Not every person can fully comprehend the cruel and horrifying experience of being at war. Soldiers and veterans are the only citizens that have experienced war first hand, and this is by seeing the war up close hand while also fighting in it. In Sledge’s “With The Old Breed,” he turned his experiences at war into terms citizens could understand. He captures what the Marines went through in the Pacific, while they were fighting the Japanese in World War II. From the excitement at the start of boot camp, all the way to soldiers praying to make it home after months of intense battle. War changes people typically for the worse, but citizens are more aware of the negative repercussions that come from war.
How did Sledge’s experience at war change his view of the Japanese? In every war soldiers are taught to hate and of course kill the enemy. The beginning of Sledge’s marine career he was worried about becoming too inhumane. He …show more content…
After being at war for several weeks he says, “increasing dread of going back into action obsessed me.”7 We can come to the conclusion from this that he obsessed about going back into battle and dying. He had nightmares about bloody battles, so not even in sleep was he safe from the war. For the rest of his life he will not be able to forget the horrors he saw as a Marine. Towards the end of Sledge’s time in battle he began to have horrible hallucinations. He imagined the dead getting up and walking around trying to tell him something. Being at war for so long can give someone negative results. He was under constant stress, and felt bad his fellow Marines were dying. These dreams can be linked to his conscious, and they more then likely followed him home. Seeing your comrades dying is an image that doesn’t just go away. This can be connected to post-traumatic stress disorder, having flashbacks is linked to PTSD. Which many war veterans