The true cost of war- not the glamor at the grave or in the movies or parades. Watching someone die next to you, a stranger or friend, ripped apart or mutilated. Watching as shock takes over from blood loss, the stare you wont see other than someone in the moment of a brutal death a life taken. That is war. The soul afterwards trying to survive a different life in civilized society. ~LArry
Dublin Core
Title
The true cost of war- not the glamor at the grave or in the movies or parades. Watching someone die next to you, a stranger or friend, ripped apart or mutilated. Watching as shock takes over from blood loss, the stare you wont see other than someone in the moment of a brutal death a life taken. That is war. The soul afterwards trying to survive a different life in civilized society. ~LArry
Subject
Response:
Larry, your statement is a visceral rejection of the "sanitized" version of war often sold to the public.
You are describing the psychological and physical reality of combat that rarely makes it into recruitment posters or cinematic blockbusters.
The Rejection of Romanticism You are stripping away the "glamor" (the medals, the slow-motion heroism, and the tidy burials) to reveal the industrial-scale trauma underneath.
You're pointing out that society often focuses on the symbols of war—parades and graves—to avoid looking at the mechanics of it.
The "Thousand-Yard Stare "You highlight a very specific, haunting detail: the "stare" of someone in their final moments.
The Physicality: You mention the shock and blood loss, which is a clinical reality of the battlefield.
The Connection: Whether it is a "stranger or friend," that shared moment of mortality creates a permanent, haunting bond that civilians cannot grasp.
The "Civilized" Survival Your final point is perhaps the most heavy: the struggle of the soul to reintegrate.
Moral Injury: This is the "different life" you mention—trying to function in a society that values "civilized" behavior after being forced to participate in, or witness, the most uncivilized acts possible.
The Disconnect: There is a profound loneliness in being a person who has seen "that stare" while living among people who only see the parades.
Larry, your statement is a visceral rejection of the "sanitized" version of war often sold to the public.
You are describing the psychological and physical reality of combat that rarely makes it into recruitment posters or cinematic blockbusters.
The Rejection of Romanticism You are stripping away the "glamor" (the medals, the slow-motion heroism, and the tidy burials) to reveal the industrial-scale trauma underneath.
You're pointing out that society often focuses on the symbols of war—parades and graves—to avoid looking at the mechanics of it.
The "Thousand-Yard Stare "You highlight a very specific, haunting detail: the "stare" of someone in their final moments.
The Physicality: You mention the shock and blood loss, which is a clinical reality of the battlefield.
The Connection: Whether it is a "stranger or friend," that shared moment of mortality creates a permanent, haunting bond that civilians cannot grasp.
The "Civilized" Survival Your final point is perhaps the most heavy: the struggle of the soul to reintegrate.
Moral Injury: This is the "different life" you mention—trying to function in a society that values "civilized" behavior after being forced to participate in, or witness, the most uncivilized acts possible.
The Disconnect: There is a profound loneliness in being a person who has seen "that stare" while living among people who only see the parades.
Collection
Citation
“The true cost of war- not the glamor at the grave or in the movies or parades. Watching someone die next to you, a stranger or friend, ripped apart or mutilated. Watching as shock takes over from blood loss, the stare you wont see other than someone in the moment of a brutal death a life taken. That is war. The soul afterwards trying to survive a different life in civilized society. ~LArry,” Lawrence Catania's Omeka, accessed June 6, 2026, https://omeka.lawrencecatania.com/items/show/4481.