War Stories Provides Insight Into Battlefield Life

By Hannah Fierle
Miami University journalism student

"We don’t know it yet," Iraq War veteran Matt Young tells an audience of Miami University students and faculty, "but years later, we won’t be able to sleep at night." Young, a former Marine, spent three tours in Iraq. He was at Miami recently, reading from his upcoming memoir, "Eat the Apple."

Young's personal account of how his military service changed him set the tone for War Stories. Hosted by the Miami University Humanities Center, the program featured literature and writing about war. Along with Young, it showcased New Yorker journalist George Packer. Packer spent time reporting in Iraq and is the author of several works, including "The Assassin’s Gate: America in Iraq."

“For me, this melding of minds perfectly represents the importance of meaningful conversation and intellectual enlightenment,” Assistant Director of the Humanities Center Sarah Siff says.

A Haunting Memoir

Young, a Miami alum, began the program reading from his memoir. His first reading was structured to mirror the children’s adventure novel series, Choose Your Own Adventure, describing a young man’s decision to join the Marine Corps.

The readings from Young’s memoir were filled with his anger at a deadbeat father, struggles with perceptions of masculinity, and sleepless nights spent trying to convince himself that war was the right thing.

In the last section of his memoir taking place after he'd returned home, Young juxtaposed his comfortable suburban life with his traumatic memories of life in combat.

Young’s reading provided an introduction to the literary genre of war, as well as a firsthand account from a soldier to contrast Packer's journalistic point of view.

Packer Draws on Personal Experiences

Packer's discussion of his reporting on war was guided by questions from Miami journalism professor and historian Jim Tobin.

After introducing Packer and his long list of journalistic and literary accomplishments, Tobin began the program by asking for Packer’s impressions of Young’s opening readings.

“There is sort of a pattern you find recurring in these works, it may be universal,” Packer says. “The solider is left with a feeling of alienation, which is particularly disturbing because many Americans don’t understand the impact of service.”

Packer described his experience in Iraq in 2003 as beginning with many illusions. He also described a sense of privilege he felt in acknowledging the fact that he was able to leave whenever he wanted, unlike the soldiers stationed in Iraq.

"Sometimes I’d be talking to one of the soldiers and he’d mention his favorite pizza or his degree in history," Packer says. "It reminded me that they came from my same self-serving society, but they’d given up that personal freedom and privacy."

Space For Dialogue

After Tobin concluded the program by reading an excerpt from Packer’s "Assassin’s Gate," the audience was encouraged to ask questions.

While Packer discussed his experiences from more than a decade ago, Pepper Stetler, a professor of art history at Miami, found herself thinking of the current political state.

"I think Packer provided a thoughtful analysis of the current chaos of our government," Stetler says. "The discussion afterward was tense, but I think it reflected how frustrated people are on both sides of the debate. Faculty, students, and community members all want a solution to this mess."

Other audience members were struck by the importance of recognizing great writing across genres.

"Packer and Young were both fantastic," says creative writing graduate student Chris Murphy. "There was a lot of fine writing today that allowed for such such powerful dialogue, although in very different formats."

If you're interested in reading some of that writing, you can visit the New Yorker's website to read Packer's work.

Photo: Studio in Williams Hall set for Packer's arrival. -- Photo by Hannah Fierle