Some warriors are drawn to the thrill of combat and find it the defining moment of their lives. Others fall
victim to fear, exhaustion, impaired reasoning, and despair. This was certainly true for twentieth-century American
ground troops. Whether embracing or being demoralized by war, these men risked their lives for causes larger than
themselves with no promise of safe return.
This book is the first to synthesize the wartime experiences of American combat soldiers, from the doughboys of
World War I to the grunts of Vietnam. Focusing on both soldiers and marines, it draws on histories and memoirs,
oral histories, psychological and sociological studies, and even fiction to show that their experiences remain
fundamentally the same regardless of the enemy, terrain, training, or weaponry.
Peter Kindsvatter gets inside the minds of American soldiers to reveal what motivated them to serve and how they
were turned into soldiers. He recreates the physical and emotional aspects of war to tell how fighting men dealt
with danger and hardship, and he explores the roles of comradeship, leadership, and the sustaining beliefs in cause
and country. He also illuminates soldiers' attitudes toward the enemy, toward the rear echelon, and toward the
home front. And he tells why some broke down under fire while others excelled.
Here are the first tastes of battle, as when a green recruit reported that "for the first time I realized that
the people over the ridge wanted to kill me," while another was befuddled by the unfamiliar sound of bullets whizzing
overhead. Here are soldiers struggling to cope with war's stress by seeking solace from local women or simply smoking
cigarettes. And here are tales of combat avoidance and fraggings not unique to Vietnam, of soldiers in Korea disgruntled
over home-front indifference, and of the unique experiences of African American soldiers in the Jim Crow army.
By capturing the core "band of brothers" experience across several generations of warfare, Kindsvatter celebrates
the American soldier while helping us to better understand war's lethal reality--and why soldiers persevere in the
face of its horrors.
Table of Contents
1. Rallying to the flag
2. The environment of war
3. Immersion in the environment
4. Coping with the environment of war
5. For comrades and country
6. Failing to cope with the environment of war
7. The joys of war
8. Closing with the enemy
9. Leadership in combat
10. Dwellers beyond the environment of war
11. Equal opportunity in the foxhole
Conclusion : don't expect too much from war