Who are the main characters? The Ball Turret Gunner.

What do you know about the topic/story you are reading? I have studied history and I am familiar with the events and atmosphere surrounding WWII.

What can you imagine that is not specifically outlined? I can imagine the romantic and proud notion felt by young men enlisting in the military to serve their country. This was a badge of honor, or dare I say a “right of passage” for many young men back in the 1940’s. After high school everyone was not heading straight to college so some men decided to pass some time by fulfilling their patriotic duty by serving their country.

What do you think about what you read? I thought of how young men rushed to “serve their country” with romantic pride only to have that romantic ideal stripped from their mind at the harshness and brutality of war. I wonder if many of these men really knew before they signed up for the military what they were in for? I mean they didn’t have CNN with cameras right there on the battlefield, so was the public relations campaign by the military misrepresented for the times back then to the point that it lured young men without providing the real facts of what they were signing up for.

 How do you feel about what you read? What is your emotional response? I felt sorry for the Ball turret Gunner. I mean he went from his mother’s care to the care of the “State.” The State not being as protective of a man’s safety as his mother basically considered this young gunner as another soldier in the long line of gunners used throughout the war. As the Ball Turret Gunner crammed himself into that tiny space he faced tough conditions, both physical and mental. For example, physically he was wedged upside down into a very tight, almost claustrophobic space. In this tight space he faced cold temperatures from the high altitude that froze his wet fur. I imaged the Ball Turret Gunner mentally challenged as he waited for the enemy to approach. What sort of images and thoughts would a young man’s active imagination provide as company while he waited for combat? Remember he was isolated by himself in this tiny space away from the other crew members, so his company was mainly himself. We sort of get an answer with line three, which seems to hint at dreaming of life back on the ground. So while waiting he realized how life below on the ground seemed different unaware of the life he was about to encounter flying above. He probably thought of family, friends, and other loved ones back home and how he was eager to see them again, while he allowed himself to be carried away in his daydream. However, this dream of his did not last long as he was snapped back to reality by the antiaircraft fire. This reality became a nightmare for him, as he no longer envisioned the romantic notion of war as he was now faced the reality of literally fighting for his life. Of course by the end of the poem we learn that he did not survive and how the “State” just washed his remains out with a hose. This image comes back to the idea that the State just viewed him as a number or another piece of weaponry that can be replaced with the next soldier in line. This poem gives me the feeling that loyalty, pride, and nationalism became more of a one way street. The Soldiers felt this towards their country but the State only views the soldier as a piece of U.S. military property. I am not trying to undermine any aspect of the military I am just commenting on how this poet’s portrayal made me feel with the words he used.

What do you want to learn more about? I would like to know more about what it was like to be in such a confined space and facing enemy fire? What qualifications made a soldier fit for duty as a Ball Turret Gunner? I would think size had a big factor in determining who manned the gun in such a small space, but what else? Maybe eye sight, hand-eye-coordination skills, etc?

Think about the experiences you have just read about. How would you react if these events happened to you? I would be terrified to be a Ball Turret Gunner. I wouldn’t like being in such a small space, I wouldn’t like feeling like I stick out from the rest of the plane in that glass bubble, and I wouldn’t like being exposed to the extreme temperatures of being inside a glass bubble at high altitudes. I would not like known the last guy before me was washed out of the same space I am crawling into with a hose, because I know if I don’t make it that is what they will do to my remains.

How does this reading relate to your own life? It reminds me of how we need to remember that there are always two sides to every story. We sometimes forget the negatives that can happen to us and we only focus on the positives. We end up building images in our minds to be more romantic than what they might really be. What I mean is that we sometimes only focus on the positives certain situations can have for us and we forget that there might be a possibility of facing negative outcomes. We don’t like to allow the negative thoughts or the images of “what could go wrong” to enter our minds because it might cause us to freeze or it might unnerve us to the point that we run from what ever it is we are pursuing. So after reading this poem it reminded me to not get too high or too low on my image of the situation but to understand that this can go both ways and I need to be prepared for either outcome.