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House Louse posted:This sounds like War is a Force that gives us Meaning by Chris Hedges; have you read it? It's an essay by a reporter about his experiences of covering war. Yeah that's a modern war classic. Good stuff for sure. For better or for worse, LowellDND's experience sounds like a pretty normal reaction to the war deployment. Many, many soldiers have had to deal with this sort of thing, and it's a pressing issue for the officers and social workers in charge of post-deployment demobilization. There's a wide variety of opinions about best practices for helping troops manage. When I was last working with the issue, one of the more convincing concepts was in intentionally limiting a soldier's access to the homefront, with the idea of letting them focus on the task at hand rather than having to deal with the psychiatric shock of constantly switching between the warrior mentality and the soccer dad mentality. This was one of the reasons behind the decisions to limit garrison luxuries like Starbucks and web cafes that were popping up all over FOBs in Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't know if it's still a popular concept, since it's been years. Frostwerks posted:Is the crazy a likewise allegation or what's the story there? Sherman was often accused of being crazy or deranged, particularly in the press. His opinion that the war would be a difficult and bloody affair was openly derided, and his critics were pretty savagely personal about it. He became quite depressed for a while, and he was inclined to simply leave the war to its own devices. It took some convincing by Grant to pull him back into the war. He retained a slow-burning hatred for journalists for the rest of his life, and his memoirs have many jokes at their expense as a result. Kaal fucked around with this message at 05:43 on May 15, 2015 |
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May 15, 2015 05:37
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Man, "I told you this war would be horrible" is like the least satisfying "I told you so" in history.
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May 15, 2015 06:14
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It might sound like a bit of cheap psych fix, but the danish armed forces only recently realised that giving out medals to soldiers that return with psychiatric problems (as opposed to just the physically injured ones) actually helps them work through the problems. It makes them feel like their sacrifice matters, which it absolutely does.
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May 15, 2015 06:25
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Didn't Bierce spend some time not just as a critic but as a journalist after his time in the war? Cuz I get the distinct impression from his short stories that his experience in the fracas truly echoed the "war is hell" philosophy and I wonder if Sherman had said anything positive to except him from his dislike. I'm asking because I'm a huge Bierce fan as well as McCarthy and while the latter is oft compared to the likes of Melville and Faulkner, I seriously think that Bierce is his quietest inspiration. Not just in language used and similar phrasings, but they both have an incredible love or at the very least appreciation of American folk stories and tall tales, suggesting in common I think that America is haunted and if not necessarily by ghosts and spirits then by its history.
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May 15, 2015 06:49
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LowellDND posted:Like, picture feeling nothing. Less than that feeling of enjoying weather, because theres a feeling there. Less that seeing an ad on tv, less than a show you didnt watch being canceled. All of those might have mild irritation, active disinterest, a schadenfreude.
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May 15, 2015 07:39
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HEY GAL posted:This sounds like the opening of my Pappenheim near death story, did you read that? I read the entire thread, so... maybe? (I expect combat stress does similar things to people)
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May 15, 2015 11:03
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"You have nice trousers, so you have to die" was it that one?
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May 15, 2015 14:57
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LowellDND posted:That was Fallujah in 06, and I only did 7 months, and I was superbly trained (USMC infantry). After one tour, things like Haditha made their own kind of sense to me. You take a Soviet conscript, who hasn't been trained in modern methods, who is seeing atrocities orders of magnitudes worse, who is losing his family, his friends, his city, millions of people like him - and the war goes on for four years, not 7 months - yeah, I can see atrocities being normalized. Its not about revenge in my experience, its that there is no emotional weight to anything. Its not horrifying, its not gleeful, its like the weather. It just is. People, when surrounded by suffering, start turning off the parts of their brains that process that sort of thing. It doesn't even have to be war. Social workers, aid workers, doctors, nurses, EMTs, etc. Lots of them just...stop giving a poo poo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassion_fatigue
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May 15, 2015 15:11
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Looking for another book recommendation. Finished Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, and that and the other Pacific War naval books has gotten me curious about Imperial Japan's military leadership in general, how they got into a position to do what they did in WW2 considering how misguided their military leadership seems to have been. Any good books on the subject?
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May 15, 2015 15:36
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Cythereal posted:Looking for another book recommendation. Finished Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, and that and the other Pacific War naval books has gotten me curious about Imperial Japan's military leadership in general, how they got into a position to do what they did in WW2 considering how misguided their military leadership seems to have been. Any good books on the subject? The Rising Sun by John Toland Covers all the insane coups, assassinations, etc. It's rather long (1000 pages / 40+ hours) but it's quite good and covers from before the invasion of China to the surrender in '45. If you want something more in the vein of what you just read you should get Neptune's Inferno.
