VETERANS' VOYAGES
Gathering First-Hand Reports of a Soldier's Experience Far From Home

Grades:  6-8, 9-12

Subjects:  Global History, Language Arts, Social Studies

Related New York Times Article
"The Screaming Eagles Fly to the Gulf, By JIM DWYER", March 5, 2003

Overview of Lesson Plan:: In this lesson, students will conduct background research into the experience of war from a soldier's perspective in preparation for interviewing veterans.

SUGGESTED TIME ALLOWANCE:   1 hour

OBJECTIVES:
Students will:

1. Reflect in writing to a poem about one soldier's experience during war.
2. Learn about the military buildup for a possible invasion of Iraq from a soldier's point of view by reading and discussing the article "The Screaming Eagles Fly to the Gulf."
3. In groups, conduct background research about a recent war, then brainstorm and discuss questions to ask a soldier about his experience.
4. Interview a veteran soldier, then write a tribute (article, story, or poem) that captures the soldier's experience of leaving home to travel abroad for military service.

RESOURCES / MATERIALS:

• student journals
• pens/pencils
• paper
• classroom blackboard
• copies of the poem, "Vigil" by Guisseppi Ungaretti from "Italian War Poetry" (http://www.worldwar1.com/sfip1.htm)
• copies of the New York Times article, "The Screaming Eagles Fly to the Gulf" (one per student)

ACTIVITIES / PROCEDURES:

1. WARM-UP/DO-NOW: Pass out copies of the poem "Vigil" by Guisseppi Ungaretti (http://www.worldwar1.com/sfip1.htm):
   A whole nightlong
   crouched close
   to one of our men
   butchered
   with his clenched
   mouth
   grinning at the full moon
   with the congestion
   of his hands
   thrust right
   into my silence
   I've written
   letters filled with love
   
   I have never been
   so
   coupled to life
   Ask students respond in writing to the following prompt (written on the board prior to class): "What can you tell about the soldier in this poem? Where is he and what is he doing? Who is the soldier next to him, and how do you imagine 'the congestion of his hands' would look? What letters do you think he's written, and to whom, do you imagine? Why does this soldier say he has 'never been so coupled to life' as he is here, next to a dead soldier?" After a few minutes, allow students to share their responses. You may wish to explain to students that this poem was written by an Italian who served as an infantryman on the Isonzo front (the Isonzo river runs through present-day Slovenia) in 1915 during World War I. It is one example of a soldier's perspective of serving in a war far from home, a theme that will be explored throughout today's lesson.
2. As a class, read and discuss the article "The Screaming Eagles Fly to the Gulf," focusing on the following questions:
   1. Where are the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division traveling from? Where are they going?
   2. How many soldiers are there in this Army division?
   3. What gear do the soldiers have to carry with them? What other equipment will follow them to their destination?
   4. How much money is a soldier going to a war zone paid, according to the article?
   5. How is a planeload of soldiers and gear identified during transport?
   6. What does the chaplain Maj. Len Kirchner mean when he says, "I don't do spur-of-the-moment jobs"?
   7. What is an "involuntary extension"?
   8. How many airplanes will it take to transport the 101st Airborne Division to their destination?
   9. Why did many of the soldiers in Chalk 19 have to hold their gear on their lap during the flight?
   10. Why did the cabin crew instruct the soldiers to pull down their window shades during landing?
   11. Where was Chalk 19 initially stationed in Kuwait?
   12. What are conditions at this camp, according to the article?
3. Begin by asking students to suggest the names of wars that have been fought by soldiers from their country in the last 70 years, and record the list of possibilities on the board. Divide the students up into small groups, assigning each group a different war from this list. Using all available resources, each group should spend 10 to 15 minutes researching and recording answers to the following questions (written on the board or copied in a handout for easier student access):
   • When was this war fought?
   • What countries were involved in this war?
   • What was the main conflict?
   • How far did a soldier from your country have to travel to the front lines?
   • Was there a draft in your country to enlist soldiers during this war? If not, how were soldiers recruited at this time?
   • What was the average age of soldiers fighting in this war? How old would those soldiers be today?
   Next, ask each group to brainstorm a list of questions they would ask a veteran of this war living today. The purpose of these questions is to get the soldier to tell what it was like to leave home for the first time and travel abroad to war. In addition to learning about the places the soldier would have traveled, what are some of the "interior landscapes" - the thoughts, feelings, pleasures, and hardships, -- a soldier might have experienced? Each student should make a list of these questions to use for the homework assignment.
4. WRAP-UP/HOMEWORK: Each student will interview a veteran soldier. If possible, students should try to interview a veteran of the war he or she studied in class. However, students may interview anyone who served overseas in the military, during the time or war or not. After interviewing their subjects, each student should write a tribute to this soldier's story of what is was like to leave home and fulfill their military service. Encourage students to examine the day-to-day experiences of life as a soldier, and to uncover the "interior landscapes" as well as the foreign lands, through which the soldier traveled.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

