What would you have been?

I would have been anyone "in the rear with the gear" because I'm afraid of death/dismemberment.

Wouldn't have minded flying a Mustang, though. Not at all.

 

B-17 Waist Gunner or Infantry in ETO..no Pacific stuff for me. Or any job that kept me close to some Army nurses

 

He, he, he! Mischievous Spitfire!

We don't agree in anything, we all want different stuff. It was well said in this phrase:

"The bird would like to be a cloud; and the cloud would like to be a bird"
Rabindranath Tagore

Me, old man in a General's uniform would like to be at the front with my Mauser, and you young privates would like to be in the rear chasing nurses and well... prostitues. Who are the only two kinds of women in an army?

 

No rear Infantry...I'm talking front line...that seems like the most interesting..the only thing you pretty much have to worry about is death and if that happens, you don't know about it...the bond you form with men you didn't know months ago is priceless, all faced with death, in it together. to me, that makes front line infantry seem bearable. There's always time for cute army nurses though.

 

Very, very well.

That is why I would choose infantry also, specializing as a sniper, but all you said, Spit, is so true. The camradery between front-line soldiers has no paralell, because it is a non-hypocrit friendship as it is in many other places. That is why (my mind is flying again) I was an infantry soldier in the trenchers and now, as a general I still like to be with the men...

I am nuts. Don't pay attention to me.

 

Valid point, Spitfire.

It's a real paradox, isn't it ? We all agree that war is tragic, stupid and wasteful - and yet, every war memoir I've ever read and every veteran I've ever spoken to has referred wistfully to the tremendous sense of comradeship and shared goals which they ( and, I guess, we ) never come close to in peace.

 

Exactly Martin.

We would have to be fighting there to really understand what kind of relations the veterans have. I have heard my grandfather say many times that 1933-1945 were the happiest days of his life, particulary since 1938. Because according to him, he did not gained friends in the war; he gained brothers. I think that is why he is not ashamed of what he was or the regime in which he lived happily. That is why he wears a NSDAP ring even if he was not a member... The man raised me, he is my father, not my grandfather, and therefore I was taught NOT to be ashamed of what my country was or did, but to be proud. That is why writing "Sieg hei!" in my signature is normal for me. If a person who fought and suffered in those days is still proud of it and remembers those days nostalgically, why shouldn't we do that? I ask you that as an inner-morale question.

 

You three seem to understand what bonds soldiers form very well. Not bad for a bunch of civvys . Many don't get the odd sense of humour, which can verge on the morbid at times. The ridding and slagging off of each other, that many others would take offense to.

Its not just because these guys are your work mates, or your fiends. These are the guys you share everything with, and who may one day save your life. There is not alot of privacy between GRUNTs, everything is out in the open.

Spit, god on you for wanting to be a GRUNT. But there ain't alot of nurses up front. Theres only one way to get hold of one of them

 

Dammit, theres so many good threads on this forum and apologies for bringing old ones back up...
Bish, what regt you with?

Tell em all why your a pongo as well as a grunt...

BTW...me If I had been given a choice....Royal Navy small ships, atlantic hopefully..

Always depend on Jack tar to give the pongos a lift off in ww2....

 

Don't apologize, urqh ! I resurrected loads of old threads when I joined the Forums and great fun it was, too !

As far as I'm concerned, they're all 'current', just waiting for more fresh thought and comment to be added....

[ 29. December 2002, 11:32 AM: Message edited by: Martin Bull ]

 

As Martin says, its good to have these old threads brought back to life when someone has something new to put in. You never now, you may just have that bit of info someone asked for months ago, but no-one ese could give the answer.

I'm now KORBR, attached to the Kings. But originally, i was 3 Royal Anglian.

 

I take it you are ex-forces.

 

I take it you are ex-forces. </font>[/QUOTE]Err..Yes..17 years, 2 mobs, came out couldnt react to civvy workplace in the manner expected so went back in. Came out on medical pension. Now learned to smile and say yes on occasions...