War Opinion Letter | Teen Ink

War Opinion Letter

April 18, 2011
By PaRaNoRmAl627 GOLD, Mountainside, New Jersey
PaRaNoRmAl627 GOLD, Mountainside, New Jersey
15 articles 0 photos 296 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Do what you want. If it's something you'll regret in the morning, sleep late."


My Dearest Darling Evelyn,

I love you so much. More than you can ever even begin to fathom. The day we said our vows was the happiest day of my life. Second only to the day your letter came telling me about the birth of our beautiful daughter Isabella. Seven pounds, eight ounces. I remember. Aren’t you proud of me for remembering? Please be proud, darling. No one is proud of me here. No one is proud of anyone fighting this pointless, pointless war.

Today I saw my first death. It was Adam. Yes, Adam from down the street. Adam from church. Amelia’s husband, Adam. He’s gone, Evelyn. He’s never coming back. God, he was so full of confidence. He thought he was going to be the last one standing. We all believed him too. Why wouldn’t we? He was always so strong. Even on the worst of days, he could find a reason to smile. I’m gonna miss him so much. How will the rest of the platoon get by without him? Why should I even bother going on, Evelyn? If Adam couldn’t make it through this war, none of us will. It’s over for me, baby. I’d rather die on my own terms than be brutally murdered by an enemy who doesn’t even understand why we’re here.

You see sweetheart, they told us at home that if we went into this war, we would come out heroes. They didn’t tell us that we would watch our friends and neighbors be blown to bits by hateful, wicked weapons of unimaginable force. They didn’t tell us that we wouldn’t be able to go home for our mothers’ funerals. No one said that we would be killing innocent people just because they lived in the same barely-habitable village as someone who might be Vietcong. No one told me that mothers would hand me their children strapped with bombs. Think about the look on a child’s face in that instant before the bomb goes off. Think of the desperation of the civilians. It makes me sick to my stomach. I can’t do it anymore, Evelyn. I’m not fighting for America anymore. I’m fighting for my sanity. Darling I haven’t slept in weeks and weeks. The dreams I have aren’t nightmares. They’re night terrors. I wake up screaming, sometimes sobbing, drenched in sweat that I can’t wash away because there’s no lake to bathe in nearby. All of my terrors are soaked in my skin. Even if I could wash them off, where would they go?

And after all that, no one is proud of us. I got a letter from a friend who went on R&R for a few days. He said he got spit on at the airport. Someone threw food at him and yelled obscenities at him. What kind of country do we live in? What kind of world is this, honey? I’ve killed people. There are people who have died; there are families who are in mourning because of a gun that I fired. I went through that mental torture for my ignorant, selfish country. I hope they’re happy. This is the end for me. Tell Isabella that I love her, and I wish I could’ve gotten to meet her. Don’t tell her about the horrors of war. Don’t let her ever find out. Protect my little princess no matter what.

Most importantly, Evelyn, please don’t ever doubt that you are and always were the love of my life. I don’t want to put you through the mental anguish that I’ve gone through when I get home. There’s a condition called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that would keep me from living a normal life after I got home. You have a brand new baby to take care of. You can’t be responsible for me too. I’ll be there looking down on you every single night. I’ll keep you and Bella out of harm’s way. But by the time you get this letter, it’ll be too late. The gun that my dad gave me on our first hunting trip is sitting right on my left. Remember? I had you send it to me because the ones that they gave us were so unreliable. America is also unreliable. But my dad’s gun was always there when I needed it. I love you darling, and I hope you and Isabella live a very happy and fulfilling life. I can’t wait to watch it from heaven.
All my love,
Michael


The author's comments:
This was a piece for English. The assignment was to convey our opinions about war through a form of creative writing. I chose to write a letter from the point of view of a soldier in the Vietnam War.

Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 175 comments.


on Aug. 13 2022 at 9:37 pm
13bookworm4596 SILVER, Mantua, Ohio
7 articles 7 photos 33 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Stay gold, Ponyboy." -Johnny Cade (S.E. Hinton)
"One moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory." - Louis Zamperini

You conveyed the emotions really well!

on Jan. 14 2019 at 2:16 am
JAGO0578 SILVER, Tirana, Other
5 articles 0 photos 7 comments
I'm not sure this is historically accurate on multiple points. 1. Having a family member that fought in this war, and others, I know that a soldier would never talk about his country that way, my Grandfather described the war as doing what had to be done to survive, they didn't question why they were there. 2. The U.S army did not go into villages and slaughter innocent persons, it was usually the Vietcong who went into villages and if the head of the village refused to help them they committed atrocities in the village 3. I'm fairly certain there were no child suicide bombers but I could be wrong cause the Vietcong were sick.
Other than that it was good, I liked the writing style.

yaboibrev said...
on Aug. 27 2018 at 12:18 pm
yaboibrev, Akron, Ohio
0 articles 0 photos 3 comments
it was a good story...but I aint read it

on Sep. 8 2013 at 3:23 pm
StarSophia GOLD, Wauwatosa, WI, Wisconsin
18 articles 0 photos 22 comments

Favorite Quote:
“But it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it'll shine the clearer." ~ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

"For I know the plans I have for you...plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~ Jeremiah 29:11

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” ~ Corrie Ten Boom

Wow, this was absolutely incredible; I couldn't stop reading it until the end.  It was so completely honest and heartwrenching and sounded just like this type of letter would in real life.  Keep up the amazing work!

on Jul. 24 2012 at 8:34 pm
FlameSeeker373 SILVER, Richmond, Texas
6 articles 3 photos 18 comments

Favorite Quote:
"...Magic is just science that we don't understand yet..."


















