Kenny MoranPeriod 211/4/08Comradeship: Essential BondsFamous baseball player Yogi Berra once gave his outlook on teammates: “When you're part of ateam, you stand up for your teammates. Your loyalty is to them. You protect them through good andbad, because they'd do the same for you.” Yogi's insights on teammates are similar to the idea of comradeship, peers linked not by friendship, but by necessity due to the fact that they are all goingthrough the same experiences with a common goal in mind. In harsh times such as being a Germansoldier during World War One, as described by Erich Maria Remarque in

All Quiet on the WesternFront

, one can observe exactly how important comradeship is to a soldier's survival, confidence, andsanity. The fact that someone will provide support should something bad occur encourages one to pushthrough fear and reluctance. After a bond has been established, soldiers must rely on their comrades toprotect and take care of them during these hardships. When these bonds form, soldiers know that theyare no longer alone and are able to continue on with this reassurance. A mutual feeling of comradeshipand interdependency will benefit a soldier's mental state and chances for survival in that it allows one topush their body and mind and maintain a positive outlook on life.The reassurance of knowing someone has your back in times of need is essential to maintainingconfidence during war. In climbing, climbers practice a technique called spotting, in which one of thepeople not currently climbing will put his or her hands up to catch a climber's fall and prevent him or

her from falling on his or her head. Many climbers do not know how to spot, or haven't ever caught aserious fall. However, any climber would be glad to have a spotter whenever possible only because afellow climber is there to support him or her should he or she fall. Just the fact that someone is there tostop a fall takes away the fear of falling, allowing a climber to climb harder and focus more. This is ademonstration of the effects of comradeship on one's confidence. Knowing that a fellow climber willsupport you should you fall gives you a sense of security, boosting confidence and allowing more focusand effort. This fits into the meaning and significance of comradeship in that climbers accomplishmore and are subliminally comforted by the manifestation of their comrades' support: spotting. Thisidea is shown by Stanislaus Katzinsky, or “Kat,” a major character in

All Quiet on the Western Front

who has more experience than anyone else in his squadron, and for this reason, he often provides hiscomrades with food and supplies he manages to find for them: “He finds everything-if it is cold, a smallstove and wood, hay, and straw, a table and chairs-but above all food. It is uncanny; one would think heconjured it out of the air. His masterpiece was four boxes of lobsters”(40). The way that Kat findseverything that his men happen to need shows how important comradeship is for their confidence insurviving the hardships that come with being a soldier. Although extra food and extra warmth are notentirely necessary to their survival at the time, the fact that Kat provided exactly what the groupneeded at opportune times is a literal representation of how important the group's comradeship withKat is. Paul, the main character of the book, is able to reassure a new recruit during his first experienceof a bombardment:“Beside us lies a fair-headed recruit in utter terror. He has buried his face in his hands, hishelmet has fallen off. I fish hold of it and try to put it back on his head. He looks up, pushes

the helmet off his head and like a child creeps under my arm, his head close to my breast...I lethim be. So that the helmet will be of some use I stick it on his behind;- not for a jest, but out of consideration, since that is his highest part. And though there is plenty of meat in there, a shotin it can be pretty damned painful...I sit up and shake the recruit by the shoulder. 'All over,kid! It's all right this time.' He looks around dazedly. 'You'll get used to it soon,' I tell him.He sees his helmet and puts it on”(61-62).The reassuring of the recruit by Paul and the help Paul gives provides the recruit with a sense of confidence and purpose, enabling him to later fight with more spirit and confidence in his next battle.Due to the comrade's bond between Paul and the new recruit, the recruit gains confidence and spirit, anexample of the psychological effects of the bonds in comradeship. Comradeship forms powerful bondswhich reassure soldiers that their comrades will be there to protect them, allowing them to stopworrying and raising confidence and willpower.Soldiers rely on their comrades to protect and take care of them during hardships. Paul and hisfriend Kropp save a fellow comrade's life when their shell-hole is hit with poison gas: “The coffin hashit the fourth man in our hole on his out-stretched arm. He tries to tear off his gas-mask with the otherhand. Kropp seizes it just in time, twists the hand sharply behind his back and holds it fast. The coffinlid is loose and bursts open, we are easily able to pull it off, we toss the corpse out, it slides down to thebottom of the shell hole, then we try to loosen the under-part (69).” In this passage, Paul and Kropp'ssense of comradeship encouraged them to save him. In this instance, comradeship literally saved thesoldier's life. Paul even shares this bond of comradeship with a French soldier he recently killed byinstinct, doing all he can to help the French soldier during his last moments of life:“But when I begin to cut the shirt the eyes open once more and the cry is in them again and thedemented expression, so that I must close them, press them together and whisper: 'I want to helpyou, Comrade, camerade, camerade, camerade-----' eagerly repeating the word, to make him