When did you realise that War isn't like in the movies?

[Del.Monte]

I grew up in the 1960's/70's on a diet of great war movies, war comics etc. where the 7th Cavalry always won the day and British army's thin red line inevitably won through or were glorious in defeat. I couldn't get enough of the stuff and to be fair I was not alone. These days I prefer more nuanced films and especially ones that show the grim reality of war viewed from the other side.

For all that, I never felt inclined to join the forces unlike many of my friends that did - I was too lazy and very probably too much of a coward. However, it wasn't until the Falklands war that I finally realised the utter brutality and appalling carnage that's involved. It was the first war that had embedded reporters with daily TV coverage beamed into our homes.

The attack on two British ships, Sir Galahad and Sir Tristam, that were attempting to land troops in broad daylight brought a shocking new reality into my life. The sight of badly burnt soldiers with some missing limbs - and the viewer saw the excruciating close-ups - has stayed with me to this day. War is not glamorous and something to be entered into lightly and viewed by the masses as some of video game. If you get killed or maimed, you don't just go back a level and start again.

[jmayo]

But war is still often very necessary.

I watched and studied a lot of stuff about WWII and Vietnam when in school.
There was excellent series on RTE back in 80s called The Ten Thousand Day War about Vietnam.
Added to that lots of additions of old Orbis publications like War Machine, The Elite, War in Peace, Vietnam were what I was purchasing when in school.
Yeah some of them are just about technicalities but you also get to read about cockups, failures costing thousands of lives.

I keep saying this here a lot of late, but the old sayings that some would probably scoff at really do bear out in the real world.

We fail to learn from history and we keep repeating the mistakes of the past.

[marhay70]

You only have to look at Ukraine today to appreciate the horrors of war and the absolute contempt so-called leaders have for the well being of their soldiers. Russia is operating with the mindset of General Haig, the British military commander in WW1 who, on being informed that a regiment of his troops had been wiped out, responded "Send up another one"
I visited Western France and Belgium on holiday a few years ago and took a tour of Flanders and the Somme and it really is shocking to see the cemeteries stretching as far as the eye can see in every direction. The ages on the headstones show how a whole generation was wiped out, 13 and 14 is not unusual.
But then when it's explained to you what the reason for this carnage was, a family row, that's what it boiled down to, a falling out between the Royal families in Europe. Mind boggling.

[6234567]

I always knew it was a brutal thing.
We always had history books growing up.
All those illustrations of weapons through the ages could be quite chilling. Fascinating but eerie.
As an example, when I first saw a falchion, I knew it wasnt for chopping parsley.
Coincidentally, it was a film my father was watching when I was young that exposed me to something of the reality of modern war.
I since discovered it was called Lion of the Desert.
It was the first real film depiction of warfare I'd seen and it was brutal in parts.
I read lot of history and it's obvious that regardless of the age - soldiers stories are not really encouraged.
Their experiences are too real and nearly never fit the preferred narrative.