Do you think war is a fun time adventure or at least use to be?

[historectomy]

i have read some journals, seen some videos and heard veterans even talk about how a good bit of them actually enjoyed their time in war, some even said it was a good time or the best time in their life, i know this is not all men and some have serious ptsd and horrible memories of war, but my question is this why did some men seem to enjoy war, and in earlier times even look forward to it. if you are a veteran and it is not too insulting i would like if you share your stories of your war (s) whether it be good or bad.

i don't think war sounds fun

i do think war sounds fun

i am a veteran and war is terrible

i am a veteran and had a good time

[Lliam]

My dad landed on Utah Beach shortly after the first wave on D-Day. He was in every major battle - the hedgerows, the St Lo breakout, the Battle of the Bulge, the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest, ... all the way to the final occupation of Germany.

He was a Pfc with the 4th Infantry Division, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, Company G and spent most of the time assigned as a battalion "runner" taking messages back and forth between the front line and forward command. I read that it was one of the most dangerous jobs. He was wounded twice by either gunfire or shrapnel, but miraculous made it through the war.
He usually carried a Thompson submachine gun. He said he never killed anyone that he was aware of, but a lot of people sure tried to kill him.

When I was growing up, he told a lot of stories about his experiences. My mom got sick of hearing them. The stories sounded horrific and terrifying, but he made them sound like a lark. He'd tell a story and then say "Boy, was I scared" with a chuckle.
I don't think it thought it was fun at all. I think it was his way of dealing with it.

His war experiences were always on his mind. I think it's because the things we experience during those particular years of our lives (late teens through early 20s) are what stick with us. They define us. And his experiences were epic. He was 25 when he finally came home.

I was fascinated hearing his stories as a kid, but I had no way of grasping what he had gone through. I later read books about the battles and real-life narratives by men who had been through them. One book, in particular - Hell in the Hurtgen Forest - was about his regiment and helped me to realize what a true Hell my dad had lived through.

As he got older, he sometimes said that he would like to go back and see some of those places. So, in 1984 when he was 64, he, my mom and I flew over. I was their chauffeur. We drove all around parts of France and Bavaria, visited Omaha and Utah Beaches, Luxembourg, several small cemeteries, towns and areas he had been through, and specific places he remembered. A lot of what we drove through was rural and not on the typical tourist maps. I found it fascinating.

What was really nice was, in parts of France, he was treated with respect as a WWII veteran. At Utah Beach, in a small museum that had once been a German coastal bunker, they presented him with a beautiful certificate that had been signed by the mayor. I could tell it meant the world to him.

We we to a small, immaculate American military cemetery in another place because my dad had made a promise to visit the grave of a Captain Kenyon who he said had saved his life but was later killed by an 88mm shell in front of him when they were camping in a stone farm house.

The lone attendant at the cemetery was a Frenchman. He was very polite and respectful. On the way to escort us to the grave, he grabbed a pail of damp yellow sand, and stopped to cut a perfect, long-stemmed, red rose from the garden.

At the grave, he rubbed the sand into the engravings on the marker and then cleaned it up to look beautiful. He said the sand made the words carved into the marble cross visible for a photo. Then he stood the rose up against the cross and we took a couple of photos.

My dad barely kept his cool but he acted like a soldier.

We spent almost 3 weeks there. Then we spend a couple of days in England and the rest of the month in Ireland where our ancestors were from.

For my dad, I think that trip was like closing the final chapter in an epic novel that began in 1941 when he enlisted. It was the fulfillment of dreams and promises. I think if gave him peace of mind.

[BoopBoopBeep]

I had a blast. Get to do high adrenaline stuff with like-minded people devoted to a common goal, maybe do some good in the world while you're doing it. It's way less boring then when you come home and have to listen to incessant office politics when really you just want to reach out and slap the shit out of people and tell them that you don't care that John from accounting said you look like you got fat over Thanksgiving, you didn't care the other 4 times you brought it up, and maybe john was the smart one because he figure out how to get you to go away and not hang out by his cubicle repeating the same stories every day.

The stuff you can do in uniform (or... out of it... as some of us were) would be so prohibitively expensive, that you couldn't ever do it without state sponsorship. Sure people went and fought with the Kurds against ISIS after the war, and westerners went to the Ukraine, but they're not even getting the logistic support, they know they aren't going to, and despite that they still go. You don't do it for the fame, you don't do it for the money (though if you get enough special pay it can be decent compensation), you do it for the love of the game.

[FreyaRed]

If you get arrested on the street while buying buns for breakfast and three days later you're rotting in some wet and filthy trench without any training and rusty AKM while enemy artillery drops cluster ammunition around you. I don't think it's fun.

[EmmaMary]

Congratulations on winning a Troll of the day award.

[historectomy]

i am serious, i think war sounds terrible and horrific, but men who are braver than me and have been in it have said they enjoy it and i am just wondering what it is they enjoy

[EmmaMary]

Thank you for the MHO.

[JackCarter]

No Sir, war is no fun!

Those who have been in war wish there's a war ever again.

But at the same time, we are proud of what we do... cause what we do saves lives
There's nothing to regret in killing a person whose existence is a threat to 100s or 1000s of innocent men , women and children... so I think some guys may even find it funny to be in war with these people.

Also I have seen some badasses who just wanna die sooner and have zero wish /fear for their lives and consider all that a video game !

But a man who loves his life won't find war funny , cause your life has literally no gurantee and you are in constant fear of whether this is your last day and not being able! to meet your loved ones again

[exitseven]

My father was a WW2 vet and was in a POW camp. He had to work on a farm and to hear him talk it was the best time of his life. He really just did not want to talk about how bad it was. He did say that the only time he was afraid was at the end of the war when the Nazis surrendered. He was afraid that the Nazis would kill them all.

[Avicenna]

Veterans generally will tell you that war is a terrible, terrible thing and that they most definitely did not enjoy it.