realize they have changed you forever. For me, Marina year at camp was one of those experiences.



14 comments:

  1. Great job caroline! You did a awesome job comparing your camp to the book. It seems like your camp year was based off of military things that O'brien went through. I bet you can really relate to how Norman Bowker felt after being in that mud pit!

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  2. This is actually one of my favorite blog posts. You did a fantastic job. I could relate since I go to Camp Longhorn as well. The connection was amazing.

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  3. It's really interesting that you were able to compare this story to something you experienced in your own life. For most of us, we cannot relate to anything that occurs in this book, but your analysis and comparison was really interesting and very well done. Great job!

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  4. Awesome comparison! I really liked how you related it to something in your own life! Good job relating to the soldiers' experiences with your mud pit. Great post!

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  5. Great job relating the story to your personal life! I always make connections to my life when I read. Thats why I think reading is so fun!!! Excellent post!

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  6. I found your blog post very relatable since I also go to Camp Longhorn, and I know that the marina program wasn't exactly the easiest thing to go through. You also did a really great job at giving further details on how your personal experience relates to the story, like the nighttime raids and the marine mud tradition. Great job!

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  7. Nice job, Caroline! You painted a vivid picture of what life at your camp was like during the marine/marina year, and you did a good job connecting your experience to life in the military. Also, the picture of the mud pit you provided makes me think of the field where Kiowa died. While the experiences of soldiers during the Vietnam war were obviously a bit more life-threatening and spartan than summer camp, you nonetheless did a great job of describing the rigorous military style weeks you endured.

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  8. I think it was great you connected a personal experience to a sevirtitude in military. It is very similar that you can relate your experience in the mud pit to the shit-field. I think you could have focused more on the similarities on that point rather than going into a whole overview of your camp, but overall, great job!

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  9. Good job, Caroline! I loved how you connected something that happened in your own life to something that seems as far away and distant as the Vietnam War. I loved the details you provided about your life at camp, as they were extremely vivid.

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  10. Your experience at Camp Marina seems so cool! I like how you connected it to this chapter, your comparisons and analysis were very nice. I like how you put great detail into telling one morning at your camp. It makes me want to learn more about it! great job!

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  11. Great blog post! I found that it was really awesome how you connected your personal experience to the experience of the characters in the chapter. All of the details you included in the post allowed me to visualize how your experience was at camp. This made it much easier to visualize what the characters in the book went through and how they must of felt.

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  12. Great blog post! I found that it was really awesome how you connected your personal experience to the experience of the characters in the chapter. All of the details you included in the post allowed me to visualize how your experience was at camp. This made it much easier to visualize what the characters in the book went through and how they must of felt.

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  13. This was a great comparison! It was even more interesting that you compared the story to your own life. I think that made the story more understandable and relatable. Great job Caroline!

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  14. Great job, Caroline! Even though the situations are totally different you were able to connect with the soldiers. The details you used helped paint a picture in my head, and I also really like the embedded quotes. I think they made your points stronger. Good job!

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