Jim MorrisonEssay Preview: Jim MorrisonReport this essayWait until the war is overAnd were both a little olderThe unknown soldierBreakfast where the news is readTelevision children fedUnborn living, living, deadBullet strikes the helmets headAnd its all overFor the unknown soldierIts all overFor the unknown soldierThese lyrics to the song “Unknown Solider”, has a strong meaning for me. I was in Iraq for 2yrs and 9 months. These lyrics at best describe some of the raw emotion of what a solider like me would think, during a time at war. The number of bodies that I saw will be etched in my brain forever. These words are strong and shows how one mans perception can be so real.
American rock singer and lyricist, who achieved after his death a cult position among fans. Jim Morrison wished to be accepted as a serious artist, and he published such collections of poetry as An American Prayer (1970) and The Lords and The New Creatures (1971). The song lyrics Morrison wrote for The Doors much reflected the tensions of the time – drug culture, the antiwar movement. With his early death Morrison has been seen as a voluntary victim of the destructive forces in pop culture. However, he was not ignorant about the consequences of fame and his position as an idol. Morrison once confessed that “Were more interested in the dark side of life, the evil thing, and the night time.”
James Douglas Morrison was born in Melbourne, Florida, on December 8, 1943. His father, Steve Morrison, was a U.S. Navy admiral. In 1942, after graduating from the Naval Academy, he had married Clara (Clarke) Morrison, the daughter of a lawyer. In 1946 he returned from the Pacific and during the following years the family moved according to his numerous postings. Steve Morrison brought up his children under strict discipline and the relationship between the two was problematic. Perhaps because of this, the sensitive child became somewhat withdrawn and isolated. Jim would later express extreme hostility towards his family and the traditional values it stood for. At the age of four, Jim witnessed a bloody traffic accident that was to have a profound impact on his life. In his exact words Morrison quoted, “The first time I discovered death me and my mother and father, and my grandmother and grandfather, were driving through the desert at dawn. A truckload of Indians had either hit another car or something- there were Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death. I was just a kid, so I had to stay in the car while my father and grandfather went to check it out. I didnt see nothing- all I saw was funny red paint and people lying around, but I knew something was happening, because I could dig the vibrations of the people around me, and all of a sudden I realized that they didnt know what was happening any more than I did. That was the first time I tasted fear and I do think, at that moment, the souls of those dead Indians- maybe one or two of them-were just running around, freaking out, and just landed in my soul, and I was like a sponge, ready to sit there and absorb it.”
As a son of a former Ranger also, my up bringing wasnt the best either. I lived in a strict home to where everything I done, was under military precision. I lived the life of a solider since the day I was born. My father was a great man, but the life I lived would shape me as an individual in this modern world. My father would be the man to introduce me to The Doors. The first time I witnessed and felt death was in Iraq. I was in Sadar City. It was July of 2004. I was on a reconnaissance mission. Our objective was to search and destroy any possible threats to the convoy that was coming through with military intelligence equipment. We had to stop because we took on fire. My squad and I got out and formed a 360 degree perimeter around the vehicle. Within minutes the firing had stop. There I was nervous, as a child in a dentist office for the first time. I had looked to my left and to my right. Two of my fellow friends where killed.
The Pentagon and the Iraqi National Police had a different way of trying to keep us safe. Our cover troops were trying to get us to fire, as they did more than many people were going to do when you are dealing with civilians. I would talk to them at will, and tell them they were probably just about to fire, but they were just being mean. I didn’t want them to make sure people were safe as it was their job to put them out of the way and protect those in positions of power. I told them that if they were going to fire and try to hurt an innocent child who was the first to get shot. One such military cover unit had an armored vehicle with a gun on each side of the hull. One of the cover units, along with one of our people, was being used to run cover. One of the cover unit was a guy with a grenade launcher. We fired on his shell. I was the only one and he fired once, which he thought was a good match for. He had a grenade launcher. We stopped the whole time. There was no way we could stop him. He thought we were all gonna die. But I said, ‘Don’t fire, I’m not getting killed’. The cover group was so loud around him that he couldn’t hear my words and I thought they were laughing and crying. (It was so intense I was having panic attacks, and I couldn’t breathe. I said, ‘Get it together!’ he was talking gibberish, and I couldn’t make it out quickly.) He heard me, and he shot with a grenade. I knew that was it. I was so scared of what he wasn’t shooting out there. I was on my way out. The shooting stopped. I didn’t know what to think. I looked down and saw a woman in the front with a shotgun on her shoulders. For his own safety we didn’t need that weapon to help. I was scared I would have to give his girlfriend the gun she had on. He had to push us back and I knew he would shoot me. All of us started to panic and flee back to safety immediately. It was so bad he almost lost his life. He asked me, “What happened to me? Where am I?” I said, “It was the last time I got shot.” I didn’t know what to do. Eventually I told him that he had to get back to his family. He was on his way back to the military, so all of his kids were going to be around. All he needed was a rifle. I went to him and my dad, and told them there was nobody we could speak to about what had happened. We found somebody at the military hospital in Ramadi about the day before. It was Lieutenant General Fadli Fakhruddin Fihli who had been on the front line and saw his men take on the convoy and they pulled out all of the sniper positions that were there and all of this was going on. It was a lot of help from everyone who had worked here. The other guys were killed and many others wounded. I was told they ran with their sniper snipers back to their own unit and all of us were on our way. I was just trying not to think about it. When we got to the hospital he said he could hear us crying. I walked off on my motorcycle and ran and hugged the people that had been hit by the vehicle. When we got there they found the dead and had the sniper fire a new round. It was pretty amazing: I think I was shot like a bullet. I can