WWII Marine "Nothing I done bothered me"

[evernoob]

So you can experience the actual horror of combat while sitting in your easy chair?

Yeah that's the idea. The people who have been in combat write books to communicate with the people who have not. Very common are epigraphs or prologues which include some desire to share not only the events, but the state of mind and emotional changes that happen. If you take someone like Eugene Sledge, he's clearly an academic writer and spent his time thinking like an Enlisted Marine. He went to some trouble to describe and relate horrors. His specific, stated intent was to relate the horrors of war to people who had not been there, to unburden himself, to get the events involving people he cared about on paper, and to end the loneliness he had experienced for the prior 30 years.

Sledge was a Scientist, and about 50% of a PhD program is to learn economy in writing. So when he goes on at some length describing bottle-flies emerging from a dead putrid Japanese soldier and flying over and landing on your K-rations, he's not just musing. Every lurid adjective is there on purpose, covered by a quality Editor who knew that had a story and a published Academic author to work with.

Then there is, again, the fact that Sledge and many others have written some form of the words "my intent here is to relate the horrors of war to you so that you can feel them and talk about them."

 

[Truckedup]

Yeah that's the idea. The people who have been in combat write books to communicate with the people who have not. Very common are epigraphs or prologues which include some desire to share not only the events, but the state of mind and emotional changes that happen. If you take someone like Eugene Sledge, he's clearly an academic writer and spent his time thinking like an Enlisted Marine. He went to some trouble to describe and relate horrors. His specific, stated intent was to relate the horrors of war to people who had not been there, to unburden himself, to get the events involving people he cared about on paper, and to end the loneliness he had experienced for the prior 30 years.

Sledge was a Scientist, and about 50% of a PhD program is to learn economy in writing. So when he goes on at some length describing bottle-flies emerging from a dead putrid Japanese soldier and flying over and landing on your K-rations, he's not just musing. Every lurid adjective is there on purpose, covered by a quality Editor who knew that had a story and a published Academic author to work with.

Then there is, again, the fact that Sledge and many others have written some form of the words "my intent here is to relate the horrors of war to you so that you can feel them and talk about them."

The new generation, I am an experienced expert because I read about it...

 

[Yota Up]

I watch a ton of the WW2 veteran vids, like 3 a day. I have yet to see one who has complained of PTSD, some will talk of nightmares and alcohol addiction after their service but that's about it. I have also heard many when asked the question talk about sucking it up and getting on with life. Don't get me wrong I do believe PTSD is a very real thing and I would bet these guys had their share of it but they dealt with it without labeling themselves or crying about it.

You sure about that? I'm curious. It would be interesting to go back in time and offer them the $$$ that comes along with that diagnosis to really see how many would grab at it to cash in and live on easy street.

 

[Projectjunkie]

FWIW, the WW2 vet i knew was shot 13 times and died of old age, lived a pretty fulfilling life, but he gave credibility to ptsd, apparently writing some lawmakers on behalf of recent vets seeking help for ptsd....

not a one size fits all

 

[evernoob]

The new generation, I am an experienced expert because I read about it...

Well I don't know about that. Seems like you're talking about people who try to assume Authority because they read a book. These assholes are everywhere, and are responsible for the Nation's current problems.

You're making a distinction between people who approach the topic with humility, and those that don't. Everyone here agrees that you're correct. Combat is a subject to be approached with humility and seriousness. We don't have anything else other than books, and we are obligated to understand.

I think the point you want to be at, is you don't want somebody dismissing a Marine on Guadalcanal as a monster just because he went around executing wounded and dying Japanese soldiers. We, non-combat vets, try to approach the subject this way: I would do the same in that situation.

You are worried about people not contextualizing that information, and your concern is correct. Just that's not the case here nor for most people who seek this out. And if it wasn't offered freely (and with imperative) by the Vets themselves, I'd be less sure of myself here.

 

[Derp]

The new generation, I am an experienced expert because I read about it...

Not only that, but now you can contradict people who were there and lived it, and tell them that they're wrong.

Then you can pretend to not be one of those people and actually against those people, when you're called out on it. So it's like no matter how right someone else is, you can always be more righter


(Now whoooo could I be talking about...) :rolleyes:

 

[Mikel]

Found this photo, taken in October 1945, in Tulse Hill, London, shows Gunner Hector Murdoch greeted by his beloved wife Rosina and his son John. Captured by Japanese forces, Hector spent more than three years in a POW camp in Singapore, where he almost died of Cholera.

I can't even begin to imagine the baggage this man is bringing home with him.

 

[Icono]

Found this photo, taken in October 1945, in Tulse Hill, London, shows Gunner Hector Murdoch greeted by his beloved wife Rosina and his son John. Captured by Japanese forces, Hector spent more than three years in a POW camp in Singapore, where he almost died of Cholera.

I can't even begin to imagine the baggage this man is bringing home with him.

Neither can I. I haven't read this whole thread, but that guy was in a real war, not an invasion of some foreign land, killing people for some bullshit action.

PTSD is when you fucking know the people you're looking at through a scope and wonder why the fuck this is going on. It weighs on you.

 

[Mikel]

Neither can I. I haven't read this whole thread, but that guy was in a real war, not an invasion of some foreign land, killing people for some bullshit action.

PTSD is when you fucking know the people you're looking at through a scope and wonder why the fuck this is going on. It weighs on you.

Not only that. He was a POW of the Japanese for three years. He lived holocaust-level stuff for three years.

