The embodiment of war: reflections on the tour of duty

This essay approaches voyeurism from the point of view of the soldier on a “tour of duty” and teases out the implicit connections between the military gaze and the tourist gaze. While in training or on the battlefield, soldiers are driven by common discourses of patriotism, masculinity and heroism. However, Brighton explains that the coherence of fighting units is also a function of R&R and leisure time—when soldiers become tourists.