Jonathan Flatley, War History Fanatic



War Expert

By: Jonathan P. Flatley

“We can win this battle!” As the tired soldier dashed up the hillside, the rata-tat-tat of machine gun fire filled the air. The area around him was being pelted by guns as he threw grenade after grenade, slowly advancing toward the German machine gun pillbox. After about 15 minutes, the battered infantry soldier finally captured the enemy position. He had eliminated all of the opposing troops. He was wounded badly, but survived. For that action, he earned the medal called the Purple Heart. That man was Carl Hansen, my grandfather’s uncle in World War II. That was about 65 years ago on the beaches of Normandy. My grandfather has taught me about his own experience in the military, and war history. Now, my brother and I have nighttime battles, I play war videogames, I am an expert at shooting real guns, and I research war history.

My brother calls me a “Nighttime Warlord” or “Dark Ninja”, because my brother and I used to have battles at night. We both own Nerf guns, which are plastic guns which shoot foam darts with suction cups on one end. We launched the foam projectiles back and forth between our beds. Our beds used to be parallel to each other, about five feet in-between, until my dad caught us in action. He then moved us into separate rooms, so we can’t have wars any more. The battles usually occurred around 10 P.M., when my brother and I thought my dad was sucked into his nighttime movies or football. Then, we would pull out our hidden Nerf guns, and battle! We usually ceased fire after around ten minutes into the fight, when we got tired. During those ten minutes, I built a pillow fortress, while my brother was being pelted in the open. Like I said, we only got caught once, but we’ve had some close calls. We had an escape plan, in which we cleaned up and “faked sleep”. The escape plan took around five seconds, which is all we needed! Those battles were fun, but there are other things I like to do that relate to my interest in combat…

During the day, I play war computer games, which are strategy games that are like Risk, in which players must take over the world. I also like to play Call of Duty World at War, a World War II game which I play on my Wii; and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 on my Xbox 360. The video games I play are usually first person action shooter games, which take forever to beat. Another thing I like to do is have Nerf gun and squirt gun battles with two squads of people. The indoor Nerf gun battles last until we loose all of our pellets of ammo. Stuffed animals and pillows represent grenades, and mattresses make up forts. The squirt gun battles, however, take place outside in the summer time. The battles usually last until everyone but one person gets squirted so much they all surrender. These games are all played with fake guns, but those aren’t the only types of guns I’ve shot.

I have also had experience with real guns at a shooting range in State College. I was an excellent sharp-shooter, hitting five cans in a row, and exploding a pumpkin! I learned how to operate most of the fire arms, and learned the different types from bayonet rifles to high-powered shot guns. Over all, I learned a lot from my trip to the shooting range, from the history and evolution of guns, to the safety techniques used to fire guns. I learned a lot, and had a fun time!

In my free time, I read books, watch TV, and surf the internet for information on the current updates of the war in the Middle East, and more info on war history. I am becoming an expert on war, and I am always trying to learn more!

As you can see from my nighttime battles, war games, experience with real guns, and research on war, I am becoming more and more interested in war, combat, and battle. I hope I will be an expert and have a career in war history!

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