Much of our focus will be on the lives and effects of war on individuals during the First and Second World Wars. Having viewed and discussed some aspects of life on the front, whether in the trenches, the air or at sea, what would be your greatest fear or challenge and why? (Don't just say dying.) Refer to examples from the sources we have used.
Due Monday 5/18.
40 comments:
Andras
My greatest fear with respect to participation in the First World War would most likely be the general prospect of life in the trenches at the front. We have borne extensive witness to the myriad of horrors and torments that existence on the battlefields of the First World War could wreak upon a man. The videos detailing the nature and consequences of Post-Traumatic Stress disorder highlight the manner in which general existence under the exceedingly harsh and deadly conditions of the Front could lead to extensive mental breakdown or nervous ruination, causing men to collapse into spasms at the slightest provocation, break the threshold of sanity, become drained of all will, focus, or discipline, and otherwise succumb to significant psychological dysfunctions purely as a consequence of the sheer stress and intensity of constant life at the front. In addition to this, there is the sheer physical agony and ruin that military life could inflict. Appendages, jaws, eyes, ears, etc.- the war possessed countless ways to debilitate a man, and, as evidenced by the recordings of the prosthetics patients, the medical solutions to these disfigurements, while perhaps keeping a man alive, failed to truly rectify such grievous losses, which, as evidenced by both the PTSD and general WWI videos, were all too common results of exposure to the front. Such damage would last for a lifetime and could utterly debilitate a man physically or socially, and could well lead to further psychological damage. And it is by no means difficult to encounter the conditions necessary to sustain such an injury, or far worse, in the First World War. Artillery shells, mortars, machine guns, mines, bombs, conventional rifle fire, poison gas (which could well leave a man blind or ruin the respiratory tract, among other things, even if one survived), flamethrowers, and other perils could, with a minimum of direct exposure, lead to considerable and often permanent physical complications as described above. In short, life on the front presented extensive and constant possibilities for utter physical or psychological debilitation. This is not to mention the omnipresent and exceedingly high probability of actual death. As cited by various sources, the likelihood that one would survive years on the front as a soldier was extremely slim- so grave and abundant were the risks. An artillery shell, accidental contact with landmines or undetonated munitions, a minor slip under the sights of a sniper, the misfortune of being dispatched as the first component of an ineffectual assault- all these and more could very readily, randomly, and unavoidably lead to one's (often quite painful) demise. The prospect of having to live with such constant uncertainty, facing the prospect of utter ruination or death each and every moment of one's sordid existence, with Death's grim spectre looming eternally over one's shoulder, for even a matter of days would be an utterly nightmarish prospect. But to be exposed to the glaring frailties and uncertainties of human existence, to the possibility of death or worse from every engagement on a constantly heated front, would be unimaginable. The psychological toll of knowing how easily a single misstep or stroke of poor fortune could utterly destroy one's entire life, which without the war may have extended happily further for decades or even centuries, often before it has truly begun (given the ages of many of the soldiers seeing action on the front) , would be absolutely devastating. Every moment on the front, every bend and corner and order, could conceal the most monstrous and miserable fates to which a man might descend. The horror would lie not in the attempt to avoid death or debilitation, but rather in knowing that so great is one's exposure, so minimal one's prospect of survival, so destructive and abundant the weapons of war, that such a thing is not only effectively unavoidable, but also completely unpredictable. I struggle to think of how I would maintain my sanity, much less my humanity, when presented with so stark and morbid a prospect for my future.
My greatest fear would have to going to the front because I would be terrified and feel like collapsing because the enemy is right their in front of you and you know there is no escape. I realize that in the army they teach everyone to face their fears but I am extremely claustrophobic, I would not be able to survive in trenches because I would throw up and constantly and not be able to fight. My biggest fear would also be post traumatic stress because in the videos all the soldiers who were diagnosed with the disorder were constantly shivering and shaking. They were not even in the right state of mind, which scares me the most. I think that is the worst case scenario because if you have fought in such a distinguished war and you have made it out alive you should not be made to suffer the rest of you life, because you suffered enough in the war and in those trenches!
I would not be scared of dying because as a soldier you are trained to death, and you know that when it comes there will be nothing you can do. The thing that I would be scared of the most is the aftereffects of killing another human being, who also had a mother , father and siblings just like myself. I would not be able to sleep at night. Being in a war is a horrible experience, but coming home and returning to you normal life is even tougher because you just keep questioning yourself and reliving the awful memories. For me readjusting to a normal lifestyle would be far more challenging than just fighting in the war. Obviously the mustard gas, and the bombs are the most horrifying part of any war, but as a soldier you know you will be exposed to them so you are not shocked. Once you come back home you do not really know what to expect from even yourself.
In respect to World War I my greatest fear would be that of life in the trenches. In class as well as in my own personal research I have learned about different threats and diseases including trench foot, dysentery, rats, body lice, etc. I can never imagine myself surviving in conditions as treacherous as this. To me it seems absolutely terrifying to continuously suffer for years on end in these disgusting trenches. Not only would these soldiers have to deal with disgusting conditions, but they also had to rush to the front line and attempt to complete the seemingly impossible task of destroying the enemy. I could never imagine having to run to the front lines with the knowledge that there were very slim chances of you returning to the trenches. Even if a solider did survive the attacks I feel as if returning to the trenches with your life would not even truly be that rewarding. I would also be extremely frightened with the lasting effects that this constant scene of death would have upon me. It must have been traumatic to not only see many of your best friends die but to also have to kill men yourself. Both of these aspects greatly terrify me. I also know that post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a very real disease and I would be worried that I would suffer from this following the war. This disease would be the most terrifying because during WWI PTSD was simply called either shell shock or cowardice and officers were not forgiving for either. I was shocked when I learned that soldiers were ordered to be executed if they suffered from PTSD or shell shock and were called cowards. I would be afraid that I would begin suffering symptoms such as these and would then be executed for my uncontrollable reactions. Lastly, I would be worried about how I would adjust once I returned to life at home. There were not help groups or therapy sessions that you could attend following WWI and soldiers were expected to simply re-adjust themselves. After living for years on end with such a terrifying new lifestyle it seems impossible to re-adjust to a lifestyle that now seems so foreign to you. Overall I would be terrified of being exposed to such a horrifying atmosphere.
My greatest fear of going to the front would definitely be the atrocities you would see, leading to memories you would never forget. From watching the WWI videos I learned that the war will affect you for the rest of your life. The two men who were WWI veterans spoke of the war as if it were yesterday, even though it was about 90 years prior. They described the emotions they felt during the war and the pain it caused them the rest of their lives. I think that people on the home front forget that it’s not just a little trip where you go, fight, come home and go on with your life; it is life changing, no man could ever be the same. Though the memories the war would leave me would be my greatest overall fear, I would definitely be afraid of developing post-traumatic stress, or “shell shock”. The video really hit me hard when it showed footage of men hiding under their beds and twitching/shaking uncontrollably. One man in the video had to have his nurse write letters to his wife for him because he was unable to write due to his incessant shaking. Post traumatic stress really scares me because you aren’t yourself anymore; you are so traumatized that you are constantly scared and on the edge. It was also sad to see in the video how patients who suffered from mental disorders were discriminated against because they had no “visible” wounds. Also like the man in the video, I don’t think that I could ever bring myself to kill another human being. I don’t think that I could possibly live with myself, nor face my friends and family when I came home. It takes a very strong, determined person to kill another person and I no that that’s not me. Another obvious fear would be the life in trenches. Not only are you apt to become infected with awful diseases but you are bound to endure physical dilemmas also. Living in those nasty trenches is bound to make a man go insane, which connects to another fear of mine, which is losing my mind. To fight for your country is such a courageous and honorable act, that to lose your mind because of it, I feel, is one of the most awful things to have happen to you. Though I praise all soldiers who put their lives on the line for their country, I am completely against such awful violence.