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May 15, 2015 16:30
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V. Illych L. posted:"You have nice trousers, so you have to die" was it that one? HEY GUNS fucked around with this message at 17:16 on May 15, 2015 |
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May 15, 2015 17:09
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uPen posted:The Rising Sun by John Toland Covers all the insane coups, assassinations, etc. It's rather long (1000 pages / 40+ hours) but it's quite good and covers from before the invasion of China to the surrender in '45. Neptune's Inferno is what I read right before Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, so I'll give The Rising Sun a look, thanks.
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May 15, 2015 17:23
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uPen posted:The Rising Sun by John Toland Covers all the insane coups, assassinations, etc. It's rather long (1000 pages / 40+ hours) but it's quite good and covers from before the invasion of China to the surrender in '45. I'll second The Rising Sun. Apparently there are things that have come out as being false in there (like revalations about how much of a role the Emperor actually played), but overall it's really in depth and entertaining.
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May 15, 2015 18:55
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Another double whack. I can't quite believe that I've been doing this for about seven months now and am still (just about!) updating on time. There's almost too much to keep up with, and the Actions in Progress column is now seven (count them) items long. 100 Years Ago Yesterday: The Shell Crisis explodes in the faces of the British government, right as they hold a meeting of the War Council to work out what the gently caress to do about Gallipoli. (Hilarity ensues.) There's outright revolution in Portugal, the Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive continues unabated, and the BEF launches the often-ignored Battle of Festubert to support Second Artois. Also, the paper is dull enough to allow me to clip a couple of the regular adverts for Spratt's Chicken Meal and the Tamlin Incubator, which I've been trying to find space for for months. Today: Jackie Fisher takes his ball and goes home, far from the first or last person to have had enough of trying to deal with Winston Churchill, deepening the crisis that faces the British goverment. The Singapore mutineers are sentenced, over half of them in a highly interesting fashion. The men go over the top at Festubert, as Louis Barthas looks back with a little nostalgia on the shelters his men have constructed in Annequin (they've been ordered somewhere else). The Friendly Feldwebel has joined the Gorlice-Tarnow offensive, finding battle today for the first time since leaving the Devil's Hole. And in the pages of the Daily Telegraph, Droitwich Spa proudly trumpets the curative power of its radioactive brine baths. (Yes, that sort of radioactive.) This is about as close as you'll get to a perfect advert; it's for something utterly ridiculous that doesn't exist any more, it uses all the lyrical flourishes of its day, and if you write to the Manager he can apparently furnish you with a "Daintily Illustrated" booklet. (Also, I caution everyone that the name of the Conservative Party's leader, Andrew Bonar Law, is not pronounced the way you think it is, and anyone who engages in childish sniggering when Bonar Law pops up again will be sorry when they feel the rough edge of my tongue.)
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May 15, 2015 23:03
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Trin Tragula posted:(Also, I caution everyone that the name of the Conservative Party's leader, Andrew Bonar Law, is not pronounced the way you think it is, and anyone who engages in childish sniggering when Bonar Law pops up again will be sorry when they feel the rough edge of my tongue.)
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May 15, 2015 23:08
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So the rough edge of your tongue gets a lot of work when Bonar's (law) pops up?
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May 15, 2015 23:21
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Especially when it's part of a double whack. That's a drat big job, and one that's very easy to blow, I can tell you.
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May 15, 2015 23:26
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Raenir Salazar posted:Yeah "slavery was going to end anyways" is a PRAMT. I read this post yesterday and I had to go back like four pages to find it. What is a PRAMT? German is such a weird rear end language. Some sentences I can read almost without effort and then others seem so complicated that I've got to run them through google translate to just be able to even begin solving them. Frostwerks fucked around with this message at 02:23 on May 16, 2015 |
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May 16, 2015 02:18
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Frostwerks posted:German is such a weird rear end language. Some sentences I can read almost without effort and then others seem so complicated that I've got to run them through google translate to just be able to even begin solving them.
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May 16, 2015 03:50
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Cythereal posted:Looking for another book recommendation. Finished Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, and that and the other Pacific War naval books has gotten me curious about Imperial Japan's military leadership in general, how they got into a position to do what they did in WW2 considering how misguided their military leadership seems to have been. Any good books on the subject? I don't have anything that can answer that question directly, but Hara's Destroyer Captain is a good account from a competent officer looking upwards along the chain of command and wondering what the gently caress ? http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Destroyer-Captain-Guadalcanal-Battles/dp/1591143845
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May 16, 2015 06:33
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Yeah, that sounds about right  I think I figured out the level of disinterest. You know when you are walking on a college campus and see you the wall of ads and pamphlets and stuff? Plays you've never heard of, seminars for majors youll never look at. Picture that level of attention and interest, except its, yknow, human shields. Or whatever.
