Streamers opens up an entire world of complexity within the realm of the military. The play begins with Martin having slit his wrist in order to either kill himself before having to be shipped off to war, or to get himself kicked out of the military. This character is never seen again, but represents what the play is about in the grand scheme of it. The underlying idea is that no one wants to go to war, they are all their for their own reasons and have either been drafted or enlisted, but either way they know their life is potentially hanging in the balance. We watch as each character reacts in different ways based on their background in their life and where they were from and the experiences they carry with them to their feelings about war and death and everything in between.
Cokes ends the play with a monologue about killing a Korean soldier during a battle by throwing a grenade into a hole and closing a steel door, sitting on it not allowing the man to come out before the explosion ripped him apart. This imagery relates to how each of the men have the opportunity to let another man out of a situation that will lead to death--all of the characters in this play have this very chance--but ultimately they choose not to do so, instead allowing violence to rip through the barracks and lead to murder. All of this coming from the inability for one human being to communicate with another in such a way that they see the person as more than just another soldier, but instead as a human being. And, once we hear Cokes retell his story, we understand that this soldier lives with that dead man's life hanging in his mind day after day, night after night and so will these young soldiers; for the rest of their lives.
