Extra Credit #2 (soldier x paper)

Going from eating rat meat and old soup to eating fresh bread and cool water is quite a change. Being picked on by elders or being cared for by loving companions are also very different scenarios. The book Soldier X shows many different examples of cultural differences between Germany’s and Russia’s armies.
There were many ways in which these two countries were different, one of them being the way their soldiers were viewed. Being a soldier in Germany meant that you were a young boy that was born to die for their country. They were told, “You are nothing – your people are everything.” You were seen as invaluable and just seen as one group, you yourself didn’t matter, while being a soldier in Russia was pretty different. Each individual was thought to matter. They knew that each one of those soldiers had a family and had a mind of their own. The Russian soldiers all had the same status. If they were young boys or old veterans, they received the same amount of kindness and care. Germans were the exact opposite in this area. The older, more experienced soldiers would get the better treatment while the younger ones had a really hard time. These views of the soldiers came heavily into play when it came to how the soldiers saw each other.
How the soldiers acted towards each other in the German army and the Russian army is obviously different. The German soldiers seemed to live by the saying “every man for himself” while the Russians seemed to want to help each other out, no man left behind. What was most obvious about the relationship between one soldier and the next was that the German soldiers made it very clear when they didn’t like someone, usually the younger soldiers. The Nazis that were older and had been in the war longer really enjoyed picking on and teasing the new soldiers. In this book, Don Wulffson talks about a young boy who gets picked on by an older soldier. The older soldier stole the young boy’s sandwich and then says “This is quite good, did your mama make it for you?” They bullied them and tried their best to intimidate them. The Russians had the exact opposite relationship. It was almost like a father-son relationship among the older and younger men in the Russian army. The younger boys kind of looked up to the more experienced veterans. They supported each other and cared for each other.
When it came to caring for the soldiers, in a non-affectionate way, the Russian army and the German army still were really different. When a German soldier was injured and hospitalized, they would be bandaged up in a small hospital that maybe had been used as a bus or a small building. After that, they would maybe be sent back off to war, going back to receiving a low amount of food and barely any sleep. When a Russian was injured, they would be taken to a schoolhouse or another big building turned into a fully operating hospital to be healed over a period of time. Not until they were fully recovered and examined was there a possibility of being sent back to fight. It was so clear that the Russians truly cared about their injured soldiers because all of the nurses and doctors were volunteers, and they were whole-heartedly dedicated to their patients. A general came into one of the Russian hospitals to inspect it and possibly send some of the inured soldiers back to fight, when he took a liking to one of the nurses. He had asked if she wanted to come back with him to do important work. The nurse replied, “I am already doing important work.” The nurses and doctors of the Russian hospitals cared deeply about their patients. The Russians and the Germans definitely had a different kind of system for caring for their soldiers.
In Soldier X, It became very clear that there were major differences between the Russian army and the German army. There were different ways of caring for the soldiers, they were viewed differently and seen in different lights. Each country had its own way of dealing with and handling its army. Overall, it shows big differences in German and Russian cultures, although they may have a few similarities, Soldier X shows just how different these two cultures are.