Calvin Frey’s Reviews > The Long Walk: A Story of War and the Life That Follows > Status Update

139. Today I read about a failed mission they got sent on. They got sen to this town to clear out motor repair shops for silver tubes that could possibly be bombs... They found the tubes but no sign of any bombs. The dude in charge got mad at brian for not clearing out the shops and brian said in his defense its how they live and how they repair cars.

What I read about today was Kermit and hoe kermit died in a helicopter crash with brian and his team. Kermit was a captain and high rank and wasn't close with brian but brian respected him. Brian talked about how his PTSD was affected by kermits death it had been 2 years since he had passed and he still thinks about him everyday. Brian also talked about how he had all these tests done and is in perfect physical shape

Author purpose: I think the author's purpose is to show us different lifestyles and cultures with this book. As many situations are in other countries and it goes into depth about their society. I also feel their purpose is just to write about there PTSD so people who are also suffering don't feel alone

Today I read about kermit and how brian wasn't very close with kermit but there paths had crossed by faith. Kermit and brian had met one time before kermits passing. When they met they talked about brian taking over kermits job. Kermit died and brian and his sergeant had to go tell his wife about his death and he goes into detail about how hard that would be

In this chapter it goes into alot of things, One thing that stood out to me is when he starts talking about his wife and how great she is for dealing with his crazy. How she would stay home waiting for him to come back "dead".Not dead from the war but dead as in coming back as a new person. It also talks about how when he went to see a counselor she said he had PTSD and it confirmed him as being crazy. (102 on track)

In this chapter, they started talking about bomb vehicles and how they were the most dangerous type of bombing. How they would have to go in and examine the bombing by seeing what triggered it possibly looking for the driver and then clearing out individuals. What drove him crazy was the civilian remains he would have to pull out from these attacks and there would be people looking for loved ones that where dead.

In this chapter he talks about his first mission and encounter with a IED. He talks about driving the loud brightfull humvee throughout the town and using a robot to locate the bomb. There is a long bridge that they send the robot on that is filled with possible IED which would be tucked under dirt or trash. They encount another allie group that doesn't speak English. They find the IED under a pile of trash.

I read about his failures in Iraq he got fired 2 times so far one for disobeying orders and going to get 3 new robots without generals command and also he got fired for blowing up a football-shaped ball in the middle of the town. He also talked about his alcohol addiction and how when he got fired it felt as if the alcohol was the only thing to heal him and stop his eye twitching

Today I read about Jeff and how he was killed... Jeff was Brians friend and brian would tell story about how jeff taught him many things in life.. Jeff was like his older brother. Jeff was killed by an bomb that was planted under his car and brian talked about how it effected his life. Brian also talked about the training he went through and the target practice and how he would have real like situations given to him

He talks about the requirements of the test they have to take. He talked about one test that required him to put a fuse in the bomb underwater and steak it down with a sledgehammer so the fuse wouldn't fall out. During this he adds dialogue about how to Luitentiet would yell at him and how he would have to heave a rope back and fourth.He also mentioned that you get 3 chances for a test & it was life or death