My greatest fear in regards to the warfront in World War I would be seeing horrible acts of violence. I am personally someone that can’t look at blood at all without getting sick or passing out. So, experiencing war probably wouldn’t go over too well for me. I would be afraid of witnessing violence against other soldiers and seeing people be hurt or killed. Such memories could lead to post traumatic stress disorder, a condition discussed in the video we watched in class. Post-traumatic stress essentially causes soldiers to go out of their minds with grief due to the horrible images they have seen during combat. It was very sad to learn from the movie that soldiers experiencing post-traumatic stress, then referred to as “shell shock”, were discriminated against because they didn’t have any physical wounds. Obviously, much less was known about psychological conditions at the time of World War I. Still, it is very sad to learn that psychological problems were deemed less important than physical ones, since they can both have equally destructive effects on people.
Just as I would not be able to witness such violence, I would also probably feel unable to partake in it. While I both fully support soldiers who risk their lives for their country and am overwhelmed with sympathy for the terrible violence they see, I personally do not think I would ever be able to kill another person. Even if they were my political enemy or an enemy against my country, I would still feel it was unfair for me to take their life away. I would not be able to do so without experiencing a great deal of upset and regret. Thus my two greatest fears with respect to the World War I warfront would have to be witnessing and participating in terrible acts of violence.
Due to the sheer number of horrors one would have had to experience when serving in World War I, it is very difficult for me to immediately think of what would be my single greatest fear or challenge if I were to have been in the war. Of course, I would have been absolutely disgusted by the living conditions inside the trenches (rats) as seen in the various videos and sources we have viewed in and out of class, but then again I would have at least been alive and safe to some degree so I would have been “fine” with it. We learned that the majority of soldiers during the war also stated that their greatest struggle was when deciding whether or not to kill an enemy soldier. While I definitely would not have been able to take away another person’s life without serious stress being placed upon me, I do not feel like I would be worrying so much about other people’s lives, and instead would be only thinking about staying alive myself. Thus, I would have to say that my greatest fear would have been climbing out of the trenches and entering the front. Just the idea that each second I was out of the trench could mean that a single bullet of thousands could take away my life would be extremely terrifying to me and I think I would have been extremely ineffective once leaving my trench. First of all, I would have no motivation since a victory meant only advancing one trench forward as we discussed in class, and second of all I would have been so frightened that I probably would not have been able to gather myself enough to shoot at the enemy. I can only hope that a game of dodge ball is as close as I will get too entering the front of a battle in World War I.
Lastly I have to address the issue of Post Traumatic Stress, or “shell shock” that many of the men in World War I experienced after spending time serving their countries. We have witnessed just a few of these tragic occurrences in class through various videos depicting victims of uncontrollable shaking, nightmares, etc… Many of them who were treated at simply cowardly men and often times sentenced to death. Although suffering from PTS and pretty much the complete loss of ones inner self, would be worse than dying in my opinion, I cannot say that this would be my greatest challenge when entering World War I because I probably would not have been aware of it until it actually hit me, and like many other people at the time I would have assumed that it was simply the cowardice of others and not an actual neurological problem.
If I were a soldier in World War I, I would most definitely experience the greatest level of challenge trying to best the conditions of the trenches. Conditions on the front lines for both sides during WWI were horrendous. The men who guarded the front lines spent their time in squalid, flooded trenches which were breeding grounds for disease and massive rats. They had to be on constant alert for artillery shells, heavy machine gun fire, and frontal assaults from the opposition, which left them in a state of perpetual fear. Weary and worn these men sat in their position, always aware that in the next few moments, their captain could order their squadron on an assault or the enemy could come barreling through no-man’s land toward their position, facts that could very well make those next few moments their last. If a soldier was fortunate enough to survive his stay in the trenches, he was cycled out to the back of the lines. However, his stay in relative safety was a mere week or two at best and soon enough he was carted back to the front lines and the grotesque carnage of the war.
I feel that I out of the conditions above, I would be capable of enduring the poor living conditions and the actual battling itself, that is if I wasn’t mowed down on a frontal assault of the enemy’s front lines (a relatively strong possibility given the trends of the war). What I do not believe I would be able to deal with, however, would be my own thoughts on the war. After being witness to the massive amounts of violence and the severe mutilation some men went through, I would have a great time justifying my actions in the war. My own futility, and the futility of the life of any man, would weigh heavily upon me as I saw how easily and how brutally the life of any one person may be lost in the blink of an eye. I would heavily question the point of the war and the point of my own life if it could be so easily lost and so readily thrown away by my government. Desertion would constantly be on my mind, and if it were not for my sense of duty I would more than likely try to flee the war and return back home. If I did not desert, I would slowly lose hope and meaning until I was merely a shell of myself, uncaring of anything or anyone. This process, however, would take place over an extended period of time and there is a possibility I would be out of the war before I was so far gone. Regardless, the war would certainly wear greatly on my mental and emotional state.
The aspect of the war which I feel I would have the greatest trouble dealing with would be having to leave and return from the trenches. Once I had become immersed in trench life, I would be able to bring myself to the point where I could endure the poor conditions and face the fact that each day could be my last (that is until I started losing my sanity as I mentioned above). Any sort of mental barrier I built would be broken once I left the trenches and remembered that there is a world, a peaceful world, outside the world I had become accustomed to. I would absolutely dread having to return to the trenches, I would honestly much rather just remain at one or the other.
Knowing my luck, I would not be all too injured in battle. I would be the guy who would be the only one taken out by a stray artillery shell or eaten by rats or something unlucky such as that. It’s how my luck runs.
My greatest fear in ww1 would be the prospect of sustaining a facial injury to the extent of which could not be surgically repaired. There are a number of reasons that I have against this specific fate. First is that the means in receiving this wound would be incredible painful. Just imagine looking up over a trench to have part of your face or maybe your jaw blown off by a machine gun. The carnage of flying metal ripping flesh from my body does not appeal to me no matter where it occurs on my body, but it just seems so much worse imagining it happening to your face rather than your arm of leg. Also in the case of a grenade or artillery fire it must be incredible painful to have your face seared off by the heat or flames of an explosion. I deep down have this innate fear of injuries to my eyes. I don’t think I would handle being blinded very well.
The pain aside I believe that a future with such an injury would be nothing but miserable. I do not consider myself to be vain and I do not believe that minor facial scaring is by any means unbearable fate, but to become a monster who lacks facial features all together and what you do have is so horrible disfigured that it scares although around you. I can not imagine coming home from a war to have my children run in fear from me and my wife to be disgusted with the very appearance of my face. I also can not imagine living the rest of my life behind a mask hiding myself from others like some monster. Such a fate would be incredibly unbearable in the long run and makes one think whether or not it would have been just better to die in the trenches.