• How have women participated in wars in the past? Why might their experience of a war in Iraq be different?
• If you were leaving with the 101st Airborne Division, what are some things you would want to do before leaving? Why would these be important?
• How many U.S. soldiers are involved in the military buildup for war in Iraq?
• In addition to moving troops and equipment to the border of Iraq, what preparations are required for this buildup?

EVALUATION / ASSESSMENT:
Students will be evaluated based on initial journal writing, thoughtful participation in class discussions, accurate research and completion of a list of interview questions, and thorough completion of an interview with a veteran soldier.

VOCABULARY:
silhouettes, murky, buildup, commissary, accommodating, compensation, exempt, sequestered, deployments, cohorts, inoculations, disenfranchised, astounded, resent, interjected, menace

EXTENSION ACTIVITIES:

1. Read an oral history of a soldier's experience of war. Examples include Wallace Terry's "Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans" (Ballantine Books) and Studs Terkel's "The Good War: An Oral History of World War II" (W.W. Norton & Co.). How does an oral history differ from other historical accounts? Cast the story of your interview subject as an oral history.
2. Plot the travels of the veteran you interviewed on a world map. What air bases did this soldier travel to in his or her journey abroad? [You may want to research existing U.S. Air Force Bases, Army Air Fields, Naval and Coast Guard Air Stations at Globemaster( http://www.globemaster.de/baselinks.html)].
3. Read an account of a woman serving in battle. Examples include Clara Barton's "The Women Who Went to the Field" ( http://www.nps.gov/clba/chron3/fieldpoem.htm), "War Torn: Stories of War from the Women Reporters Who Covered Vietnam" (Random House), and Ellen Emerson White's "The Road Home" (Scholastic Paperbacks). Write a review, describing how women's experiences have differed from men's in past wars and why they might have been different.
4. Organize a morale-building effort in your school for the troops going to Iraq. Examples might include a video, a banner, or a letter to enlisted soldiers. Contact a local military recruiting office, a Congressperson, or a newspaper for ideas and assistance sending your project to the troops.
5. Research veteran groups committed to anti-war activism, such as "Veterans for Peace" and "Veterans Against the Iraq War (VAIW)." What reasons do these former soldiers have for speaking out against war, and by what means do they share their message? Write an informational article (with an interview of a member similar to the one you did in class, if possible) to submit to your school or local paper.

INTERDISCIPLINARY CONNECTIONS:
Economics- How much money is spent each year world wide on the military? Which countries spend the most? Create a pie chart showing the relative proportions of military spending for countries around the world.

Fine Arts- Depict a scene described by your interview subject in a visual medium of your choosing. How could this work represent the full experience, including the thoughts and feelings of your subject?

Health- Research the long-term health effects of war. From what syndromes do some Gulf War veterans suffer? What are the long-term health effects of toxins such as depleted uranium, Agent Orange, and mustard gas suffered by veterans of the Gulf War, Vietnam War, and World War I, respectively? Choose a topic and write a fact sheet describing how these effects can be accurately diagnosed.

Copyright 2003
The New York Times Company