- Jan 15, 2001
- 15,069
- 94
- 91
EDIT
ok everyone, i am tired of being bashed for supposedly not respecting the men that died for us. i am being bashed for calling the whole event stupid, and i am being called a pussy for even typing this.
exactly what i meant by my initial post (it just may not have come out this way):
i think death like this is stupid, yes i have read enough of this now that i think i can say this Amused, in this type of situation. I know if i was a general i would not have done anything differentely, but i didnt know that until you guys told me exactly what happened and everything that went into the planning of this raid. NOW, it makes a LOT more sense, but i still just dont like thinking about how an amphibious assault like this and Iwo Jima as another example were on each individual soldier.
i keep getting PMs about being a pussy...WTF? i must be a pussy because i dont like the fact that out grandfathers and fathers died for us and i didnt like the fact of sending them to death by unloading them in the sea and making them plow through water, BUT now i understand why they had to! Amused said i was thinking like a nintendo game, and he was right. Now i see what he meant by the technology only going so far.
and dont even go there on why i havent learned in school. i sent you (you know who you are) a PM explaining my situation at school, and for the rest of you, its definitely not because i dont pay attention.
basically, i came here venting my frustration at this particular part of the war because i just couldnt imagine being one of the soldiers, but it had never been presented to me like that, so i didnt know what to say besides it was stupid. the plan, now that i read, was brilliant, the men were brave and died for us to be here, but i just didnt like the idea of death before you can even get off the boat.
end edit
normandy for example...i am reading out of a passage that says "officer ricksen stepped off of the transport boat and was hit in the throat from machine gun fire. within 20 seconds, his whole platoon was shot down before exiting the boat."
OMG! this almost makes me mad that things like this happened. i have to do a report where i put myself in a soldiers shoes...and to put myself in their shoes...can you imagine everyone in front of you being tossed into a meat grinder?
WTF was the strategy here? throw as many guys at them as possible until we overcome them? well, that surely is not the best way to approach it. i know we "blanket" bombed the beaches before dropping troops...
BUT, if all but 8 of a 197 man company is dead within 8 minutes, there is a severe problem. makes me sad to know that men had to endure such things for us to be here today living the life we do. i realize i have a lot to learn at my age, but this just pisses me off. it was tragic and wasteful of non-expendable human life. there was no need to go about attacking the beaches this way.
and how about this....
why were the transports not designed to make it all the way to shore? couldnt that have been done? if they would have let the men off on the sand, they would have had a LOT better chance of making it up the beach. i keep reading about how half of them died before they even touched ground...
this goes for the rest of the war too... Iwo Jima (sp?), battle of the bulge, etc... WTF? i am just in shock at what happened back then. i just feel like this was a TERRIBLE waste of human life.
anyone have anything to say?
btw, i know there have been worse times, this is just an example because i am learning about it...war in general makes me sad
ok everyone, i am tired of being bashed for supposedly not respecting the men that died for us. i am being bashed for calling the whole event stupid, and i am being called a pussy for even typing this.
exactly what i meant by my initial post (it just may not have come out this way):
i think death like this is stupid, yes i have read enough of this now that i think i can say this Amused, in this type of situation. I know if i was a general i would not have done anything differentely, but i didnt know that until you guys told me exactly what happened and everything that went into the planning of this raid. NOW, it makes a LOT more sense, but i still just dont like thinking about how an amphibious assault like this and Iwo Jima as another example were on each individual soldier.
i keep getting PMs about being a pussy...WTF? i must be a pussy because i dont like the fact that out grandfathers and fathers died for us and i didnt like the fact of sending them to death by unloading them in the sea and making them plow through water, BUT now i understand why they had to! Amused said i was thinking like a nintendo game, and he was right. Now i see what he meant by the technology only going so far.
and dont even go there on why i havent learned in school. i sent you (you know who you are) a PM explaining my situation at school, and for the rest of you, its definitely not because i dont pay attention.
basically, i came here venting my frustration at this particular part of the war because i just couldnt imagine being one of the soldiers, but it had never been presented to me like that, so i didnt know what to say besides it was stupid. the plan, now that i read, was brilliant, the men were brave and died for us to be here, but i just didnt like the idea of death before you can even get off the boat.
end edit
normandy for example...i am reading out of a passage that says "officer ricksen stepped off of the transport boat and was hit in the throat from machine gun fire. within 20 seconds, his whole platoon was shot down before exiting the boat."
OMG! this almost makes me mad that things like this happened. i have to do a report where i put myself in a soldiers shoes...and to put myself in their shoes...can you imagine everyone in front of you being tossed into a meat grinder?
WTF was the strategy here? throw as many guys at them as possible until we overcome them? well, that surely is not the best way to approach it. i know we "blanket" bombed the beaches before dropping troops...
BUT, if all but 8 of a 197 man company is dead within 8 minutes, there is a severe problem. makes me sad to know that men had to endure such things for us to be here today living the life we do. i realize i have a lot to learn at my age, but this just pisses me off. it was tragic and wasteful of non-expendable human life. there was no need to go about attacking the beaches this way.
and how about this....
why were the transports not designed to make it all the way to shore? couldnt that have been done? if they would have let the men off on the sand, they would have had a LOT better chance of making it up the beach. i keep reading about how half of them died before they even touched ground...
this goes for the rest of the war too... Iwo Jima (sp?), battle of the bulge, etc... WTF? i am just in shock at what happened back then. i just feel like this was a TERRIBLE waste of human life.
anyone have anything to say?
btw, i know there have been worse times, this is just an example because i am learning about it...war in general makes me sad