There is also the fear that with any head injury that something may pierce the skull and lodge itself in the brain. If that would happen there would most likely be mental damage. This idea frightens the hell out of me. Losing a piece of you is one thing but losing a piece of who you are is probably one of the worst things that could happen to someone. I don’t known. I guess I just hope that nothing ever happens to me around my head or face, especially if it was ww1 or ww2.
My greatest fear if I were to be at war would be life in the trenches as well as just the blood and guts of war in general. Being a person who faints as the sight of blood, however small the amount, war would definitely be a challenge for me. With people being killed as well as just injured I would faint within the first second or two of being in the war. People with injuries that could be fixed with plastic surgery would completely freak me out as well. Plus before getting surgery they would be bleeding profusely as well which would not help my cause. If I were able to get over the fact that I was surrounded by peoples’ blood my next fear and challenge would be the fact I would remember these images of violence and destruction of people for the rest of my life, if I were able to survive the war of course. The men in the videos remembered things that had happened when they were at war. They were haunted with the images that they had seen and created as a soldier. I would not want to have to bear that burden in my mind because I would never be able to escape from those thoughts and images of war. Another fear and challenge I would have to face would be life in the trenches. With rats and dead bodies lying in the trenches I would probably want to die instead of staying in them. I despise things like crawl like mice and rats and rats were always present due to the decaying bodies. Trenches also present the fear of actually having to go over the top and kill someone. I would not be able to face the fact that I was most likely going to my death if I went over the top. Watching those videos in class I had great awe for the fact that the men went over knowing they would most likely die. I am not all the brave so facing my death would be extremely scary. Not to mention the fact that my greatest fear is dying a slow and painful death. I hear people talk about how they don’t want to die a certain way and that if I were to go over the top that would be a huge fear of mine. I would be frightened that if I were to get shot or hurt that I would die a slow and painful death instead of an immediate death. Obviously I am terrified of war, even watching videos in class I have to look away to make sure I stay conscious.
Out of the many terrible aspects of WWI that we discussed in class, my greatest fear would probably be joining the navy. The reasons for this lie in the fact that I am a terrible swimmer. If I were aboard a British ship during World War One, I would probably feel uncomfortable because I would always feel paranoid about attacks from a German U-boat. After seeing a video clip of a German submarine firing upon a British vessel, I noticed that it took very little time for the British ship to sink (the ship sunk in a matter of minutes). If this happened, it would’ve been possible for sailors to get trapped in areas of the ship, which meant that they would drown to death. I would dislike being aboard a sinking ship (where it was difficult to escape), and I would especially dislike the agony of losing precious oxygen. Even if I supposedly did not sink with the ship, I would be stranded out in the middle of the sea where I would be miles away from land. It would be improbable that the Germans would capture me, so I would have to attempt to swim to shore. This would be exhausting, and if I were far away from land I might eventually lose energy and drown. Also, if it were in the middle of winter, the water would be freezing. This would mean that I would be in danger of getting hypothermia; which would be very horrible. Because of the obvious reasons above, my greatest fear would probably be joining the British naval.
If I was a soldier during the First and Second World Wars, my greatest fear would have been living in the trenches. Simply put, I would not be brave enough to endure the life as a soldier in the trenches. I don't have the guts to go out into a war zone and fight and kill others for the protection of my country. Perhaps this is a fault of mine--that I am not patriotic enough to serve my country.
One aspect of the trenches that I would not be able to endure is the hygenic situations. I'm never comfortable in dirty places. I wouldn't be able to go through days without showering, I'm not too fond of rats, and I don't want to be trapped, surrounded by dead bodies of my former comrades. We were able to see the impact of living in the trenches; disease eats away your skin, and you're left with deformed body parts. Trench foot was common during the War. I wouldn't be able to handle the fact that I'd basically be decomposing in the trenches. Amputations would be performed to try and stem an infection. So, if you do survive, you would still have to suffer and have to keep scars from the War.
I don't want to live in fear as well. Living in the trenches was a method of hiding from the enemy and then springing into attack mode the next. But the actual time an attacked occurred was never known. It was not like there was some schedule to follow. The psychological effect the trenches had was damaging. There was no place to escape; you couldn't retreat from your seven feet high trench, and you couldn't leave your trench during battle because you would then be on No Man's Land, showered and sprayed by various firing bullets. Plus, there were plenty of barbed wires surrounded No Man's Land. The time spent in trenches was long and torturous, and being in one place for two long would make me want to die. Spending your time with dead bodies surrounding you is not an alluring prospect.
Trenches may have been a military defense strategy, but they were not good in coverage. There was no roof to cover the soldiers. Therefore, miscellaneous bullets would fall into the trenches and the people there would get insanely hurt. I wouldn't want to get hurt; I wouldn't want to risk my life.
I was to fight in a war, I believe that my greatest fear would be having to kill someone. When it came down to the end, I do not believe that I could directly shoot someone. I would be like the man that we saw on the video, I would injury him so that he could not kill me, but I would not directly shoot him so that he would die. I don’t believe that I would have the strength to do so, but I am not sure either. I think it is one of those things that you have to experience before you can give an accurate answer to the question. If I saw a soldier advancing toward me with the intent to kill me, then I might be able to do so, but I am not one-hundred percent sure of that fact. Just the idea of blatantly killing someone gives me the chills. The person could have a husband or wife back home and children, and I would have been the one responsible for killing a young child’s mom or dad. I could have destroyed a family and that is something that I could not live with. I wouldn’t want one of my family members going into war and getting murdered, so why would I do that to someone else? That would be my greatest fear if I was in any war, not just WWI.
My greatest challenge would be living with all of the atrocities that I saw while I was in the war. Watching your best friends die in battle or by bombs or mustard gas would be incredibly painful to watch. All of the guts and blood that was down in the trenches and the stench would drive me crazy. I would have to deal with seeing people getting down up and murdered right in front of me, and there would be nothing that I could do to stop it. I’m not sure that I could recover from seeing all of that. I think that I would be one of the soldiers that went into shell shock from all of the scenes that they have witnessed. Watching the war going on around me would be my greatest challenge if I had to go to war.
My greatest fear about WWI would definitely be having to live in the poor living conditions in the trenches. In retrospect, life must have been awful. I would be exposed to disease and rats, the stench of decaying bodies, unsatisfactory rations, sniper fire, and the unbearable noise of artillery fire exploding all around, all without much protection from the elements. I would be living over my ankles in mud, blood, and debris, exposed to rain and snow. These conditions, which do not even include the fact that there are people trying to kill you, would dissuade almost anybody. Add in the bullets whizzing right overhead and shells exploding unmercifully in the trenches, and the frontline would probably be the most undesirable place on Earth. Many people would say that their greatest fear of the war would be flying in a dogfight or “going over the top”, but I think differently. At least when someone is flying or charging at the enemy, they are able to protect themselves with some sort of firearm. This cannot be said about the terrible conditions (If I was actually in the war and at the front, I may be thinking differently about the whole “over the top” situation). Because of this, my greatest fear of WWI would be living in the trenches.
