Nobody brings home the age that most of our young soldiers and Marines are than Paul Fussell in two of his books: Wartime, a personal memoir of his experiences in France in 1944-45 and The Boys Crusade, which gives an accurate picture of who the kids - and they were kids - who were the grunts of the US Army in the campaign to free Western Europe from the Nazis.

Some of it makes for tough reading, but it's as true a picture as any of us who weren't there are going to get.

The only time it came home to me in a more personal way was when my uncle - my Dad's older brother - talked about graduating HS with buddies, partying because they had all been drafted and how most of them were killed in the Bulge less than six months later.

Anyhow, for those of you out there who haven't read these two books, go out and find them - they aren't long and they aren't scholarly. Just good, touching reads.

My great-grandfather served six months in the California National Guard in a horse cavalry unit during the Spanish-American War, and the closest he got to seeing action was Camp Lewis, Washington. In the early 1930s he took my late dad to an old soldiers' home in San Francisco, where an elderly gentleman spoke of his service at Chattanooga. When dad was drafted in 1943 my step-grandfather, a Great War veteran of the 17th London, said, "It'll either make him or break him."

When I was promoted to first lieutenant in 1980 I was in one of the same parts of Germany where dad had fought in 1945, which was by then on the southern shoulder of a potential Soviet breakthrough in the Fulda Gap area. That year, 1980, was about the time Starbuck was born. That makes a guy feel a bit long in the tooth, as well as being told that one's old self-propelled 175mm gun battalion is every bit as obsolescent as great-grandad's horse cavalry! "Garry Owen," anyone?

There does seem to be a puzzling ambivalence in our country to the casualties, as long as it's someone else's kinfolk.

The French used to have a way to describe a tired army: they would say it needed revalorizing. We haven't reached that point, nor do I think we will, but perhaps our population needs a little less "amby" and more valentia?

Ah, what a draft would surely do to wind down this conflict in a heartbeat! :|

This is such a sad post, but so well done. The phone alone speaks volumes, but the quote...it's just so sad.

I am here in Iraq on my third tour. First hand, I see how these wars have ripped apart our military families and the wear and tear on our troops. Does Afghanistan make such a difference to our national security and future that it warrants the loss of more Americans? No. This country needs to ask itself some serious questions before sending our youth to war. Also, American society as a whole needs to seriously sacrifice (draft/increased taxes) to make society share the pain. Why should so few sacrifice? So more can shop and live in a state of ignorant bliss?

Sorry for my english, since I am writing from Spain.

Thank you Thom for your posts. I have completely nothing to do with the military community but your comments are really interesting for me.

I was completely shocked by thi picture you show in this post. Reading in the internet about Sgt Regan story has benn really moving. I thank you again for bringing this side of the war.

"Of course we will not have the super-duper Don Rumsfeld star troopers that only a highly trained professional army can have. Except that the rugged terrain of Afghanistan is too much for those bad-boys."

Read Horse Soldiers. Those star troopers hit the ground running, banded the Northern Alliance together, and kicked the crap out of the Taliban in short order.

"The emerging 'warrior caste' is a cancer to the body of a republic."

While I will not contest that multiple tours down range do take their toll, to call those who volunteer to walk into the fire so that others aren't forced a "cancer" is despicable. The precious republic is a mob with the attention span of a small child. It hasn't been even a decade since 9/11, yet already people have forgotten what it was like to watch that destruction live.

Mens Custom Timberland Boots
$150.00 $84.00
Save: 44% off
Timberland Custom Boots menPremium Guaranteed Waterproof leather for comfort,

durability and abrasion resistance ; Timberland tree logo stamped on inside of

tongue ; Direct-attach waterproof construction keeps feet dry and comfortable ;

Durable laces with Taslan fibres for long-lasting wear ; Rubber lug outsole for

traction and durability ; Padded collar for a comfortable fit that locks out debris

; Rustproof hardware for long-lasting wear ; Embroidered logo on side

http://www.brawbuy.com/
http://www.myjerseysky.com/
http://www.ghdprincess.com/