APO 96225

After reading Larry Rottmann's poem, APO 96225, I immediately thought of the phrase "be careful what you wish for".  The soldier's mother begged and begged for him to tell her what exactly war was like for him.  However, when he finally did respond with "Today I killed a man.  Yesterday, I helped drop a napalm on women and children" (Rottmann, 846), his father was disgusted with him and his mother couldn't stand to write back to him.  Maybe his parents felt obligated to ask him to confide in them, even while they were nervously hoping he wouldn't.  I noticed a lot of situational irony in this poem.  One would assume that, when a son is off at war, the PARENTS would be the ones trying to find the silver lining and protect HIS feelings.  That is not the case in APO 96225.  It is the son, who is undoubtedly already going through physically and emotionally traumatic situations, who is comforting his parents, and trying to be positive.  He was trying to shield his parents from the cruel world of war in which he was engulfed.  I think the poem represents the fact that war cannot be put into words.  The things a soldier goes through everyday can not be accurately described to others.  The son understated his situation to try and keep his family from worrying about him, and then got scolded for opening up a little bit about his life at war.