A Grunt Staring Downrange: A Review of Jason Hartley’s Just Another Soldier
by Daniel Schwartz
Take explicit rap lyrics and fuse them together with the cacophony of an orchestra and the product, of course in a literary sense, will be Just Another Soldier by Jason Hartley. Ostensibly, this is a military history book that describes combat, but because of his writing abilities, Hartley presents the harsh reality of staring downrange. From mindless boredom to intense fighting, Hartley depicts a year of deployment in Iraq through the eyes of a true-to-life grunt.
The book immediately draws the reader’s attention when, at the start, Specialist Hartley is reunited with his National Guard unit at Fort Drum, New York after a couple months in post-war “recess.” The story begins in the midst of an award’s ceremony for previous service in Iraq. Through Hartley’s eyes, a reader gains an understanding of a rebellious nature, provoked by certain Army regulations, that is combined with his unnerving dedication to his fellow soldier. What makes his allegiance all the more interesting is that Hartley is white in a company of nearly all African and Mexican Americans. A glimpse into the struggles between soldiers, regardless of bullets zipping past their ears, starts to unravel.
Hartley takes the reader on the journey through the intense pre-combat training at Fort Drum, an environment nothing like what will be faced in Iraq. Fort Drum, located in the northern New York, experiences some of the heaviest snow and harshest elements of winter. Hartley lightheartedly describes how practicing battle tactics in snow and wind is far from the climate guardsmen will confront in the Middle East. More than the setting, Hartley’s experience at Fort Drum provides the backdrop to learn other details about both him and his fellow soldiers. Finally, after a few months of training, it is time for Hartley and his unit to begin the process of deploying overseas.
After the swirl of “going away” parties and goodbyes, there is a quick transition as Hartley finds himself in a world completely foreign to him. As an infantryman, Hartley first began his Iraq experience at Camp Udairi, Kuwait, becoming acclimated to the weather and learning skills necessary for desert combat. The first intense moments were during Hartley’s trip with his unit from Kuwait to his first forward operating base (FOB) in Iraq, as the threat level for improvised explosive devices (IED’s) or enemy personnel was prevalent.
In order to keep track of his experience, to make it, “his war,” Hartley began an internet blog describing in explicit details the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of his experience. Although any mission specific or sensitive information was self-removed, Hartley’s writing became raw footage highlighting the feelings of a grunt in the Army, most specifically in combat. In one journal entry, labeled “Women in the Infantry,” Hartley attempts to account for an infantryman’s feelings toward the subject. Alluding to the fact that women are ineligible for infantry service, Hartley says, “The average grunt is fairly in touch with his primal self and therefore wants generally only two things: to fuck and to fight, in that order.”
In another journal entry, called “A Very Special Message,” Hartley tries to reconcile the massive amounts of free time between combat engagements that is juxtaposed with the death and destruction that occurs during combat.
Hartley holds his own voice above that of reporters in the conventional media covering the Iraq War. He asserts that he can help the reader who is interested in learning the true feelings of an infantryman or “[. . .] how it feels to be a soldier in Iraq.” Hartley contends his perspective is “honest and raw.” He continues, “There is so much to discuss! Urban warfare tactics! Killing civilians! MASTURBATION!” Hartley successfully tries to highlight the unedited thoughts going through a typical grunt’s mind. A few weeks later, in an entry, “Blood and Soap,” Hartley comments, “My gloves smell of blood and soap. I washed them yesterday after everything that happened [a brief firefight], but instead of just the sweet musky smell of blood—that smell that is both subtly repugnant and strangely appealing, appealing because your viscera knows its own, but repellent because it seems too personal, like the smell of scented antibacterial soap, a smutty fakery like the aborted attempt of scented tampons to obfuscate the stench of menstrual gore.”
These brief excerpts highlight the intent behind Hartley’s entries. In one sense, he is attempting to poke fun at some of the soldiers’ actions, using humor as a survival mechanism. More importantly, Hartley uses crude language to explain the difficulty fighting a complex war. However, the rawness in Hartley’s text cannot be mistaken for sinful garbage; it is the reality of the words he writes that demonstrate the mental anguish of those fighting. Moreover, it is Hartley’s talented diction that turn the book from a dime store book to a work of military history.
Beyond Hartley’s dynamic use of English, the story is powerful because the soldier is not characterized as romantic. In an entry Hartley calls “The Tao of Soldering,” he defines this stipulation, by describing the “Monastic Order of Infantrymen,” a three part process where an infantryman must learn to suffer, learn that he is not special, and must release his attachments. To Hartley, this defines a soldier, and he explains that when soldiers accept these “tenants,” they will be happy and productive. Hartley does not glamorize the soldier as a heroic conquerer, but more a regular person searching for answers.
This illustration of a soldier differs vastly from those found in popular culture. The Army advertisements depict people of honor, strength, courage, and perfection. They show men and women acting smoothly, almost flawlessly together, teasing young people to believe a certain idea. These men and women portend to represent the United States and are the epitome of this country’s values, morals, and standards—to show any differently, as done, ironically, by Hartley, a soldier who has served in Iraq, would be unacceptable and shock most Americans, particularly those unable to understand the many layers of soldiering.
At one point, Hartley very astutely describes a personal mishap, again tainting the romantic image of a soldier. He entitles this specific experience as “By Far the Most Breathtakingly Stupid and Embarrassing Thing I’ve Ever Done in My Entire Military Career,” where he explains how he forgot his weapon on a mission. This story highlights more detail of a soldier’s mindset, when Hartley reflects on the impact his mistake will on with fellow soldiers. He writes, “I’ll admit, 99 percent of guys take gleeful enjoyment in being the first to discover something fucked-up about another soldier and sharing it with everyone as quickly as possible. I can’t cast the first stone. I like doing it, too. Oh well.” Hartley again uses a sharp tone to explain how he, indeed, is, after all, just another soldier.
Instead of trying to paint the picture of the stoic infantryman that is “keeping freedoms free,” Hartley tells the reader his fallacies and screw-ups. Hartley is a grown child of the video-game era and the thrill of the fight can be simultaneously coupled with extreme detachment. From the descriptions of suffering of a slaughtered Iraqi chicken farmer to the light-hearted descriptions of a “mini paradise” in Qatar to the invention of a story from an Iraqi standpoint, Hartley’s master of style and reality blend.
Daniel Schwartz is a junior who majors in communications and minors in English.