If I went to war I think that my greatest fear would be I would not be able to deal with the stress and violence that is associated with a war. I would be afraid that the war would change me for the worst. After watching the film in class that talked about how the soldiers experienced “shell shock” once they got after the war, I would be afraid that this would happen to me. I feel that from constantly living with the fear that I could get shot at any second I would become very paranoid and not be able to trust anyone even those around me. Mostly likely I would be like those men in the videos who even when they heard the word bomb would start to quiver in fear and feel the need to get under cover. This movie really made me realize how the war had a huge physiological effect on the soldiers who fought in it. It was heartbreaking to see how drastically their post dramatic stress had changed their lives. They were not able to function they way they used to; simple things such as the uniform that they wore would terrify them. I would be terrified that this would happen to me. I would not want to go into the war as one person and walk out complete different. A person who had horrifying memories linked to simple every day objects. I would no longer be the same person that my family knew and loved, and I feel that it would probably be almost harder for them to have to deal with me coming back as a changed person then not coming back at all. Another thing that I would be terrified of would be to witness someone dying. While I would not be scared of seeing their body being blown up or their blood oozing out everywhere, because things of that nature don’t really bother me, I would be more scared of the fact that death is now a reality. I would be scared for those around me, my fellow soldiers who were in my troop. If we had become close during our time at war, I would be afraid to loose my friends, people who were risking their lives to help save mine and the people of my countries. It is for these reasons that I would be petrified to go to war, and I have the up most respect for the men and women risk their lives to fight in wars for our freedom.
If I were to serve or live in the time period of the first or the second world war, my greatest fear would be not so much myself dying but losing friends and family to this conflict. I have a younger brother and 7 older male cousins who would all probably serve in this war with me. Along with my uncles and other relatives, there would be quite a bit of family members serving in this terrible tragedy. And no doubt in my mind, I will be praying for their safety every single day of my life.
I think this fear comes from knowing a lot of statistics of the war. I know that the average lifespan for pilots was 17 days and the chance of survival in no man’s land is slim to none. Those who do escape no man’s land are often fatally wounded and die painfully or are left with a morbid reminder on their body. Having more than 8 family members of mine serving knowing that less than half of them will come back will resonate with me forever in my memory. There is no way I could ever comprehend the amount of emotional pain felt when I receive a letter from my parents that one of my relatives have passed away. Worst of all, I do not think I could possibly handle the loss of my younger brother serving alongside of me or in another unit. The loss of an entire generation of men becomes more than a statistic when the men who die are a part of your life. This type of pain is more crushing than the most fatal blow to the body. More devastating than any type of infection I could possibly contract, and by far more painful than any permanent marks suffered during this war. Since there are so many ways to die in these two wars, I would also be fearful of family members at the home front dying from carpet bombing. The fear of fascist nations taking over and enslaving my family and destroying my liberties would most likely be the reason I would fight anyone. Even though in retrospect, it seems like nothing now, I will not let my country lose her sovereignty despite paying the biggest price of human life.
Sort of on an unrelated note, If I had to choose between air or trench warfare, I would 10 out of 10 times choose air warfare. In the trenches, you never know when you will be sent up to die. I would be too scared cleaning up after bodies and rat infested areas. Sleeping would be ridiculously uncomfortable and the idea of death would resonate in my head endlessly. Although I would be able to brush up on my chess and drawings, I’m sure most of the time was not spent on leisure. I would also come home with endless night terrors and stress. But to me, air warfare seems glorious like the Spartans in 300 or those guys in the marines commercials. It is a do or die situation and there is only one victor in the fight. The best man wins regardless and your life is dependant entirely on your skills. You live the life of a hero before going in the sky and if by a slim chance you return safely, you are treated as defender of your country. There is no trench foot or infections, just a quick crash to the ground and your life is over. Those 17 days that I’d have to live would be the best 17 days of my life.
My greatest fear would definitely be the atrocities I’d face living at the front. I am a squeamish and compassionate person, and would dread the prospect of witnessing and participating in the inhumanity of trench warfare. Soldiers often had to watch their comrades being gunned down without mercy, and gunning down the enemy in an equally merciless fashion. Soldiers had to deal with the constant fear of an impersonal death by machine gun or, even worse, poison gas. There were accounts of soldiers witnessing the bloated bodies of their dead comrades be eaten by rats, and being forced themselves to leave their trenches in almost certainly suicidal maneuvers. Dealing with such situations would certainly be very difficult for me, since I have difficulty dealing with gore and cruelty to begin with. The constant reality of such horrible events and the constant fear of such a fate, or being forced to bring such fate to another person would certainly leave a psychological scar. Many soldiers suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, at the time called Shell Shock. These soldiers could never escape the war, since stimuli reminding them of the war could result in a reemergence of the terror they felt in the trenches. Many men experienced uncontrollable fear, shaking, and cowering long after the war had ended. Moreover, shell shock was very poorly treated and even more poorly understood. Many men suffering from PTSD were forced to return and fight in the war, and some were even executed for cowardice. Knowing that the psychological scarring that occurred from my war experiences was not accepted by society would make it even more difficult for me to deal with the horrors of the trenches.
My greatest fear in the battlefield would not be of my death, but of failing my fellow soldiers. I always thought about what being in battle would be like, and as I have grown older and come to the reality of combat, I learned that the men who fought weren’t constantly worried about death. They worried about the man in the trench next to them. I’ve wanted to be a leader, and feel that I am good at it. So if I were to become a company commander, I definitely am afraid of being one that loses more lives than he saves. You can compare me with the ranger captain that Tom Hanks plays in Saving Private Ryan. He says in the movie that although he has sent a lot of men to their deaths, he hopes that with each man he lost, he saved 10 more. So I just don’t want to be a terrible field commander like Sobel was from Band of Brothers. Major Winters on the other hand, or an inspiring crazy Lt. like Speirs, would be a obviously the best. I would want to be a good example, and failing my men, and my country, and my god, would drive me to go to the ends of the earth.
My second fear though, would definitely be a wheelchair wound, or a severe disability of that nature. I feel like a handicap of that sort would leave me wondering “what if I hadn’t flanked from the left, what if I hadn’t peaked my head around that wall, what if, what if, what if…” The experience of the wound, and also afterwards the knowledge of being a mutilated body, and not whole would probably be just an unexplainable sadness for me. I always feel immensely sad for those who have to go through that sort of punishment. I wonder, what did he do to deserve that? He was a good guy, a man who was forced to serve, or one who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
My greatest fear would have to be living in the trenches, knowing that I would have to climb over the top and enter no mans land completely unprotected. After viewing some of the clips shown in class its apparent to me that life in the trenches is much worse than having to fight in the skies flying a plane or deal with living on the sea. Having to live knee deep in mud, always having to worry about keeping my head down to avoid getting shot, and realizing that at any second a mortar could land right on the spot I was crouching would have a major affect on me during and after the war. If I were to have to live in the trenches I feel like I would go over the top accepting that it was my duty as a soldier but as soon as I went over I would try to find a crater made by a mortar for protection. I know it would be hard to have to go over and realize all the men I was with including myself were most likely going to die. Experiencing these types of situations would most likely lead to post traumatic stress disorder, and once that ensued I believe that this would be my ultimate fear about living in the trenches. Post traumatic stress would cause me to relive all the horrible things I witnessed and would make me feel unbearable pain as all of these horrid memories came back to me. This is why I feel that living in the trenches would be the worst part and my greatest fear if I had to experience World War I.