 

[Icono]

Not only that. He was a POW of the Japanese for three years. He lived holocaust-level stuff for three years.

Yeah, I was surprised he got out. The Japs were fucking ruthless.

I thought of the Burma Railway, Singapore was a bit out of that.

 

[Drakeslayer]

Regarding the comparison of WWII deployment with Iraq/Afghanistan deployment, I work with a retired marine who was wounded in Somalia. He has issues with vision and pain from nerve damage. His son is just now retiring from the Army, he did 4 tours in the sandbox earning many accolades. My friend told me that comparing his son's actual days in shoot at you combat to WWII soldiers actual days in shoot at you combat his son has endured many more due too being sent back over and over. I tend to give some credibility to him due to his own military experience. The son is pretty fucked up mentally and will likely need support for a long time. My friend worries constantly about his son committing suicide. Twenty years in the army and his only skills are drinking, whoring, and killing. Maybe he can learn to make solar panels or windmills.

 

[Yota Up]

I can't even begin to imagine the baggage this man is bringing home with him.

Meh, it's not too much. It all fits in a little white sack, as you can see.









Ticket, please.

 

[Icono]

Regarding the comparison of WWII deployment with Iraq/Afghanistan deployment, I work with a retired marine who was wounded in Somalia. He has issues with vision and pain from nerve damage. His son is just now retiring from the Army, he did 4 tours in the sandbox earning many accolades. My friend told me that comparing his son's actual days in shoot at you combat to WWII soldiers actual days in shoot at you combat his son has endured many more due too being sent back over and over. I tend to give some credibility to him due to his own military experience. The son is pretty fucked up mentally and will likely need support for a long time. My friend worries constantly about his son committing suicide. Twenty years in the army and his only skills are drinking, whoring, and killing. Maybe he can learn to make solar panels or windmills.

The politicians fuck around, but they don't find out, do they?

Same fucking story, forever. "Freedom!"

 

[Provience]

The politicians fuck around, but they don't find out, do they?

Same fucking story, forever. "Freedom!"

McCain certainly "found out" but that didn't make him a great politician

 

[Provience]

Regarding the comparison of WWII deployment with Iraq/Afghanistan deployment, I work with a retired marine who was wounded in Somalia. He has issues with vision and pain from nerve damage. His son is just now retiring from the Army, he did 4 tours in the sandbox earning many accolades. My friend told me that comparing his son's actual days in shoot at you combat to WWII soldiers actual days in shoot at you combat his son has endured many more due too being sent back over and over. I tend to give some credibility to him due to his own military experience. The son is pretty fucked up mentally and will likely need support for a long time. My friend worries constantly about his son committing suicide. Twenty years in the army and his only skills are drinking, whoring, and killing. Maybe he can learn to make solar panels or windmills.

the guys that did a couple years in Europe or asia certainly had a rough go during WWII, but hell, there were a bunch of them that stuck around and say Europe then Korea then Vietnam. talk about a crazy 20+ year career period

there were WWI vet's who fought in the Indian Wars domestically in the USA

I greatly prefer the volunteer style of the modern military and consider the draft requirement to be significantly more damaging mentally to society at large

 

[Thefishguy77]

Not only that, but now you can contradict people who were there and lived it, and tell them that they're wrong.

Then you can pretend to not be one of those people and actually against those people, when you're called out on it. So it's like no matter how right someone else is, you can always be more righter


(Now whoooo could I be talking about...) :rolleyes:

I got to watch my dad and a friends dad have that happen to them. . A buddy in elementary school and I decided to do reports on the Vietnam war. Teacher said we were both wrong. Dads went in at the end of the day to pick up the boys and talked to the teacher. She said they were wrong even though they were there and she was like 3 at the time. My dad lifted the back of his shirt and said where do you think those holes came from? We passed.

Thats almost a good as my 3rd grade teacher who accused me of cheating in math because I was using very basic trig and she didn’t understand it. And the principal defended her saying she was correct because she had a teaching certificate and I did not. We both took a high school math placement test. She placed in to math 98 and I ended up in pre calculus.

 

[Pony_Driver]

Twenty years in the army and his only skills are drinking, whoring, and killing. Maybe he can learn to make solar panels or windmills.

Good soldier skills, but they're only applicable for a short amount of time. After that it kinda wears on a fellow. The average age for active duty military retirees used to be pretty grim, but even now it's still not great. Officers and reservists seem to fair better.

https://www.stripes.com/news/milita...-sooner-than-reservists-actuaries-say-1.87277

 

[Brian468]

My motto`s always been shoot em in the dick


It`s served me well so far in life.

 

[Snowbird13]

My grandfather on my dad's side was in WWII in the pacific. Went in a married Mormon with 2 kids. He drove(piloted?) one of the landing craft like you see in the beginning of saving private Ryan. His boat got hit with artillery and he was lost at sea for a couple days. Ended up drinking himself to death before I was born(1977). Pretty certain he had (undiagnosed) ptsd

 

[Icono]

Thats almost a good as my 3rd grade teacher who accused me of cheating in math because I was using very basic trig and she didn’t understand it. And the principal defended her saying she was correct because she had a teaching certificate and I did not. We both took a high school math placement test. She placed in to math 98 and I ended up in pre calculus.

Like this?

 

[shortbus4x4]

Meh, it's not too much. It all fits in a little white sack, as you can see.









Ticket, please.

Wrong, it's a sea bag if you're in the Navy or Marines and a duffel bag if army.