In this post of the Austin, Texas, Chapter of the Combat Infantrymen’s Association, we are reminded of the familiar phrase that has been echoed in the movies, in the books and plays of the 20th Century literature, and in the journals of the media reporters…the “thousand-yard stare” of a combat infantryman. This phrase reveals a look that is laden with the burdens borne by the Combat soldier of the Infantry:
This photo shows you the hollow stare of a combat infantryman of the Vietnam War after returning from a combat mission in the jungle, and while waiting for the next day’s insertion by choppers again to the “bush.”
For our brothers in the Army that earned the CIB (Combat Infantryman’s Badge), this type of look is all too common for the combat-weary soldier who had to endure the hardships of the combat zone in whatever campaign in which he was serving–while at the same time come face-to-face with the threat of death. And sometimes, he had to experience the injury and death of his comrades or his buddies during a mission against the enemy.
Whether it was in World War II or Korea or Vietnam or Grenada or Panama or Desert Storm or Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom — the campaigns really don’t matter — the Combat Infantryman feels the pangs of exhaustion, sleepless nights, the fear and sheer terror in a firefight or enemy contact or even booby traps or IED situations. He somehow keeps the machine of his body going against all odds, even surprising himself that he could keep himself moving or going through the situations where even he thought were beyond human endurance.
However, the casualties of war go far beyond the physical wounds and injuries–they strike at the very heart of his mind, his soul and his desire to survive. As the strain takes its toll both in the combat zone and also for years after the return from the campaign, the affects start rearing their ugly heads–from the “hyper-vigilance” of the grunts who fought in the bush and the rice paddies of Vietnam, to the World War II infantryman on the South Pacific Islands.
Thus, we respect and honor those men who earned the CIB because they still carry in their minds and spirits a lot of the weight from the burden of those days in combat, where the experiences they lived gave them something that they did not even know they had picked up — the “thousand-yard stare.”
In the History Channel’s 1993 video in the Weapons at War series titled The Grunts of Vietnam, one veteran who was interviewed mentioned that “If I see him in the eyes, I can tell if he is a Vietnam Veteran … you can see how it was caused…it is like a ’shining’…”
Copyright (c) 2008, Matrix Solutions Corporation.