Personally, my greatest fear would be an enemy confrontation in the trenches. In the source describing the letters home from tge soldiers, one described gasing out enemies from the trenches. They did not have enough soldiers to hold any prisoner, so they were forced to kill anyone who made it out alive. On either side of this, I would be most afraid in war. Dying in a scenario like this would be welcomed with open arms, but being gased out of a trench would be the worst experience in my opinion. Air battles would not be as frightening to me, because the risk of death may have been higher in the sky, but the overall risk of death was high anyway. Death from the sky would not be slow and painful, unlike one suffered in the trenches. This war was a horrible experience for all of the men who experienced it, but life in the trenches, in my opinion, would be the worst of all the horrors experienced.
The soldiers of WWI undoubtedly faced a great number of challenges every day while fighting during the war. Lack of sleep, little food and water, and living in the muddy trenches among the rats would personally be some of my biggest obstacles. However, I think the hardest part would be having no emotional comfort. Leaving your family for months or years at a time would be extremely difficult. Also, soldiers who had girlfriends or were just married and had to leave to fight in the war were probably longing to be home all the time. One of the soldiers explained that his best friend was shot during the war. He had been talking to him one day and the next morning at breakfast his friend was no longer there. This uncertainty of the future and constant possibility of losing your friends or fellow soldiers that you trusted and depended on would probably be very difficult and scary for soldiers. Usually when people are going through difficult times or facing challenging situations, they turn to their friends for support. However, most of the men during the war probably felt very alone and depressed that they had few stable people to depend on or just talk to for support. Even many of the officers were often brutal and threatened to shoot their own men during the fighting. This lack of support from fellow soldiers and officers probably only decreased soldiers’ morale and made it even more difficult for them to put effort into fighting and staying strong. Also, the lack of emotional support for the men didn’t stop once the war was over. Upon returning home, many of the soldiers had “shell shock,” where they couldn’t deal with the horrors of war they had seen. For those who were injured, not being accepted by society because of deformed appearances would be another enormous challenge. Finally, even with supportive families, many of the soldiers’ loved ones had no idea the atrocities they had experienced and couldn’t really offer much comfort. Therefore, I think other than a fear of being killed during battle, my biggest challenge would be feeling isolated and with no where or no one to turn to, both on and off the battle field.
As illustrated through all of the material that I have either watched or read pertaining to life during the Great War, I feel like life in the trenches would be most challenging aspect of the entire situation. Seeing videos of guys coming home, whether it be mangled missing half of their face, or be part of the long line of soldiers walking on crutches as they try to enter civilian life, the thought of being mangled while fighting for a country that didn’t necessarily care for my well being is very troublesome. One of the things in the class video was the video documentary being shown to all of the soldiers on the side of a barn. It was all fun and giddy for those survivors as they remembered filming the “fake” scenes of them running towards a fake enemy. It was when they saw men, men who had not made it back from the fight, that the entire room went silent. Life on the trenches in such cramped quarters would undoubtedly be hard, but my greatest fear would be coming back from the fight and not having my men by my side. With my aspirations of going into the military and serving my country, I feel like if I were to die, going out on the battlefield while serving my country would be the way to go. For me, it would be coming back alone, without my fellow men, would be my greatest fear. To be one of the only ones to come back, and then constantly look back and remember if there was anything that I could have done for my men in the relentless fighting, is something that I don’t think I would be able to bear.
Another thing that I probably would find most difficult is dealing with the illnesses that come with living in the trenches. Even in the photo to open up this blog, there is a picture of some unlucky fellow who is terribly stricken with trench foot. Standing in the trenches, while constantly taking machine gun fire to my head, all while being waist deep in muddy water filled with bacteria is something that I would have a very hard time with. While many men had issues to deal with on the front line, quite a few more had mental issues that could have been directly correlated to their work on the front line were seen as they came home. Men jumping under their beds when hearing a loud noise, or having a nervous break down when they saw their uniform, is something that countless soldiers had to deal with when they returned home. While this Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, was called “shell shock” back in those days, many men went untreated for fear of being labeled a coward. The government even executed soldiers for treason when they failed to fight, because they were truly scared out of their minds to go to the frontline. This can still be seen today, with many men coming back from Iraq with mental issues, or those that can hide it staying on the frontlines so they won’t have the label that goes along with. Though much has changed since the Great War, these disorders are seen today, and it is because of these that I am able to make my assumptions as to what life would have been like on the front. Though there are many things to be afraid of out fighting, it truly is the fear of coming back alone that would grip me upon it happening.
My biggest fear would definitely be the fear of losing a loved one, whether that be a family member or good friend. Between the disease-infested trenches, the parachute-less dog fighting, and the constant torpedoing at sea, the odds of a loss would be enormous.
If I was fighting in the trenches, I would be sure to make friends with those near me simply because I would need some kind of moral support to simply stay alive. Unfortunately, a commander could simply send a wave of troops over the lines to their death at a moment’s notice. With the enemy’s machine gun ready at hand, combined with a constant barrage of shells and mustard gas, I would know that my friend that I needed for survival would die in a heartbeat.
If a friend or family member was in the air force, I would pretty much know he or she would die due to the enormous death rates in the area. The commanders of the air force were so desperate for flying personnel that they were willing to send young pilots with only hours of training to their deaths. They even refused to give the pilots parachutes so they would not abandon their planes out of fright, meaning that the death rates were raised on purpose. A family member there was sure to die in approximately 11 days.
The sinking of the Lusitania proved that no country was safe from ocean terror either. As the Germans continued sinking every enemy vessel in the Mediterranean as part of their unrestricted submarine warfare, thousands of soldiers and civilians lost their lives, buried in a grave of water. Even if a loved one was not fighting in the war, he or she could still be killed by the war due to the random sinking of vessels.
All in all, if I had loved ones participating in combat, there would almost be a guarantee that one of them would die; an event that would obviously realize the fear. With the loss of a loved one, I would have a much harder time keeping myself alive in battle. At that point, the only thing that would keep me alive was the knowledge that others shared the same fear about me.
If i had been a soldier during WWI, my greatest fear would be how the war would affect my sanity. Obviously, I would still fear getting physically wounded and especially killed, but I would not fear damage to my limbs as much as damage to my mind. Fighting in any war, but especially the “Great War”, you would be forced to witness all typed of atrocities. From seeing your best friend die to seeing the suffering of the other side, caused by your own hands. I would be afraid of the war changing me as a person.
The nature of trench warfare would give me a lot of time to consider all of the things I was leaving behind and the danger I was in; basically, it would give me time to stand, think, and go insane.
It is not a simple thing to serve your country; you can’t just return to the way your life was before. I would be afraid that I wouldn’t be able to have the same relationships with my loved ones as I had before. Like the men in the WWI videos, I would not be able to forget all of the deaths I witnessed, they would haunt me. That the emotions of pain and fear I felt during combat would still feel as fresh and real decades later. I would be afraid that “shell shock” would prevent me from being the person I was before. Post-traumatic stress disorder is a serious condition which is hard to treat; night terrors and depression are both side effects. This psychological damage caused by the war could be irreversible, and affect my interaction with others and my overall productivity and happiness for the rest of my life.
War is hell. And I’d fear my memories would trap me in this hell for the rest of my life.
