Boy Soldiers: Military Tactics On Boy Soldier

Military Tactics on Boy Soldiers
Early into Beah and his friend’s settlement into the village Yele, everything was considerably great. Beah still endured excruciating migraines but he and the boys, along with other children in the village, even had games to play and ate regularly. Yele was recognized as home primarily for soldiers of the army but also included other men, women, and children who cooked and completed chores; the village depended on the efficiency of every villager. Do to the soldier population there, this village was a dream come true to Beah and his friends. The boys felt safe, cared for, and needed. It was not long before all of this changed; the very component that first seemed to have a positive impact on all the boys ended

up damaging them. Feeling as though someone wants to see that they are alright and even succeed, to then feel abandoned by the very same person made Beah incredibly bitter towards his emotions and opening up to others. Over the course of the war desperate measures had to be taken that meant Beah and his friends had to participate. Another result of that is the drug addictions the boys developed. In order to get the soldiers to easily comply or fight with all their might, the army stationed there got the boys to take drugs, like they had seen the older soldiers do. Drugs that at first appeared to work to mask the pain of the war, like the families separated or people dead from it eventually became another problem connected to the war for the boys. Drug addiction takes a physical toll on the body and destroys any and all clarity—which Beah and the other boys suffered.
Lieutenant Jabati was commander of this squad that resided in Yele. Lieutenant Jabati displayed genuine concern for Beah and the others while they were there. “Are you getting enough to eat?” he’d ask Beah (104). Maybe a couple weeks passed before peace in Yele was compromised and soldiers were consistently being switched out on the front lines of battle; “…few [ever] returned” (106). As the horrors continued Lieutenant Jabati felt he knew what needed to be done for the good and sanctity of the country. “[The rebels] won’t give up until they capture this village…” he explained to the people of Yele, then went on, “Some of you are here because they have killed your parents… [or for safety]. Well, it is not that safe anymore. That is why we need strong men and boys to help us fight…” (106). Lieutenant Jabati targets emotional responses in the boys by highlighting the gruesome reality of the deaths of anyone they ever cared about to ultimately gain their undying loyalty. He utilizes this allegiance, added to their vulnerability, to further inspire vengeful desires in Beah and the others. “This is your time to revenge the deaths of your families and to make sure more children do not lose their families” (106), Lieutenant Jabati convinced everyone. Already after portraying himself as the father figure those boys were missing, Lieutenant Jabati continuously fueled motive in the boys to be active soldiers. “The rebels are responsible for everything that has happened to you” Beah recalled Lieutenant Jabati saying, as he would lie awake and imagine killing rebels—unable to sleep (113). His insomnia was in fact a result of Lieutenant Jabati’s emotional manipulation over him, which also had direct correlation with his newly-found yearn to slaughter the bad guys. The true reason Lieutenant Jabati held such devotion from the boys is because he was the only adult figure in their lives’. He cared about their well-being and held himself accountable for the boys after they had been fending for themselves earlier during the war. Before the war ended, what Beah later learned to be UNICEF—a foundation that helps those in developing countries, came and saved he and fifteen other boys from their lives of active duty; though to the boys this felt far from liberation. “I am very proud to have served my country with you boys. But your work here is done, and I must send you off…” (129). Lieutenant Jabati relieved the boys but left them feeling betrayed by the last adult in the world that cared about them. “What is happening?..Why did the lieutenant … give us up...The squad had been our family” (130), Beah and the rest of the boys wondered. By having taken the boys under his wing, Lieutenant Jabati gained an unconditional bond from them, as he not only promised to lead them through a journey of justice, but taught them—even though it was in transforming them to be mean, lean, killing machines. He was the most impressionable person the boys knew at this time in their lives’; the only one around to consider a parental figure. Making Beah and the other boy soldiers emotionally dependent on him, Lieutenant Jabati had formed a new family, but then broke that unit. When Beah and the other selected boys made it to the Benin Home for rehabilitating child soldiers, he met a nurse there who he denied himself the pleasure of friendship from “People like the lieutenant, whom I had obeyed and trusted, had made me question trusting anyone, especially adults” (153) the emotional advantages Lieutenant Jabati usurped to recruit Beah and the other boys like him skewed his perception of reality and those around him which ultimately jeopardized his comfort with forming relationships. Beah genuinely felt “… that people befriended only to exploit one another” (153).
Once Beah and his friends had become soldiers, drugs and violent movies were at their disposal and therefore a major influence on their actions and philosophy.

The boys enjoyed mimicking what they saw in movies such as Rambo with the energy gained from white pills administered by Lieutenant Jabati. Hyping up the boys with action movies and muting their right minds with advocated substance abuse made the boys malleable and much easier to influence. Movies also inspired a different perception of all the fighting and slaughtering going on in real life which redirected the boy soldiers from the truth of the matter. The drugs and violence Beah was exposed to mixed with his already diminished hope for his life to ever go back to the way it was left Beah to disregard his future beyond day-to-day survival mode. Every day was just making it to the next; Beah’s standards of life were erased so there was nothing worth denying himself marijuana, or brown-brown to distract himself from his circumstances. What started as a tactic to make the boys easier to manipulate and enhance battle skills resulted to be the only way Beah and the other boys could get through the day. Being sober was overwhelmingly depressing, but as their dependencies grew so did risk. Not taking drugs would make every one of them sick because their bodies would go through withdrawal. Going cold turkey caused illness and irritability. Once Beah and everyone else arrived to Benin Home there was nothing to cure their fix available. “[Beah and the boys] broke into the Mini-hospital and stole some pain relievers—white tablets and off white… [They] emptied the capsules, ground the tablets, and mixed them together”(139).Being exposed to drugs spiraled into another hardship in Beah’s life. Drugs Beah intended to numb himself with only further restrained him from discovering any hope or enlightenment about the war crisis and his future. Later being forced into sobriety like he had been into using in the first place,

his previous habits made acclimating back into society with everyone at the Benin home brutally hard
Military tactics the army used on the boys in Sierra Leon include emotional advantage and drug use. Lieutenant Jabati gained the boy’s trust, and then used this trust to force young boys to fight for their country. Lieutenant Jabati played on the feelings and sorrows of the boys by being the only authority figure in their lives’. This relationship was eventually breeched however, when Lieutenant Jabati dismissed Beah and some other boys to UNICEF. While the boys were still involved, another tactic Lieutenant Jabati used to indoctrinate the boy soldiers was the influence of drugs. During such a time of devastation, using drugs to escape, or soften the intensity of the seriousness nature of war is what many boy soldiers, including Beah did. This false coping mechanism however, only supported Lieutenant Jabati because the boys were then easier to control. Heavy drug use also challenged Beah’s acclimation back to society, as a bright, sober pre-teen.