Source: DailyPress.com
After a nine-year deployment, one soldier deserves a medal as the best fighter in the unit. Except it doesn't happen.
The honor goes to this slick-talking guy from the intelligence wing. Feeling passed over and unappreciated, the soldier tries to murder the unit's top commanders and fails. Sinking into depression, there is only one way out.
"It is far too late to shape my nature," the soldier snaps. "Make no mistake. Leave me alone."
The depression leads to suicide.
Thankfully, this is only a play, and probably not one that immediately comes to mind.
Any drama about a nine-year war – say, starting in 2001 – that includes combat stress and political controversy could be set in Afghanistan.
Except this play is 2,500 years old, written by a Greek general named Sophocles and starring the great warrior Ajax, who is suffering from a wallop of post-combat depression with a nudge from Athena, the goddess of war.
It was presented Wednesday at Fort Eustis by Theater of War Productions, founded by Newport News native Bryan Doerries.
Now touring military bases around the country, Theater of War draws on timeless themes from ancient Greek plays like Sophocles' "Ajax" to present the unchanging face of war and spur discussion of mental trauma that can break the best soldier, be it an Army Ranger or a Greek warrior.
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