In Conflict: The Terrible Price of War

The concept of war is one that transcends time. Conflict in one form or another is a part of human nature and war has been around throughout the whole of human history. Soldiers are, more often than not, the ones who have to pay the price of war. This point was very clearly made in the play, In Conflict. As the audience hears the words of soldiers who have recently returned from the conflict in Iraq, it becomes abundantly clear that the war has left them both physically and emotionally scarred. It is truly sobering to hear the toll that war takes upon those who have to wage it.

The play is constructed in a way that lets the audience appreciate the individual stories separate from each other, but at the same time they each add to the growing message of the play. In Conflict is told by performers acting out the individual interviews of the real soldiers with Yvonne Latty, who originally put this work together. Each soldier told Ms. Latty how he or she felt about returning from Iraq and the effect that it had upon them. Due to how unpopular the war in Iraq has been, this performance could have easily turned into an anti-war rant, however Ms. Latty kept the interviews fair and the views expressed ran the gamut of possible feelings. There were soldiers who felt proud of the war and those who didn’t but the important thing was not their opinions but the fact that they had the chance to tell them. There was indeed an underlying theme throughout the play that the war did have some effect upon the soldiers in one way or another. There were soldiers who had lost limbs and others who had lost something worse, their minds. We hear stories about the horrors of war and the personal experiences that have scarred many of the soldiers for life. The ingenious set design with rotating maps of Iraq and Uncle Sam’s image as well as the television screens showing interviews with Yvonne Latty herself, supplemented this powerful message. The sound effects and lighting added drama and an ominous undertone to the entire performance.            

In Conflict is a performance that can appeal to all Americans. It is not necessarily anti-war or pro-war it simply tells the stories of the soldiers and reminds the audience what a terrible price the soldiers who fight in wars pay. Wars are a part of human nature but those on the front lines are the ones who become physically and mentally damaged. The point of this play is to tell the stories of a select few soldiers and to provide a glimpse into the life of someone who returns home from a war zone. The last interview of the performance that truly sums it up, is from a man named Ty Simmons who states that the troops are true heroes and need to be supported no matter what. This message is one that every American should hear. We need to never forget that while war is certainly a grim reality and even a necessity in this day and age, that it is the soldiers on the front lines who bear the brunt of armed conflict. They are the ones who defend American freedoms and they willingly risk life and limb for this cause. They have earned the support of the American people regardless of opinions regarding the war.