Redeployment

“OIF” is the briefest story in Redeployment and is heavily laden with military acronyms and jargon. The final paragraph contains the acronyms “HMMWV,” “5 PX,” “SITREP,” “KIA,” and “WIA.” The narrator earns an award known as a NAM without giving an explanation of what it stands for or why he receives it. Even when he expresses survivor’s guilt and vows to be more afraid and vigilant on his next deployment, he does so in a way that only another Marine would understand. The author shows the Marine Corp as an insular group that speaks its own language. Much of the book presents the difficulties that veterans have communicating with their civilian friends and families.