Why Do Soldiers Lose Innocence

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We Allow Them to Die, but not to Drink When young soldiers go to war, the things they witness causes them to lose their innocence and become dreadfully aware of the horrors of the world. They often depart to war with a sense of patriotism and love for their country, but when they come back, they may have severe PTSD and the innocence they may have once had, is gone. Some young soldiers are not appropriately educated about the realities of war, and when they learn what it is truly like it causes them to become extremely bitter about their situation.
In the film Band of Brothers there are several younger soldiers that we meet. They are often incredibly eager to be useful. They feel like they have a duty to their country to fight, but once …show more content…
They come to a farm where numerous American soldiers are dead. We distinguish some soldiers were shot, while others got tangled in trees and were strangled by the robes of their parachutes. The older soldiers in the group seem unfazed by this, they take the dead soldiers ammo and move on. But the younger soldiers are clearly shaken up and it shocks them to see dead comrades. With each encounter like this any innocence they may have once had gets taken away from them. Later in the episode, a younger soldier dies in a booby trap in the trenches. Our main character Lt. Winters remarks afterwards “He couldn’t even buy a beer”. In this case, alcohol is a symbol for maturity, and the inability for some of the soldiers to consume it shows how much of an age gap there is between some of the soldiers. This age gap is more than just …show more content…
During World War Two a majority of the soldiers joined as they felt it was their duty to serve their country, and some people today still join for that reason, but more young soldiers join because they feel they have nowhere left to go. Perhaps they did not do very well in school, or they simply do not know what other path to follow. The US army reported an average age of just under 21 in 2012. With 2.7 million people serving in the US military in 2012, many of those people would be under the age of 21. This is shocking given the drinking age in the US is 21. They allow their soldiers to die for them before they are legally allowed to drink alcohol. In the eyes of several, these people are still children, yet they are allowed to die (and kill) for a cause that does not affect most people’s daily lives in the US. In their eyes, when you turn 18 you are old enough to shoot a gun and kill someone, but not old enough to drink a beer. They recognize the innocence of young people in some ways, but in the ways that matter largely they turn a blind
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