Structure

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The narrative respects the traditional plot elements, but its key features are the psychological introspection and the realistic depiction of soldiers’ mentality.

Title

The title of the short story, “Redeployment” announces the topic of the text: presenting the process of soldiers’ redeployment from combat areas to their home.

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Beginning

The short story begins abruptly, in media res, hooking readers’ attention by intentionally omitting details about the context and the characters: “We shot dogs. Not by accident. We did it on purpose, and we called it Operation Scooby. I’m a dog person, so I thought about that a lot.” (p. 251, ll. 1-3)

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Middle

The middle of the short story develops the rising action by presenting both external events and the impact they have on the narrator psychologically (his attitude to what is happening, the way these events trigger war memories, etc.)

First, we are told how the narrator feels on the plane back to the US, the way he is unable to structure his thoughts which get mixed with memories of war: “The problem is, your thoughts don’t come out in any kind of straight order. You don’t think, Oh, I did A, then B, then C, then D. You try to think about home, then you’re in the torture house.” (p. 256, ll. 16-18)

Then, the narrator presents the soldiers’ first contact with civil society during a plane refuel in Ireland. The soldiers choose to get drunk and forget about everything: “It was good. We got back on the plane and passed the fuck out. Woke up in America.” (p. 254, ll. 1-2)

Contrary to the narrator’s expectations, he does not feel at home immediately after the plane lands in the US.

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Ending

The falling action focuses on the process of aiming and shooting the gun, which is meant to convey the dehumanization of the act of killing—the focus is on avoiding pain which overshadows the fact that ultimately, one is taking a life:

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