Killing Time In Iraq: Analysis

The excerpt, “Killing Time in Iraq” are short daily journal entries written by a soldier named Colby Buzzell. These journals Buzzell writes are the experiences he goes through in Iraq. From car bombs causing high amounts of casualties to guessing what type of explosion went off, what someone may think are intense experiences, Buzzell describes as casual events happening in his daily life. After reading “Killing Time in Iraq”, I argue that Buzzell uses coping mechanisms to minimize the intensity of what is happening around him. People use coping mechanisms to deal with difficult situations. In his journals, he describes events happening in an informal way, resembling things in Iraq to events at home, and does not let situations get into his
Both of these possible outcomes are very drastic and many soldiers do not want to end up in those situations so they cope with the problems, and keep all their emotions bundled up inside. In the article, “Helping Traumatized Warriors, Mobilizing Emotions, Unsettling Orders (Moss & Prince, 2017) these active duty soldiers have been layering their everyday lives which is causing them deep emotional distress. These soldiers “layer” their lives by not dealing with the things going on around them. Buzzell tries not letting the situations he is in get into his head. He lives these experiences day by day, not contemplating on the hardships he is going through. Within the journal entries Buzzell has written, there is some parts where he will begin discussing a negative event that happened in his days in Iraq, but then quickly changes his writing back to a normal everyday event, such as eating breakfast at the chow hall. In the journal title, “Another Damn Car Bomb”, Buzzell briefly describes himself having another bad dream but doesn’t go into great detail at all. He is avoiding discussing things to try to minimize the drastic effects of what is going on. In two other events Buzzell shortly brings up the anti-malaria medication he is taking to deal with the harsh environment he is in and also brought up an event where their FOB got hit and there was mass casualties, but neither of these events he gave any more detail. In these parts of his excerpt, Buzzell starts bringing up negative events that happened in Iraq, he then quickly transitions into saying something less complex or serious. He does this to cope what is happening and not let situations get into his