I think that above all my greatest fear would be a disabling wound. Some sort of wound that would leave me disabled and/or handicapped so that am still alive, but have to go through severe adversity. I do not think I could handle a wound that disabled the use of my hands, as I use them so much as part of my everyday life. Between piano, fencing, and other hobbies and leisure activities, a predominant amount of which depend entirely, or in large part on the use of my hands. This combined with the mental stress and trauma that such a disability would cause would be devastating. It would be like taking all the activities in life that you enjoy, and then suddenly, not being able to do them, coupled with severe pain and distress. This is especially relevant because wounds to the extremeties in particular commonly ended in amputation. Because of this, even a simple wound could result in the loss of a limb, and turn into a disabling one. So no only would I be afraid of clearly severe injuries, but also of injuries that could turn into the loss of limbs. This can be expanded to include trench-foot which was commonly seen in the trenches of World War 1, and could result in amputation. I think however, that I could deal with the conditions in the trenches, it would just be somewhat miserable. But overall, the conditions would be bearable, since the rotation of troops meant one didn't have to spend the entire war in the trenches, and therefore conditions such as trench-foot were preventable. A disabling wound, regardless of severity, would be my greatest fear, as coping with the disabilities and mental stress involved in my opinion would prove to be too difficult to handle.
When considering WWI, it's hard to choose which aspect of the war would be the most challenging or generate the most fear, as most outcomes or occurrences within wartime were far from pleasant. However, I feel that the hardest part of war would be continually seeing your peers go through the same hardships as you, only to get killed in the process while you survived. As stated in a video clip we watched, some men would be at the mess hall for breakfast and never return back for dinner. That aspect of war, the complete uncertainty of safety, is what I find the most fearful. How any soldiers stayed sane when they knew their best friend might not come back from the front is something I cannot comprehend. Life became so dispensable; you went to the trenches expecting to die. The men on the front lines running into No Man's Land could only make futile attempts at survival, as there was no real way to live through the bombardment of gunfire expect through pure luck. Even more sickening was that the young men serving in the Air Force had an assumed life span of a mere eleven days. With those kinds of odds, it’s dumbfounding to consider that there were people still willing to join the war effort and not just flee to Canada. It seems as if the young men of WWI signed their lives away to the military, facing brutal machine guns, artillery fire and poison gas that claimed thousands daily. The idea that anyone could join something so dangerous astounds me, and that is where I find the greatest challenge. I don't believe I could allow myself to sign away my own life knowing I don't have a shot in the world of surviving. No amount of skill did these men any sort of good, as the odds were against them from the start. In light of this, perhaps the most challenging aspect of the war to me was the mere act of joining the war effort at all.
If deployed during World War I, my greatest fear would be losing friends and family on the battlefront. I have never dealt well with loss, being the child who had extreme separation anxiety and the child who cried for weeks when my first pet died. When my brother left home for college, I just about lost my sanity. If I were to lose him, whether on the front, in the trenches, in the air, or at sea, I do not know what would become of me. Death was a routine part of life for soldiers during World War I. It was not uncommon to lose fellow soldiers on a day to basis, to wake up to the stench of dead bodies and the realization that you could very well be next. This constant exposure to death would very likely lead to my mental breakdown or “nervous ruination.” What form this would take, I do not know. Men who experienced Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or any man who returned home from war for that matter, never returned to their previous wellbeing upon dismissal from duty. They were often implanted with a constant fear of being attacked and would thus be overcome with uncontrollable shaking. This “shell shock” cause men, as seen in recordings, to hid under beds and twitch uncontrollably and the slightest provocation.
Another fear I would have, would undoubtedly be the fear of injury. The injuries many soldiers had were simply unfathomable. Many veterans were left without arms, legs, jaws, eyes, ears, and faces. Both the physical pain and the emotional pain of carrying around these scars, I could not even begin to understand. Injuries were by no means a rarity. Few men left the war front without not only emotional scars but physical scars. These injuries had very much to do with the increasingly deathly weaponry: including artillery shells, machine guns, bombs, poison gas.
I additionally do not deal well with uncertainty. I am the type of person who likes to plan out and schedule my time, the type of girl who doesn’t like surprises. I would, needless to say, not last long in the battle front where surprise attacks were a part of everyday life. Every moment of every day, you could never be certain of anything.
If I were to serve in either the first or second World War I would have many fears. It would be extremely difficult for me to single out just one fear. Obviously, my first fear would be the fear of dying, but Mr. Kirby says we can’t just say dying. So for this blog I would have to say that one of my other greatest fears would be seeing the death of my brothers and comrades in battle. I feel that the fear of our own death is almost equal to the fear of losing a close friend right in front of your eyes. In the movies we saw we witnessed a closeness between all the soldiers. A closeness that only war can bring, we saw a bond that was above most any other. I feel that being in war, that connection with your peers is inevitable. You are going to feel that incredibly strong bond with many of your comrades. I feel that witnessing the death of somebody you shared a close connection with would be immensely difficult to deal with. At least in your own death you don’t miss anybody, you don’t feel anymore pain and you don’t have to deal with anything else. However, when you lose somebody close to you, you must live with that for the rest of your life. You are going to miss them and you are going to relive everything that happened for the rest of your life. I think it would be psychologically demoralizing if I lost somebody of great importance to me in a war.
In the World Wars my greatest fear would be facing the horrors of trench life as a member of the infantry. To be a foot soldier during either WWI or WWII and having to deal with the prospect of life in the trenches day in and day out might just drive me insane. This answer may not be original but I know that it is an honest answer after seeing what many of these front line soldiers had to live through. For most of these soldiers, their only breaks ended up being either death or moving to the back trenches for a few weeks where the chances of survival were increased slightly. Even after getting pushed back to the back trenches the conditions weren’t much better and the prospect of having to go back to the frontlines would constantly be messing with my head. In those frontline trenches I could see my greatest challenge as staying sane since each and every day would be a hardship and they would not end long after the wars had ended. Either way this challenge could not be completed in full anyways because after seeing the atrocities of war like those committed during the two wars, there is no way you can be the same person. From the accounts of the soldiers we have heard from in multiple videos life in the trenches is like living in a state of constant pain, panic, and paranoia. With artillery shells and poison gas capsules flying at all times the barrage would create a never ending racket that would constantly cause me to question how much longer I have with every boom. To hide every day beneath the trench walls and then knowing that only if my luck holds out will the artillery not break through the trench defenses would put me in a state of regular fear as these explosions came commonly and quickly. As demonstrated in one video about the life of the soldiers the defenses meant to protect the men from the artillery was sometimes the cause behind their death however instead of getting killed by an explosion one was killed by suffocation. The trek out to no-man’s-land would be equivalent to a death toll to me as well since it seemed like there was no way to escape death at that point. The only question after you got told you were going up to no-man’s-land was do you want to die in battle or do you want to die by a firing squad. To be part of a firing squad would also tear me up as well because in battle I would feel like if I had to kill someone it was because it was a necessary act for my survival. To kill someone in such a cold blooded way as to shoot them while that person is highly outnumbered and unarmed would feel wrong to me even if I had been convinced that they were a traitor for not fighting. It would also be hard to convice me that the man was a coward because I would understand why and sympathize with a man who refused to fight even though he knew the consequences, in fact it might come off as kind of brave to me. Either way all of those factors would combine into either driving me insane or causing me to adapt so I could survive. If I went insane it would be because all these factors would change me so much that I would become paranoid of other changes within my mind. This constant paranoia and stress from the war would leave me no better than the men that we saw who had shell shock, shaking and incoherent. If I adapted to life in the trenches life back at home would suddenly become impossible as the memories and nightmares would become an ever present burden, never actually allowing me to leave the battlefield upon which I survived. The soldiers that were talked to in the video about WWI were usually around one hundred or more years old who had seen much in their lifetimes. Despite all that they had seen, the memories and atrocities of the war remained ever present and clear in their mind. Even if I were to come out of the war, by some stroke of luck, sound in body; there would always be a wound upon my mind and the challenge of living with that is something I would fear greatly.