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May 16, 2015 08:46
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Back on the horse. 100 Years Ago Italy is the major story, as Giovanni Giolotti fails to put together a governing neutralist coalition in the face of hysterical pro-war rhetoric from his opponents. Meanwhile, Salandra's political wranglings are both delaying the mobilisation of the army and buying Austria-Hungary vital time to fortify the border region. There's a gigantic neon sign pointing directly at the River Isonzo. In other news, the Ottoman administration begins quitting Van, the Friendly Feldwebel goes into battle again at Wiazownica, and Kenneth Best shows himself a shrewd judge of the situation on Gallipoli.
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May 16, 2015 10:22
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oh italy, why are you so useless
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May 16, 2015 13:21
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V. Illych L. posted:oh italy, why are you so useless "- Why did Italy join the war? - So that even Austria-Hungary could taste victory!"
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May 16, 2015 13:48
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You have to be a special kind of insane to look at 10 months of futile slaughter in trenches, with thousands lost to gain a few yards of ground and poison gas being used in ever increasing quantities and decide that you really, really need to get into that.
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May 16, 2015 15:22
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SpaceViking posted:I'll second The Rising Sun. Apparently there are things that have come out as being false in there (like revalations about how much of a role the Emperor actually played), but overall it's really in depth and entertaining. Yeah, if you read The Rising Sun, balance it out with "Downfall" by Richard B Frank.
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May 16, 2015 17:29
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Frostwerks posted:I read this post yesterday and I had to go back like four pages to find it. What is a PRAMT?
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May 16, 2015 17:52
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quote:He marched back to camp with nearly a hundred prisoners. Thus, he was chosen to receive a DCM. He declined the invitation to be decorated, however, because according to him General Montgomery (who was giving the award) was "incompetent" and in no position to be giving out medals. This guy owns. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%E9o_Major
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May 16, 2015 18:19
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Who did the south ask to be their first president? Davis. Why did they want him? Largely because he had spent 20 years being the most vocal and active proponent of expanding slavery by might into new territory. What would he do once the south won its independence? Almost certainly look at expanding slavery, by force if necessary, into new areas.
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May 16, 2015 18:20
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Raskolnikov38 posted:This guy owns. Even after taking a cursory poke through the sources to confirm there's still a sense in the back of my mind that there's a chance that this article is an example of Wiki vandalism - and if it isn't, it should be. "Private Major"? "Willie Arseneault"? Capturing hundreds of Germans AND later taking a town, both more or less single-handedly? It's like a series of jokes that are somehow true.
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May 16, 2015 18:35
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Murgos posted:Who did the south ask to be their first president? Davis. Why did they want him? Largely because he had spent 20 years being the most vocal and active proponent of expanding slavery by might into new territory. What would he do once the south won its independence? Almost certainly look at expanding slavery, by force if necessary, into new areas. Was just reading that the New Mexico campaign was supposed to conclude by conquering Colorado, California, Arizona, and wrap it up by invading Mexico. Tall order for a few thousand guys.
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May 16, 2015 19:55
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V. Illych L. posted:oh italy, why are you so useless 
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May 16, 2015 20:20
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HEY GAL posted:someone posted this in d&d I don't understand what's being portrayed. It looks like Italy and Greece are literally all heavily-wooded mountains.
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May 16, 2015 21:46
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Yeah I don't get the joke. But it looks nice.
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May 16, 2015 21:51
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FAUXTON posted:I don't understand what's being portrayed. It looks like Italy and Greece are literally all heavily-wooded mountains. I think the intent is to highlight the Po Plain - for Italians it was an uphill battle whereas any Austrian breakthrough could mean losing Venice and possibly even cutting the peninsula from the continent. I'm not sure why the image needs to be hotlinked, though.
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May 16, 2015 21:54
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It has honestly never once occurred to me to actually upload an image to SA. There are reasons not to do it in other forums that make hot linking a much better option. No idea if they apply here though, since I never read threads while logged out.
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May 16, 2015 22:17
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I just finished reading Ivan's War. It was depressing. I need to decide how to internalize it. Is it considered legit?
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May 16, 2015 22:50
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Nenonen posted:I think the intent is to highlight the Po Plain - for Italians it was an uphill battle whereas any Austrian breakthrough could mean losing Venice and possibly even cutting the peninsula from the continent. Edit: And, from the early modern period, the part where there are only a few good passes through...that...is why Spain cares so drat much about them, since it would be really easy to cut the Spanish Road by causing trouble in Switzerland. HEY GUNS fucked around with this message at 23:04 on May 16, 2015 |
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May 16, 2015 22:57
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Arquinsiel posted:It has honestly never once occurred to me to actually upload an image to SA. There are reasons not to do it in other forums that make hot linking a much better option. No idea if they apply here though, since I never read threads while logged out. Just reupload pictures to imgur if you're not sure if it's kosher to hotlink them or not.
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May 16, 2015 22:58
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HEY GAL posted:Yes. That's an excellent line of natural fortifications for Austria. Barring something really outlandish, Italy was hosed before it began. from Trin's posts everything they're doing is just so half-arsed, though a country staggering into WW1
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May 16, 2015 23:08
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