Interview with Karl Marlentes,
author of "Matterhorn" a 2010 best
selling novel of the Vietnam War and
"What It Is Like To Go To War
?" a non-fiction 2011 work about
modern veteran life upon return to
the civilian world.
America has been at war for over
a decade now, with millions of
soldiers having seen death and
dying up close in Afghanistan
and Iraq. But most Americans,
watching comfortably on their
TVs and computers, witness
mostly to statistics, stump
speeches, and “expert” rhetoric,
don’t get what’s really going on
there. Bill talks to Karl
Marlantes — a highly-decorated
Vietnam veteran, Rhodes Scholar,
author, and PTSD survivor —
about what we on the insulated
outside need to understand about
the minds and hearts of our
modern warriors. Marlantes
shares with Bill intimate
stories about how his
battlefield experiences both
shaped and nearly destroyed him,
even after returning to civilian
life.
“’Thou shalt not kill’
is a tenet you just do not
violate, and so all your young
life, that’s drilled into your
head. And then suddenly, you’re
18 or 19 and they’re saying, ‘Go
get ‘em and kill for your
country.’ And then you come back
and it’s like, ‘Well, thou shalt
not kill’ again. Believe me,
that’s a difficult thing to deal
with,” Marlantes tells Bill.
“You take a young man and put
him in the role of God, where he
is asked to take a life — that’s
something no 19-year-old is able
to handle.”
Bill Moyer's & Company
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