Restrepo Blog Assignment

Pretwriting:
1. The scene in Restrepo when that guy gets shot helped me to make the scene where Brew gets killed, seeing the reaction of the soldiers when the man had been shot helped me visualize what it was like for the squad in Fallen Angels when their fellow squad member was killed.

2. The scene in Restrepo when all the soldiers are getting excited to go home made the scene in Fallen Angels when Peewee and Perry find out they are allowed to go home more real. Seeing the excitemnent of the soldiers packing up to go home made me imagine the kinds of emotions going through Peewee and Perry's minds when they said they could go home.

3. Seeing the first scene in Restrepo where Restrepo is talking about his excitement to go kill the Taliban kind of mirrored Peewee's excitement in the beginning of Fallen Angels to go kill the Vietcong, it made it seem like Peewee's feelings to go into war were more real and believable.

4. The scene in Restrepo when the old man runs away from the soldiers when he see's them kind of compares to the scene when the kid blows up and kills a soldier. It compares to this scene because it shows that ordinary people can be or be associated with the enemy. It made it seem like the lady sacrificing her babies seemed more real.

5. In Restrepo, when the squad takes a lot of effort to kill one Taliban shooting at them from the woods, it made it seem more real that in Fallen Angels, they make a lot of effort to kill just one Cong. It made it seem more realistic that during the war, you spend a lot of energy just to kill one enemy.

6. During Restrepo, seeing the Americans set up an outpost near a town where there were civilians made it seem more logical to me that in Fallen Angels, the squad's outpost was kind of close to a town in Vietnam. It made it seem like more of a logical plan.

7. During the film Restrepo, watching the squad getting ambushed helped me to visualize the squad in Fallen Angels getting ambushed by the Vietnam. It was easier to visualize Perry on the hill getting shot at by the Vietnamese.

8. In the first action scene of Restrepo, when the hummer the camera man is hit by a mine. This helps me relate to the scene in Fallen Angels when Jenkins steps on a land mine and blows up. By watching the film it was easier to visualize the blast and explosion that killed the new recruit.

9. In Restrepo, when that guy is killed in the field, they put a tarp over him and leave him there. This helped me visualize when the squad burned the dead bodies and left them there. It makes me feel sad for the dead people, that instead of getting a proper burial, they are just left there to rot and decompose.

10. In Restrepo, Kearney talked about being able to call his family almost every night or before they went on patrol or into a battle. This connected to the letters that Perry and Peewee received from people back in "The World" it made it more real seeing how excited the soldiers were to get letters.

Writing:
From watching Restrepo and reading Fallen Angels in class, i learned a lot about the emotions that soldiers felt while heading to the country they're stationed in, while they're there, and when they are coming home. From watching Restrepo, i connected Dom Restrepo's primary emotions to the war during the opening of the movie with Peewee, while he was on the plane to Vietnam. Both of them were pumped up, ready to kill the enemy. Restrepo even compared himself to a tiger if i remember correctly. Secondly, I made a comparison to the attitudes of the soldiers in the Middle East toward eachother to the attitudes of Perry and Peewee towards one another. From watching the interviews with the soldiers discussing the loss of a soldier, they all seemed to feel like losing a man was "one of the worst feelings ever," which to me really said that they were really close and kind of felt like a brotherly love with each other, which to me connected with the scene in Fallen Angels when Peewee and Richie are sitting in the the spider hole and Perry says that he wants to feel Peewee's touch, to know he was there. Its things like these that really was surprised about and learned about the feelings that grow between squad members while they're fighting in the war. Lastly, I also learned about the feelings that emerge from a soldier when he hears word that he is being sent home. Reading the book, I wasn't exactly able to picture the emotions that Perry and Peewee were feeling, because i couldn't hear their tone of voice and see their actual reactions. Seeing Restrepo, i was better able to understand the feelings and emotions of excitement and joy that the soldiers felt when they were on their way home to their families. Overall, watching and reading these fantastic pieces really helped me learn about the feelings and emotions of a soldier in war.