This is a picture of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, where Steve Carlsen, the poet for we slept with our boots on, worked in. He deployed to Kosovo in November 2001 as part of peace keeping operations. He Deployed to Afghanistan in of December 2002 where he participated in combat operations. He was honorably discharged from the Army in 2003 due to a life long injury. He currently attends Southwestern Michigan College where his professor, Dr Michael Collins challenged him to write about his past experiences, which was why he was inspired to write the poem. The regiment was created in 1942 in the Army of the United States, and his job as a parachute soldier was to take part in land operations to restore order in the countries in need. One of the battalion's operations was operation uphold democracy, Haiti 1994. The battalion was also known as the Red Devils. One of Steve Carlsen's other poems include Take your Pills.

In the poem We slept with our boots on, it was written in the point of view of a soldier, as it is evident from how he describes that his "heart is pumping adrenaline all through my veins" and how he always uses the pronoun "we", where all the soldiers were feeling the same during the intense moments of the operations. He offers a religious tone in the poem, by how he acknowledges that he would soon be punished for his misdeeds which included handling a gun and killing people. This is evident from how he believes that he would meet Saint Peter when he dies. The poem is fast paced until the end, where he believed that he his career as a soldier was over, which is similar to how he had a near death experience. This portrayal is relevant to all soldiers, and hence the poem is in the point of view of all soldiers. In writting the poem in his point of view, it gives readers an idea of how a war is fought and the tiredness and fear when the soldiers were resting. Through his point of view, I feel that he is very direct in his approach of telling us his experiences.

The situation in the poem is during a landing operation. This is evident from how he says "Bullets are flying, the LZ is hot". The LZ stands for Landing Zone, and he knows that it was another dangerous operation and he needed to be quick and agile to dodge the bullets. The poet uses many different settings in the poem, from how he says that he fought from mountains to valleys, from house to caves to cars to creeks. The climax of the poem is during his fights with the enemy, where he kept pulling the trigger and reloaded repeatedly. It is an intense moment where we are unsure when he would be the one who is shot. The resolution to the conflict is when he escapes and goes to safety near the mountains at the Hindu Kush. If the conflict was not resolved, he would not have told us how he had to sleep with his boots on and the fear the soldiers were experiencing even when they were asleep.

The Language of the poem is simple but fast paced, coupled with a few strong words to increase the momentum of the poem. This is evident from how he uses military language like Lock N Load, which refers to weapons, and how he had no time to descibe the equipments and substituted it with "s***". Also, words like "yelled", "tremendous" and "adrenaline" to describe the chaos and fast paced scene in a war. He uses the poppy as a symbol of death, where he believes that his deathbed would be at a place of "tears" and "mud", which refers to war. Also, he uses metaphors when he said that "Beauty and terror are a strong mixed drink". This tells us that while he admire the scenery of where he was camping at i.e. Hindu Kush, terror also overwhelmed him inside. Also, he said that he "drank it like drunkards and had no time to think", which tells us that he could not risk his sleep to think about all the dangers and beauties which surrounded him. The simplicity of the poem helps to give readers a vivid portrayal of war, and the use of figurative language to describe his feelings is effective in portraying the common among the soldiers at war.

The poem makes me feel pity for the individual soldiers and their mothers, as the truth of the war really creeps me towards the end. It is really heartbreaking that the soldiers lose their innocence due to war, and how many people would be going up to see Saint Peter. Also, what hit me the hardest on the head was how the soldiers would sleep in constant fear of being sprung by the enemy during a surprise attack. However, the one thing good about war is that there is a sense of brotherhood, where unity is key in success, as how the poet says that "Blood is thicker than water, well but lead is thicker than blood", which tells us that they were all bonded together with the bullets and weaponary they were carrying, which was to become part of themselves. I believe that the reality of the poem is without question, as it could have happened less than 10 years ago. I am able to relate to what the poet sees through his eyes when writing the poem. This poem makes me feel a little more pessimistic about human nature because we realise that all the fear and intensity in the poem is because we are fighting against our own kind.