Based on what we have discussed, one of my biggest fears would be being forced to join the air force of any country that was not Germany. This is because the German air force was full of skilled pilots like the Red Baron who were able to fly and shoot well. They were complimented by ground shooters who were very successful in shooting down enemy planes. Another reason I’d be afraid of being in an air force is because non-German countries had pilots who were unskilled. They were unskilled because the countries needed pilots to fill in the positions that used to be occupied by also novice and gunned- down pilots. The countries did not care, however, even though they knew their pilots would die, they hoped that of the hundreds that were killed that a few might survive by luck only and bring back information on the enemy. My fear/challenge would be in knowing that my life meant nothing to my country and that my superiors did not actually care about me. As a pilot, I would not let myself go into battle without being at least 90% sure of what I was doing. Knowing that I was being forced to face an inevitable death would be very challenging to me.
Along with this, another challenge would be in losing friends every single day. If I happened to be one of the ones to survive, it would not even be that great of a relief because all those who sat at my table or roomed with me the day before would most likely be dead. Because of that, I would not make friends with anyone no matter what. This loneliness is another fear because even though I enjoy being alone, having to bear all that emotional strain alone is too much even for me.
If I went to fight in World War 1, my greatest fear would be going to the front and fighting in the trenches. First of all, conditions in the trenches were atrocious. Aside from being ankle-deep in mud in places, they were also infested with rats and other animals, and were not comfortable by any stretch of the imagination. I would not want to have to live and sleep there for a couple of weeks. Also, there was the danger of getting a disease such as dysentery or typhus, or an infection such as trenchfoot or trench mouth. Exposure would also be a concern. Any of these things would make life in the trenches very unpleasant. Also, the dangers of war would be present. The opposing sides would often gas each other by hurling shells of mustard gas, chlorine, or other gases at the enemy trenches. The gas would be bad because it would kill you slowly, and was difficult to detect and to protect against. Also, in no-man's land, the gas would sometimes sink down into the holes in the ground, so if you jumped into one for cover, you could be jumping right into a sea of poison gas.
My first chief concern though, would be getting injured. Often, soldiers would go over the top on a suicide charge to try and capture the enemy trench. I would be terrified to go over the top because it would mean nearly certain death. Rather, I would try to stay in the trench, out of harm's way (to a degree). Soldiers who went over the top, if they survived, often ended up badly hurt from the machine gun fire. Even popping your head up could be fatal, as the machine gunners were trained to look for heads sticking up and to fire on them. Any significant injury would be bad, but such an injury caused by machine gun fire to the head would probably be the worst. If you were lucky enough to survive that, you would probably be badly disfigured, with possible brain damage. Some of the pictures of soldiers who had these types of injuries, from the project facade website, were very graphic. I would not want to be permanently disfigured like that. Aside from the initial pain and suffering, I would have to deal with the social stigma, and the inevitable result of being a social outcast. A mask could be worn, but would not help much besides cover up the very worst. In the Faces of War srticle, it mentioned a soldier whose kids ran from him upon seeing his expressionless mask. Wives would sometimes run after seeing their husbands' disfigured faces. I would not want this fate for myself.
Finally, my other main fear would be that of killing others. I don't think I could deal with killing another man. In class, the person in the video talked about aiming for Germans' legs--aiming to wound, not to kill--because he couldn't bring himself to kill another person. I would have that same problem. All of our lives we are told that killing is bad, and when the military says to do it, not everyone can. I suppose if it was either him or me I would do it, but otherwise I would shoot to wound, because I probably wouldn't be able to commit murder. If I ended up shooting someone, it would bother me for a long time, and I would have to deal with that. There is the possibility that I could get PTS from that, which would be a problem because soldiers who had "shell shock" were often seen as cowards and executed. I would hate to be executed because I was suffering from a medical disorder. It would be really unfair, and I would worry about that. I would try to avoid killing whenever possible, but I would be worried that I might end up doing it sooner or later, and this worry would bother me.
If were a soldier in World War I my greatest fear would be living in and experiencing the terrors of living in the trenches. While in the trenches soldiers not only experienced the violence and saw first hand the atrocities of war, but also dealt with diseases, harsh living conditions, low morale, and other obstacles. Trench foot was common among soldiers at this time. This along with the many other diseases soldiers contracted from the constant muck and mud of the trenches particularly frightens me about life in the trenches. Another aspect of life in the trenches that would make it difficult for me to deal with is the mentality one would adopt while living in the trenches. This mentality is one of constant fear and paranoia. It would drive me insane to sit in the trenches knowing that I would have to go over the top in a few minutes run straight at the bullets and artillery of the enemy in an attempt to take the next line of trenches. This mentality would also be one of futility and endless monotony. Being a soldier attempting to take the next line of trenches I would know that each time I would go over the top, there would be a little chance of survival with little gain in return (a gain of only a few 100 yards or so between each line of trenches). I would also be constantly preoccupied and worried about an enemy assault in which the opposition attempts to charge and take over the line of trenches that I would be stationed in. The fact that this could happen anytime; that a canister of gas could be dropped into my trench, the fact that an opposing soldier could drop into the trench and shoot me, stab me, or kill me in any form would cause me to be completely and utterly paranoid. Therefore the biggest fear I would have if I were a soldier in world war I would be living in the trenches and more specifically the unstable mentality that it would inspire me to have.
My greatest fear of being a soldier in WWI, whether I am fighting in the trenches, in the air, or at sea, would be dealing with the deaths of my fellow soldiers. From seeing the videos, it is very apparent that this war is brutal and merciless, and has an unforgiving death toll. Although dying myself would be a great fear for me and certainly a challenge, an even harder aspect of the war to deal with for me was to watch my fellow soldiers die everyday. These soldiers said how there only friends, the only people they made contact with, were the soldiers they fought with. The veterans also stated in interviews that you could people with your group one day, and in an instant they would be gone. In all parts of the war people were dying at an extremely high rate. I don’t know how I would deal with people that I have come to know very well dying in front of my eyes. There lives ended in an instant. Dealing with that realization and grief would be my greatest challenge and would make it hard for me to continue to do my job as a soldier, knowing the amount of friends I have lost in the process.
My greatest fear as a WWI soldier would certainly be trenchfoot. I could stand a bullet to the face (would not like it), I could stand bad living conditions (would not like it) and I could handle the the psychological aspect of knowing I could die at any moment (would REALLY not like that), but trenchfoot scares the hell out of me. the idea that my foot, or any part of my body could slowly rot away and eventually just fall off simply disturbs me. Add this to the fact that it is not an injury obtained in any "honorable" way, and that just kicking a man while he's down... with the foot he just lost! Trenchfoot looks disgusting, there was no great solution for a missing limb (I suppose I could become Peggy the Pirate) and I would have a daily reminder of "you lived through the war because your own foot fell off, you didn't get shot, water disabled you, haha!" The entire idea of what it leads to is just horrendous.
