Change Of Group Dynamics: “The Wounded Platoon” By Dan Edge
As seen in the Frontline film “The Wounded Platoon” by Dan Edge, people who serve in the Army feel a larger sense of nationalism, unlike a citizen who doesn’t serve. During their time spent in the army, they build relationships and groups that eventually become their second family. More specifically, it documents the effects of war on the soldiers and how they have struggled coping with the traumatic events that they saw in war. In this film the platoon exemplifies how secondary groups can develop overtime into primary groups: and after the tragic experience of losing their Sargent the group ties, along with the soldier's morale, were weakened.
The group in the film being analyzed is the Third Platoon. To begin with, when the platoon first came together they exemplified a secondary group because they had minimal group cohesion and were united around deployment to Iraq. They had minimal group cohesion because of entry level difficulty and because each soldier had a sense of external competition. In other words, the soldiers had to train and rise through the ranks to eventually get to be a part of this platoon. Not to mention the fact that the U.S government made sure to instill in the soldiers that extremists and terrorists in Iraq were the common enemy. Consequently, this led to the group being able to function smoothly, because they had to come together to patrol the highways and pick up the dead bodies of civilians. However, as time passed the platoon became increasingly closer outside the job.
Additionally, under the leadership of Sargent Hughey, the platoon became a primary group because the soldiers felt a sense of loyalty to each other and took pride in being in the group. After the Third Platoon was assigned Sargent Hughey, they immediately started to climb the ranks and claim the title of being one of the best battalions. The significance behind this statement is that the group cohesion grew because they were experiencing so much success, which led to them to start feeling a sense of pride to be a part of the Third platoon.
Another, factor of the transformation would be Sargent Hughey’s expressive and influential leadership style. Sargent Hughey was able to deepen the social ties between himself and the soldiers by acting as a father figure. Then, the soldiers began to strengthen social ties as well by getting to know each other and increasing meaningful interactions outside the job. In due time, the platoon was nicknamed the “Band of Brothers.” Overall, the group could no longer be classified as a secondary group, because they were no longer united around work. Instead, they were united around the fact that they saw each other as an extension of their own family.
Unfortunately, the group dynamic was weakened by the death of Sargent Hughey. One day when the platoon was using the surge method of warfare, Sargent Hughey and many other soldiers were blown up by explosive devices or killed by the exchange of gunfire. Furthermore, he died in front of his platoon and none of their efforts were able to save him in the end causing them to be traumatized.
As soon as he died, the group dynamic began to weaken, because he was the father figure that united the platoon with his great leadership skills. On a larger scale, they still felt attached to each other; however, the group dynamic would never have the same strength it would have when he was alive. In this sense, that the group experienced anomie. This means that they no longer felt a sense of normal anymore. The group acted as an anchor for many of their minds, and when that began to dissolve, they inwardly began to crumble as individuals and as a group. These men were not given proper time to grieve, so they were not able to emotionally keep up with the increased pace of change. Therefore, many of the group members turned to drugs, alcohol, or violence to deal with the trauma they experienced.
In conclusion, the film proves that secondary groups, under the right circumstances can evolve into primary groups and that group dynamics can shift if it loses a major member. The film also proves sociology can be applied to every aspect of life to better explain the ambiguity of society. With this being said, if people were to understand group dynamics, they would have more empathy about soldiers having a hard time reintegrating to civilian life. Furthermore, if everyone, including the Armed Forces, receives education about group dynamics, and the effects of weakened social ties, more effort can be put into helping soldiers cope with their P.T.S.D and making plans to lessen the amount of crime in places where returning vets live, such as Fort Carson.
