Where+Men+Win+Glory+by+Michelle+B.


 * Journal Entry #1**:

The beginning of this novel goes back into the past of Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. These two countries were working together and Russia was the financial aid for Afghanistan. The Soviet Union had a great relationship with Afghanistan because they had close ties with the Prime Minister, Mohammed Daoud Khan. He was forced to resign after starting a disastrous war with Pakistan. He gained his power once again in the year of 1973 after using a non violent coup d'etat to force King Zahir to give up his power. After this situation occured Dauod named himself the first president of the Republic of Afghanistan. Within his heart, Dauod was an Afghanistan nationalist and he didn't want to become the Soviet Union's puppet for power. The political power was starting to shift towards the PDPA, an organization that once approved Dauod's rise to power, and riots started to break out. Guerilla warfare started to break loose and the Soviet Union couldn't fight back. This was also during the era of the Cold War, so of course the US had to get involved and decided to help the Afghan army to get rid of the Soviet Union's army by giving them millions of dollars worth of weapons.

Jon Krakauer, author of __Where Men Win Glory__, starts off very slowly because of all the history he has to write about. The beginning of the story actually caught me off guard because I thought that the novel would be purely about Pat Tillman's, main character, life. I didn't want to continue on at first but there were so many interesting facts about the past of all three countries: Soviet Union, Afganistan, and the United States. I never knew that the United States was in Afghanistan before 9/11 and I most definetly didn't know that the Soviet Union was also within the war.

* [|Soviet Union's power within Afghanistan] * Mohammed Daoud Khan's power * [|King Zahir's reign] * [|Guerilla Warfare tactics in Afghanistan] * PDPA
 * Research:**


 * Journal Entry #2:**

The second section of __Where Men Win Glory__ focuses mostly on Pat Tillman's high school life. Basically, Mr. Tillman is attending his senior year and he is one of the best high school football players in all of California. People viewed him as the stereotypical football player: educationally slow, sports are the only things that matter, and extremely selfish. We, as the readers, see that he is not the stereotypical football player; in reality, he's everything opposite from it. He also got his first girlfriend senior year who, oddly enough, was his childhood best friend. Later on throughout the school year he went to a restaurant with his football buddies and girlfriend. While at the restaurant, a group of kids came along that came from an opposing football team. Things were fine while in the restaurant, but when the opposing stepped out after feeling uncomfortable Pat's best friend decided to pick a fight with them. Unfortunetly, Pat's best friend was losing the fight and he cried out for help. Pat had heard his best friend's cry and ran out to help which resulted in him beating a kid half to death and being sent to trial by the parents of the kid Pat almost killed. Pat felt extremely bad about the incident because he knew he messed up big time and that his college future might not happen, but he knew it was his punishment and he was more than willing to take it. This section of the story really intrigued me and shocked me. It was nice to hear some background about Pat Tillman because the whole book, until now, seemed to only be about the past of Afghanistan, Russia, and the United States. I always viewed Pat Tillman as the stereotypicall football player, not as someone who cared deeply about the ones he loved and even those he didn't really know. The situation between Pat and the kid he almost killed didn't phase me one bit, because I knew that Pat was extremely protective towards the ones he loved. What did shock me about the situation was when Pat Tillman felt extremely bad about his actions and would take his punishment even if it meant losing his college football career.


 * Research:**
 * Pat Tillman's college football career
 * Empathy
 * Trial procedure for assualt
 * College procedure for an athlete with an assault record
 * Pat Tillman's trial


 * Journal Entry #3:**

The third quarter of the novel __Where Men Win Glory__ focuses mainly on Pat Tillman's military life in Afghanistan and the growing conflict in the Middle East. Ever since 9/11 the quarrel and hostility in Afghanistan had continued to grow at an incredible speed. While in Afghanistan, Pat and his brother had to do many missions which they didn't really enjoy. Pat actually believed that the war was "illegal as hell", but he was a patriot and believed that doing his job was for the best. He also hated the fact that he is away from his wife Marie, but he thought that the distance between them would strengthen their love for each other. The end of this section left me frightened for Pat and his squad because they were mistaken for an enemy squad, and shots were fired.

This section of the novel wasn't anything special to me because their wasn't anything extremely big happening until the end of the section; however, this section was filled with an abundance of information about the military life and the continuing war that is currently going on in our time.

* Marriage with US Soldier * Jihad * [|9/11] * [|P.O.W in the war against terrorism] * Nationalism
 * Research:**

The novel __Where Men Win Glory__ is about the man by the name of Pat Tillman. Pat Tillman is a very athletic and responsible guy; he was signed to a multi-million dollar contract to play in the NFL. Pat Tillman decided not to go into the NFL, so he recruited himself into the army to protect his country after 9/11 because he believed it was the right thing to do. Sadly enough his stay in Afghanistan was short lived, he was shot down by friendly fire during a shoot out. The news of how his death occurred was not permitted to leave the army and government because they were afraid of the critisism by the public due to the friendly fire. The Bush administration used this time to call Pat Tillman a hero and tell all of America that he was killed by the enemy, but in reality he was killed by his own men. Friends and family members of Pat Tillman fought to get the truth out of the army so others and themelves could rest in peace. Eventually they got what they wanted done and that is how the story of __Where Men Win Glory__ ended.
 * Journal Entry #4**

The story of Pat Tillman started to slow down and bore me until the end. Jon Krakauer used too much detail and way too much detail about the Afghanistan war. If the story focused mostly on Pat Tillman, as I hoped it would, then it would of been a better story for me to read over all. The details of the war eventually got to the point that I didn't want to read the story anymore. Reading past all the details is worth it because deep within the book we get to see the hero Pat Tillman.


 * Research:**
 * Friendly fire
 * Bush Administration dealings on Pat Tillman
 * Pat Tillman's choice to leave NFL
 * Disclosure to families after death of a loved one in war
 * Conspiracy

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