Reading O’Brien’s story inspired my thinking on the question, “What would I carry?” And the answer is: a list of my dad’s instructions on survival skills, my Bible, wasp repellant, photographs and my favorite snacks. It was so heartbreaking to hear the objects men carried and how much value they thought that they had. These things to me would be a necessity and a comfort, but I know that just having them would not make a difference. I would rather have the comfort of my father and my friends in the photographs around me than to be stuck in a war zone where all I had was the memory.
Most of these items are self explanatory, however two are not. The first is my father’s instructions. My dad is a walking encyclopedia on many topics. His father was in the Navy, so he learned much from him. It is always so amazing to hear what comes out of my dad’s mouth sometimes and to see how much he knows about our world. He would give me strict guidelines on what to eat, how to sleep, how to hide and what to look out for. Without this list, I know I wouldn’t survive. Therefore, it is one thing I couldn’t live without if I were in the war.
Secondly, I would bring wasp repellant as one of my weapons. Although a gun or a knife is much more powerful, I could never see myself operating that. With the repellant, I could shoot it towards an enemy who was fairly close to me and damage their sense of sight. Being a woman in a war, it is possible that I could get raped. I would need this repellant to ward off predators and predict myself and others around me. It is important to take these precautions because protecting myself and my troop is so important.
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