The Things They Carried 
in the chapter "enemies" Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen get into a brutal fist fight over a stolen jack knife. Strunk started going a little crazy and broke his own nose because he was so paranoid that Jensen would eventually hit him back, so he did it himself and inflicted his own injury.
in the chapter "friends" Jensen and Strunk became very close and had made a promise to each other that if one of them got so hurt they would have to be in a wheel chair for the rest of their lives that the other one would take the other persons life. Strunk had stepped on a rigged mortar blowing off his right leg up to his knee. Jensen did not keep his promise because Strunk begged him not to kill him, so Jensen didn't kill him, but he ended up dying anyways.

Response: I think it's crazy the effects that war can have on someone. It can make someone so crazy they break there own nose. I understand why Jensen did not kill him, I could not take someones life especially one of my closest friends. It would be hard to see everything that comes with the war.

Ain't So/ Is Not

Summary:
In the book They I Say by Gerrald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein there is a chapter called Aint So/Is Not and in this section of the book they talk about how you don't always have to use scholarly language, at times it is okay to use slang. It says to be aware of who your audience is and the subject of your paper because at times it may be inappropriate to use slang. At times it is smarter to use slang for the audience you are targeting because in today's world a lot of the time slang is more understood than scholarly language would be.

Response:
I completely agree with what they are saying. At times when I write papers I find myself trying to use only scholarly words, but honestly a lot of the time it just sounds so boring. Don't get me wrong I do know the correct time to use slang so I take advantage. There is a time when it is inappropriate to use slang.I agree that people just need to learn when it is and is not appropriate.