Strongman

An Army Reservist, Ben Wallace, is a reluctant member of the U.S. Army Reserve. Yet, when he is called to duty in Operation Desert Shield, he realizes he wants to experience what his grandfather calls, “The Enlightenment of War.” He initially joined the Army as a form of rebellion against his father–a Vietnam era draft dodger–and as a way to be closer to his grandfather. His grandfather is a veteran of Guam. Wallace needs to experience combat, he thinks, to make himself a man. Several things make this unlikely. Wallace is, first of all, a Laboratory Technician in a General Hospital. Second of all, every aspect of modern warfare isolates the soldiers from the discomforts and realities of the conflict. They have comfortable uniforms made from hi-tech microfibers, access to phones to call home at any time, rations designed by master chefs. Wallace also becomes entangled in the schemes of a profiteering sergeant, Philip Mice. Mice needs Wallace, for his physical strength, to defeat a rival sergeant and to manage the enlisted men while Mice establishes a business trading in contraband. When the hospital arrives in Saudi Arabia, Mice sets up a thriving trade in homebrewed beer, used furniture, and bacon. The trade deals in comfort items designed to alleviate what little discomfort that remains among the soldiers. When Wallace and Mice and finally dispose of the rival sergeant, Wallace realizes Mice will never arrange for Wallace’s transfer to a field hospital near the front lines as long as he remains useful to him. When Wallace threatens to turn himself over to the MPs, Mice quickly transfers Wallace to a field hospital. Following the First Infantry’s advance on Basra, Wallace encounters his first surrendered Iraqis. The persistent unreality of the American Army’s war begins to slip away. When he faces the remains of retreating Iraqi soldiers destroyed on the highway to Basra, he finally experiences “The Enlightenment of War,” even though at this point he would rather remain unenlightened.