Ten Kliks South Analysis

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It is apparent that the topic of war is difficult to discuss among active duty soldiers and civilians. Often times, citizens are unable to understand the mental, physical, and physiological burden service members experience. In Phil Klay’s Ten Kliks South, the narrator struggles to cope with the idea that his artillery team has killed enemy forces. In the early stages of the story, the narrator is clearly confused. He understands that he did his part in firing off the artillery rounds, yet he cannot admit to killing the opposition. In order to suppress his guilt and uncertainty, our narrator searches for guidance and reassurance of his actions. He meets with an old gunnery sergeant and during their conversation, our narrator’s innocence …show more content…

The narrator opens the conversation with the white haired man by stating, “We had a mission today. Target was ten kliks south of here? (...) It was my first mission like that…” (284). It is important to note the way in which our narrator trails off at the end of his statement. The narrator purposely avoids specifying the contents of the day’s mission because he is haunted by guilt. The uncertainty of the narrator’s mindset is later reiterated when he expresses, “I just never killed anybody before. Neither have I, he says. But I did. I think. I mean, we just shot the rounds off” (284). The key words in this excerpt are “we just shot the rounds off”, so he feels as though he did not play a major role in the deaths of the enemies. This mindset can be connected to a conversation had earlier in the story between the narrator and his crew. In this situation, the crew is discussing who should receive recognition for killing the enemy. Our narrator is clearly uncomfortable with this debate and makes the claim that since the ammo for ICM came from the Marines, they should also be held responsible for the deaths of the enemy troops. We see our narrator try to divvy up the blame for the death of the enemy troops to lessen his guilt. This debate along with the dialogue between our narrator and the old gunnery sergeant further

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