Blog 5: APO 96225

I feel that most of the poem: APO 96225 by Larry Rottmann was a mix of miscommunication and understanding, as well as a lot of irony. The son, writing to his parents about his experiences with being in the war front during the Vietnam War, express his attempt at high spirits. However his feelings conveyed through his letters are interpreted negatively, as depressing feelings of the son. The soldier, trying at first to come across as having a good attitude, despite the war conditions, is told by his mother to tell his family "..what it's really like,"(Rottman 846). So, the speaker continues to use positivity: "The sunsets here are spectacular,"(Rottman 846)! The soldier is trying to make a bad situation into a good one, while the mother is concerned for her son and begs him to tell all about it. Upon doing so, by revealing that he "..killed a man. Yesterday, I helped drop napalm on women and children,"(Rottman 846), the mother then gets upset by the tragedy. The fact that the parents want their son to open up about what is wrong and the conditions of war, then, get upset upon him telling them, is ironic. Don't the parents know that war contains no happiness? How can they be offended by their son's bluntness in telling the truth of how he feels and what he has endured?