Arthur C. Clark

That was soooo sad. I really liked it though. Great way of describing your feelings through a letter. I have never read something like it!

on Jul. 24 2012 at 6:12 pm
PaRaNoRmAl627 GOLD, Mountainside, New Jersey
15 articles 0 photos 296 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Do what you want. If it's something you'll regret in the morning, sleep late."

i hope they would approve too! :) thanks for reading and thank them for keeping america safe :) <3

on Jul. 24 2012 at 1:17 pm
KatelynnGilbert0 BRONZE, Palm Desert, California
3 articles 0 photos 58 comments

Favorite Quote:
"The only thing holding you back is yourself."

As the daughter and granddaughter of soldiers, this piece speaks to me. A great job, keep up the good work.

on Apr. 17 2012 at 4:51 pm
PaRaNoRmAl627 GOLD, Mountainside, New Jersey
15 articles 0 photos 296 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Do what you want. If it's something you'll regret in the morning, sleep late."

thanks for reading!!

aem312 BRONZE said...
on Feb. 25 2012 at 9:07 pm
aem312 BRONZE, Richmond, Massachusetts
4 articles 0 photos 43 comments
The emotion behind this is easy to feel. Great job writing it! 

on Feb. 11 2012 at 9:02 am
PaRaNoRmAl627 GOLD, Mountainside, New Jersey
15 articles 0 photos 296 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Do what you want. If it's something you'll regret in the morning, sleep late."

yess! so glad i did that well lol youre the first one to mention it :) thanks so much for readingg!

on Feb. 10 2012 at 7:17 pm
SpringRayyn PLATINUM, Lakeville, Minnesota
34 articles 2 photos 658 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Don't punish yourself," she heard her say again, but there would be punishment and pain, and there would be happiness too. That was writing."
--Markus Zusak, "The Book Thief"

Oh wow. You almost got me crying, really. The diction you use to convey the emotions of the soldier is just amazing. It's also informative, but in a way that it seems like just a normal thing someone would really write. This is just so amazing.

on Feb. 9 2012 at 10:25 am
PaRaNoRmAl627 GOLD, Mountainside, New Jersey
15 articles 0 photos 296 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Do what you want. If it's something you'll regret in the morning, sleep late."

hah thank you so much :) i really appreciate itt!

on Feb. 8 2012 at 10:06 pm
projectwarbird SILVER, Cordova, Tennessee
5 articles 0 photos 30 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Aristophanes once wrote, roughly translated; 'Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and drunkenness sobered, but STUPID lasts forever.'" ~William Hundert

(And when I said 'the way the character wrote it' that by extension means you. Just thought I'd clear that up.)

on Feb. 8 2012 at 10:04 pm
projectwarbird SILVER, Cordova, Tennessee
5 articles 0 photos 30 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Aristophanes once wrote, roughly translated; 'Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and drunkenness sobered, but STUPID lasts forever.'" ~William Hundert

Wow...this is...incredible. The way the character wrote it is superb, his desperation, his anguish, his pain, they all bleed through the text. Truly incredible.

on Jan. 18 2012 at 8:30 pm
PaRaNoRmAl627 GOLD, Mountainside, New Jersey
15 articles 0 photos 296 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Do what you want. If it's something you'll regret in the morning, sleep late."

thank youu! i worked so hard on this lol im so glad you liked it :)

on Jan. 18 2012 at 6:05 pm
Kvothe28 SILVER, Temecula, California
5 articles 0 photos 78 comments

Favorite Quote:
Excuse me while I prepare my impromptu remarks. -Winston Churchill

Tell it like it is, not how it was. -Jonathan

Break it down like a fine English double-gun. -R. Bitoni

This was gut-wrenching. The letter was perfectly written, I could defenietely feel a resignation in the background. Also, from a historical lense its details were very realistic.

on Jan. 17 2012 at 10:37 am
PaRaNoRmAl627 GOLD, Mountainside, New Jersey
15 articles 0 photos 296 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Do what you want. If it's something you'll regret in the morning, sleep late."

Thank you so much! Glad you agree and I'm happy I was able to spark some emotion :) That's probably my main goal when I'm writing. I love being able to make people empathize with my characters :)

LaceeJade GOLD said...
on Jan. 17 2012 at 1:09 am
LaceeJade GOLD, Bucyrus, Ohio
17 articles 4 photos 136 comments

Favorite Quote:
♥ I've made mistakes in my life. i've let people take advantage of me, and i accepted way less than i deserve. But, i've learned from my bad choices, and even though there are some things i can never get back and people who will never be sorry. i'll know better next time and i wont settle for anything less than i deserve. ♥

Wow, this is really moving. I absolutly love it. I share the same veiws and opinions. Great writing!

on Jan. 13 2012 at 4:45 pm
PaRaNoRmAl627 GOLD, Mountainside, New Jersey
15 articles 0 photos 296 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Do what you want. If it's something you'll regret in the morning, sleep late."

thanks so much :)

Mizzou2013 said...
on Jan. 13 2012 at 10:26 am
Mizzou2013, Oregon, Missouri
0 articles 0 photos 2 comments
Great writing, descritions of war are hard to put into wors but not here....