The Similarities Of War In Homer's The Odyssey

Events that occur during war can change people mentally, emotionally, and physically. Some of these issues can be fixed or healed, but some cannot. Most of these wounds are thought to be modern issues; however, they are not. In the Odyssey, Odysseus was the lone survivor, which is similar to many stories from modern times. With the many recent wars to cause the damage to soldiers, many veterans have struggles. This also shows that the veterans need help when returning home. In Odysseus’ journey there are many shared similarities and differences with Modern-day wars in terms of mental, emotional, and physical damage, and how these events affect the soldiers during and after the war including how they adapt after the war.
The Trojan War was the largest war during the reign of the Greek empire. The Trojan war involved the Greeks and the city of Troy in what is common day Turkey. With the duration of the war being ten years, this is a vast amount of time for soldiers to be killed or injured. The Greek and Troy powers went to war due to Menelaus’ wife Helen, who was kidnaped. This

was an enormous issue because Menelaus was the King of Sparta. This war caused the physical, mental, and emotional damage to the soldiers. Even with the many lives lost on both sides, it was still, at the time, a good reason to go to war because it made the Spartan government seem weaker than it was. The Trojan war ended with Helen being returned to Menelaus. This war caused damage, similar to modern wars.
Some examples of recent wars are World War II, the Vietnam War, The Gulf War, and most recently, the Iraq War.

These wars, like the Trojan War, were against other countries, empires, or cultural groups. While the Trojan War was over Helen being kidnaped, which may seem ridiculous to readers, some of the modern wars were over similar issues. For example, World War II was started because the United States joined forces with other allies. The reason behind the war seems reasonable now, but in the future people may think the war started for no reason. Another example of a war is the Vietnam War. This war started due to the spread of communism. At the time of the war, United States citizens protested the beginning of the war because they felt it did not affect them. With the many wars that have occurred, most have caused more trouble to soldiers when arriving home, than when on the

battlefield.
Each of these wars caused a significant amount of burden to the soldiers and the families at home. They all caused physical, emotional, and psychological damage that were not avoidable. The soldiers experienced this damage for many reasons. The physical damage was most likely caused by fighting on the battlefield, but the emotional and mental damage has many more factors. While mental and emotional health goes hand in hand, they can be caused by a death of a friend in combat or surviving to name a few. The death of a friend in a traumatic way can cause guilt to the soldiers, who think they could have done more to help save their life. The guilt of surviving, commonly known as survivors guilt, can be caused by thinking that if everyone else the soldier knew has died, then why didn't they? Survivor's guilt could be similar to Odysseus’ case where he was the only other survivor. This is another reason that family members are not placed in the same area during a war to ensure the family's security. This means that they will not die at the same location as their other family members. Their mental, physical, and emotional state while at war can also affect the soldiers by the time they have been missing from their families.
The time spent in the war cannot be replaced to the soldier. When being gone at war, soldiers have missed important events. These events can include birthdays, religious holidays, and events where the family is together. This can be damaging to their emotional and mental health by causing clinical depression or other mental illness. It can also bring down their good spirits and make life miserable, even after returning home from a tour of duty. The tours, depending on their duration, can make the depression worse due to the many events that the soldier would miss. Although these events happen at home, the traumatizing events happening during a war can turn deadly quickly.
The traumatizing events that occur in war are some of the worst possible things a person could experience. Some events that occur during war time are bombings, shootings, and kidnappings. These events can cause soldiers to think, “What if that was my family.” Worrying about this can cause depression and possible distraction from the combat for the soldier. While the depression is dangerous enough, the distraction can cause them to be KIA (Killed in Action). This is similar to the Sirens in the Odyssey because they were going to distract the soldiers and lead them to their death. Being attracted to something is also similar to modern wars because, in the Iraq War, terrorists would construct small compounds that would attract soldiers. These compounds were built to where their hallways would have dead ends and then explode to kill troops.
The soldiers of modern and ancient wars are significantly affected. After they return, the soldiers have to adapt. Adapting can be very stressful for the soldiers and their families. When the soldiers have the mental, emotional, and physical damage from the war they served in, it can change their life indefinitely. This is why veterans need to be under supervision when returning to the homeland. Even when the military has no current involvement in a war, people are still needed for training, which is still dangerous. Even though training is safer, people can still have the mental, emotional, and physical barriers to overcome.