Charlotte Amalie Holmes, Thesis Supervisor Dr. Xiaoye You, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Afghanistan 9/11 military C-130 veteran
Abstract:
The following is a collection of short stories told in the first person by an airman as he and his C-130 crew navigate a deployment in Bagram, Afghanistan during 2011. It is not the intent of these stories to function as ethical frameworks by which we can examine U.S. warfare in Afghanistan, but act as an access point to warfare that is not exclusive to the plight of the American soldier. Though fictional, the stories conveyed in the collection are informed by the author’s previous enlistment in the United States Air Force. The themes explored are varied, including the tenuous relationship between U.S. service members and the Afghans who worked on base, unexpected monotony that comes with deployed life, the effects of war on both soldiers and civilians, and the status of the returned veteran in post 9/11 society.
