The first variation is the temporary withdrawal from the military order within a military sociality still in a state of emergency. In this variation, the presence of absent characteristics, moments, and characters from pre-war, daily life is key to the mode of memory. These entities become agents of a moment of temporary return to civilian life in the mode of memory. Often it is media-related reminders of civilian society within the film—for example photographs or music on the radio—that stage memories of home in the middle of military order.

The second variation portrays the completed withdrawal from military order—the return to civilian sociality. In this variation, it is predominantly the military sociality in states of emergency that is remembered.