Jess was on the Fredonia State College campus yesterday, the 22nd, to sign copies of Shade It Black. here is the college's most recent acount of her accomplishments.
http://ww2.fredonia.edu/news/BrowseallNews/tabid/1101/ctl/ArticleView/mid/1878/articleId/3247/language/en-US/Fredonia_graduate_makes_news_with_memoir_Shade_it_Black_a_true_story_of_retrieving_and_cataloging_Marines_KIA.aspx
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
I know Jess' story well, yet was brought to tears when reading it expressed through this moving poem, written by Alex Bell.
Shade it Black
Across the gunfire beneath a truck, flashes light up my collection.
The explosion has done its job,
Oh God how it has done its job!
I must do mine.
How dare they say we are trained, there is no training to prepare you for this...
Same boots, same belt,
It could be me, it could be me.
I wish it was me.
His pain is over, mine has just begun.
I freeze!
Feeling inept I lay there motionless, what do I do?
I do nothing, nothing.
A nearby shell shocks me!
I start clawing out at the burnt meat, grabbing all I can see....all I can smell,
quickly, quickly, get this over with,
No fear, pure anger.
Body bag partly full I drag myself out.
The Unit greet the old me, not realising she doesn’t exist;
SHE was left behind in the cold shadow of the truck.
They congratulate me on a successful mission
“Got there before the enemy”, “Job well done”
I ignore the high five............
The light falls upon the open bag.
They are also quiet.
A half finished jigsaw
the Marine lays on the table,
We stare at the spaces the bomb has left behind.
I shade these in black on the paperwork.
The inventory begins.
His pockets still full of life,
‘Rules of engagement’ neatly folded,
Scrunched up trash that didn’t become litter,
A picture of smiles from his high school football team,
A half full bottle of Blue Star ointment and
from his bloodied breast pocket slips a sonogram of a foetus.
The silence is now louder.
Alex Bell 10th October 2011
Shade it Black
Across the gunfire beneath a truck, flashes light up my collection.
The explosion has done its job,
Oh God how it has done its job!
I must do mine.
How dare they say we are trained, there is no training to prepare you for this...
Same boots, same belt,
It could be me, it could be me.
I wish it was me.
His pain is over, mine has just begun.
I freeze!
Feeling inept I lay there motionless, what do I do?
I do nothing, nothing.
A nearby shell shocks me!
I start clawing out at the burnt meat, grabbing all I can see....all I can smell,
quickly, quickly, get this over with,
No fear, pure anger.
Body bag partly full I drag myself out.
The Unit greet the old me, not realising she doesn’t exist;
SHE was left behind in the cold shadow of the truck.
They congratulate me on a successful mission
“Got there before the enemy”, “Job well done”
I ignore the high five............
The light falls upon the open bag.
They are also quiet.
A half finished jigsaw
the Marine lays on the table,
We stare at the spaces the bomb has left behind.
I shade these in black on the paperwork.
The inventory begins.
His pockets still full of life,
‘Rules of engagement’ neatly folded,
Scrunched up trash that didn’t become litter,
A picture of smiles from his high school football team,
A half full bottle of Blue Star ointment and
from his bloodied breast pocket slips a sonogram of a foetus.
The silence is now louder.
Alex Bell 10th October 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Claudia Hammond of BBC's Radio 4 Interviews Jess
Cludia's interview with Jess begins at the 19 minute mark. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b015ck9z
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Interview on Tuesday, October 4th, on BBC Radio 4!
04/10/2011
Listen :
Next on:
Tuesday, 21:00 on BBC Radio 4
Synopsis
Claudia Hammond talks to Jess Goodell about her role in Mortuary Affairs in the US Marines. Jess's job was to recover the remains of soldiers in Iraq so they could be returned to the US. She talks about the psychological impact of retrieving bodies often in the aftermath of Improvised Explosive Devices. In her training she was told "PTSD is real - like 'flu." In her insightful account of one aspect of the Iraq conflict she explains how she developed PTSD and how she dealt with the nightmares and depression on returning home to civilian life.
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