As I was reading I kept thinking about how you see the typical 19 year old side but then also the soldier. Robert Rasmus summed it up perfectly, “I was pulled in two directions: Gee, I don’t wanna get killed. And, Boy, this is gorgeous country”. To me these two sides are the relatable one and the one I cannot even imagine relating to. Robert was so eager to serve because knowing that he had a chance to gain his manhood was worth more than knowing that he had a better chance of dying than living. It is age appropriate to want to prove that you are a man but I cannot relate to risking your life to do so. Robert was fascinated by Europe like any 19 year old traveling to Europe for the first time would be. He discusses his need for friendship and the sense of not wanting to fail his buddies. These emotions are ones I would and have felt, but his emotions that come with being a soldier disconnect him from the typical boy around his age today. His instant transformation is shown perfectly from two stories. He had never seen a dead body besides at a funeral home and then seeing all these dead bodies almost became normality. His initial perception of the German 88s versus grasp of reality show him grow from a boy to a soldier. After passing a German that they killed he declared, “Once the helmet is off, you’re looking at a teenager, another kid. Obviously you have to go on”. He is a 19 year old realizing that the enemy is just like him, but then the soldier in him takes over. There is a half of Robert that I can relate to, but the other half is something I can never understand.
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