Part of what makes trenchfoot so scary is that it was a more realistic and apparent manner of injury and death. Soldiers certainly saw men get injured and fall dead, but death ends all and the worst injuries would either kill you eventually or knock you out and get you out of the front. Trenchfoot would be seen in daily progression as one watches his and his peers loose their limbs. They would see effects, and would constantly be surrounded by the threat. Battleing from the trenches was fairly safe if one never went over the top, there was risk, but mostly the attackers lost men. Trenchfoot, though, it would take out the man in the next bunk day by day by day. I dunno, it just really messes with my head.
My greatest challenge would be that of taking another persons life. I cannot even fathom what I would do if my day was centered around taking the life of another person, as is the purpose of war. I would definitely not have willingly gone into the war and thus would never want to willingly take a life. Most likely I would be one of the soldiers purposely not shooting directly at the enemy. Of course I am saying this in the safety of my home, I have no idea what I would do in the actual face of the enemy. I would like to believe that I do not have that power within me to take another’s life, one that is completely equal to mine, but the circumstances would probably change my logic. In the environment of war I would not only be the predator but also the prey. I would have to kill in order to save my family, my nation, and myself. So there is no knowing how I would react in the face of the enemy if I would kill, or if I would not shoot them. All I know is that taking another persons life would definitely be the biggest challenge I would have faced if I fought in World War I.
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In respect to World War I, my greatest fear would most definitely be life in the trenches at the front. Through our visual and oral study about the life in the trenches of the soldiers, and the extremely vivid details of how conditions in the trenches and what sort of affects it lead, is very overwhelming. I have absolutely no tolerance for pain and gore, so even thinking about the trenches and the various causes of death makes me cringe. If death alone by a bullet or maybe possibly a sword was an option, that would probably be a more convenient and more likely choice for me. A death by a bullet shot, unlike the various diseases and conditions in the trenches, is very fast that it could easily be painless. However, in the trenches you are living with that constant fear of being killed, and with the endless gunshots, bombings, and most likely the cries of your fellow solider in agony, a person could and will go insane with that undying fear. This fear soon lead to PTSD or shell shock, or as referred back in World War I, "cowardliness" was not a joke. Soldiers would literally explode due to all that trauma experienced on the front that they would become mentally unstable. And the worst part is that others, such as lieutenants and fellow soldiers would have little or no sympathy for you whatsoever since they would be entirely preoccupied with their own survival and well-being.
Besides the immediate violent death caused by life in the trenches, or the psychological affects, diseases spread due to the unsanitary conditions within the trenches itself is a big factor to fear. Like I mentioned before, the trenches did not usually lead to fast, painless deaths, but instead were often slow, excruciating deaths. Death by a disease or infection is probably the most prominent ways death occurred in the trenches. Initially, the soldiers in World War I used the trenches to guard and protect themselves from the opposing side and out of No Man's Land, but the irony in all this is that the trenches in which they were living in, was actually more promising in death. Since the weather for the duration of the war was always either raining or snowing, soldiers would be walking and sleeping in rainy mud that reached their knees! With their body and health not probably taken care of and their feet being constantly wet and cold, many soldiers would get nasty infections and most likely get their toes ripped off or deformed.
I feel that every waking moment of my life would be spent in fear and horror of what I have experienced or what I fear of experiencing if I was a soldier in World War I. I would live with that constant unpleasant thought of either dying in the trenches or out, getting shot, blown up, getting infected or catching a rapidly spreading disease due to horrible condition, not being able to maintain my sanity and being executed for my "cowardliness", or just with that never-ending knowing that I might not be coming out of this war alive and not being able to see the ones I love ever again.
The greatest fear I would get from fighting in the trenches would be what would happen to me after the war. While dying is obviously a problem and something that I would need to be prepared for, I think being mentally and physically disabled after the war would be the worst outcome possible.
First, there could the potential for physical damage. Not only will there be excruciating pain from the poor sanitation at the trenches, there will also be great pain from the surgeries that will come from these injuries. From the videos we saw, no matter how good the reconstructive surgeries are, there would be no way of actually going back to normal. The physical damages from the battles would remain forever, and I do not think I would choose a lifetime of having these injuries over a quick and relatively painless death. What would especially stare me would be the many broken limbs, fractured skulls, and diseases I could get during the war. While broken limbs would be amputated and I would have to live a lifetime of being a cripple, it not no worse than living a lifetime in a hospital with some kind of mental incapacity.
However, I think the worst outcome of the war would be post-traumatic stress. Based on the knowledge of the psychological effect at the time as well as the treatments those who suffer from “shell shock”, I believe having such a psychological disorder after the war would be the worst that can happen to me. Most likely, I would be subjected to electrocution or other bizarre treatments that were thought to help whatever symptom I would have. Also, with the lack of knowledge, other’s treatment of me, my friends, family and strangers, would only worsen my conditions. Because being “shell shocked” is seen as a cowardly act, other people’s perception of my mental illness would only be that of contempt. Thus, being in such a hostile environment towards my illness would only make me feel even more lonely, alienated, and helpless. Having witnessed such gruesome aspects of life from the war, I would not be able to forgive myself for being alive when my comrades died. I would be completely psychologically damaged to the point where I would most likely shoot myself. By that time, all my hopes and dreams would have died, and I would end up all alone.
Thus, I believe my worst fear and challenge would be what happens after I survive the war and come back to the real world. Adjusting to life as a normal civilian would be hard as well, after witnessing such traumatic deaths during the war. It would be extremely hard for me to heal physically and psychologically.
Although neither the air nor land seemed to be a desirable position for a solider during World War I, I believe that I would hold a much greater fear for life in the trenches. In the videos that we watched during class, the life of a pilot, however short, was extremely enjoyable. They were seen as heroes and admired by their countrymen, and, if they returned from battle, they would have living conditions better than many who were not in the military. Life in the trenches, however, was long and painful; their longer life expectancy was more of a punishment than a gift. The physicals traumas suffered by the soldiers were excruciating, and with so many men in the same position it was unlikely that they would receive medical attention before the injury became more severe. Although the physical aspect was detrimental to a soldier’s health, I would find the psychological aspect to be much more difficult to bear. The life of a soldier was a never ending period of waiting; waiting to get called over the top of the trenches and meet the enemy’s machine guns, waiting for their injuries to begin taking a severe effect on their health, and waiting for the day when they might be able to return home and see their family and friends again. The constant fear of being killed would certainly lead to psychological disorders, such as “shell-shock” which would continue long after the soldier left the war. Such disorders were not recognized in time for all soldiers who suffered from it to be freed from the title of a coward; many were actually executed for cowardice. In the videos, I found the most disturbing image to be of the bodies piled up on the sides of the roads. I can only imagine what it must have been like for the soldiers to see their comrades that they have fought beside laying there, and it would be something I would dread seeing every day. It would not be the fear of killing the opposing soldier nor the opposing soldier killing me that would frighten me; rather it would be the fear that there would be no end in sight to my time in the war. A short and somewhat enjoyable life in the air would be something that I would fear much less than a long and painful life in the trenches.
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