Going through that kind of hell makes you either dead or mega tough!
I recently saw a documentary on WWII in North Africa and the carnage the American troops took when they arrived and this was a campaign that lasted well over 6 months. It was a bloodbath where they were sending Americans into a meat grinder. Those who survived who were into their 70’s and 80’ in the documentary said the soldiers who survived were hard as nails.
There was a story about how outmatched the Americans were with their tanks against the German Tiger tanks. One shot from a Tiger towards an American tank incinerated the American tank instantly. There was one account where the Tiger shot off the turret from an American tank and the soldiers inside still alive were running as they were on fire. The Americans were totally unprepared for months on end. The point is that there can be major screw ups where soldiers are left to die like this thing in Afghanistan or North Africa.
I suspect these soldiers in Afghanistan became like that tough as nails.
I bet they are tough as nails, but traumatized too.
My uncle was at the Bulge and we didn’t know he had nightmares until he died and my mother told us.
As far as North Africa, we didn’t have the means to help those guys. It was awful.
England had the MEANS AND US to help them!!
GW was president and though I dont like him for other reasons, he would have ABSOLUTELY sent in the marines!!!
This is horrific.
I saw a documentary on the battle of El Alamein.
They interviewed a large number of British and German veterans. Both sides put up with extreme hardships but the main one for the Germans was lack of water.
One of the German tankers said that after the British got American Grant and Lee tanks, the Germans were out gunned.
The one advantage the Germans had was the 88mm cannon. It was rapid fire, accurate, high velocity and extremely effective. One British tanker told of an 88 just knocking their tanks out one after another. One of their tanks finally got it but not until they had lost 6 or 7 tanks to it.
My dad was Army Infantry during WWII. He said when they
finished basic training, they were “ready to charge HELL
with a bucket of water”. They were. They DID!
There were no Tiger tanks in North Africa.