This may be news to Overt Narcissists but it isn't all about them. When commemorating the 100 years since the end of WWI in France, Trump didn't want to go the 50 miles to the Aisne-Marne American cemetery because it was raining .... no, it was because his helicopter couldn't fly in the alleged zero visibility .... no, it was because he didn't want to cause traffic upsets cos Trump is really thoughtful like that.
It was the day after the Marine Corp had its 243rd birthday and of course the Internet trolled Trump as did the French army and also Justin Trudeau.
"As we sit here in the rain, thinking how uncomfortable we must be these minutes as our suits get wet and our hair gets wet and our shoes get wet, I think it's all the more fitting that we remember on that day, in Dieppe, the rain wasn't rain, it was bullets."
Trump sent John Kelly and Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr in his place to visit the 2,289 U.S. troops laid to rest there. Trump said, "have a good time, enjoy yourselves and bring me back something nice,"
New Zealand director Peter Jackson took more time honoring those who have served than the US President did. Remember, Trump doesn't like soldiers who get captured so I doubt he holds much regard for those wounded or killed either ... unless the wounded vote for him. Jackson had family in the Great war for civilisation and colourised old footage and got in forensic lip readers and actors to give the soldiers a voice.
The documentary They Shall Not Grow Old was shown on the BBC and featured the voices of real veterans who were interviewed in the 1960's.
What amazes most is the attitude of the young men. Eager to join up and take on the Hun. You can see that sometimes never change. 19 was the age they took recruits at but if a 16 year-old and tried to enlist they'd be told to go outside, have a birthday and come back in aged 19. It's a great adventure until the drill and discipline starts. The news has the new soldiers at putting on a stone and growing an inch in height. All with nice shiny buttons.
60 years on and though the British army had moved on to semi-auto rifles and sub-machine guns, the discipline, procedures and attitude was still quite familiar. Now the military has little pussy guns made out of plastic so the poor dears don't tire themselves out.
Another amazing thing is the number of smiles there was. Probably a knee-jerk reaction to the novelty of being on camera. Perhaps the cameraman shouted out to smile for the folks back home.
It's all a big camping exhibition with a bit of danger. The main thing about the military is the boredom as it's always to hurry up to do nothing. The soldiers of WWI were kept as busy as possible fixing trenches and repairing barbed wire and laying wooden duckboards (trench gratings) to walk on.
After a while the trenches and war becomes the norm. The Germans had a name for it, Dickfelligkeit (thick-skinnedness) ... no rain fearing snowflake pussies allowed!
Losing friends was just something that happened. You could be with a friend you had grown up with and joined up with and as he stands beside you a sniper might blow his head open. PTSD has been around (recorded) since the times of the ancient Greeks and was only just given the name of Shell Shock in WWI.
Until it was understood better, those suffering it to the point of curling up in a ball and crying were seen as cowards or lazy, many were shot.
General Goerge S Patton who had served in WWI mostly in tanks became the focus of attention in WWII when he slapped 2 soldiers suffering from battle fatigue and ordered them back to the front lines, Eisenhower suppressed the incidents in the media and eventually Patton was ordered to apologize to the soldiers and the Doctors who witnessed it.
In the army you don't want your friends to think you are a coward so there is also the fear of being afraid.
A German soldier bumps into a wounded Tommy and gets an angry shove in the shoulder.
WWI was basically a big Royal family feud but you dress it up in patriotism and send plebs to their deaths. The British and Germans didn't hate each other as seen with The Christmas Truce of 1914. British and Germans left their trenches to play football on no man's land.
The Generals were enraged as that kind of thing isn't good for war and so forbid any further displays of humanity. In Jackson's documentary, the veterans say how the Bavarians were decent blokes as were the Saxons but the Pussians were cruel bastards even disliked by their own side.
Adolf Hitler, a WWI vet had hoped that the British would join up with the Germans in WWII as they had so much in common .... or why the Royal family changed their name to Windsor.
WWI was a senseless waste of life and changed those that returned home. Britain not having been touched by war had a struggling economy as like most of Europe and jobs were scarce. The soldiers felt as those they no longer fit in as civilians just didn't understand what had gone on over there.
A land fit of heroes was a glib phrase used by people and another was They died that England might live. Older versions of saying Thank you for your service but less personal.
The soldiers just wanted a job and some respect for their efforts but didn't get much from the clueless civilians or those in charge. Soldiers would get 3 basic medals which caused some resentment. A paper pusher in a comfortable role away from enemy lines got the same medals as a frontline soldier dodging bullets and many never had their heroic actions acknowledged.
In WWII the different theatres of war got their own medals such as Africa, Italy and Burma.
If you can watch the documentary then do so. It tells you the small details of the time. The jingoistic version of war on horseback wrapped in a flag changed as wars got closer to home and was better and more widely documented.
Killing another human is not natural for most of us so these young men many volunteered and many drafted had to become something they weren't and that the people back home would never have to be or to even see.
Robbing corpses, shooting surrendering soldiers, ignoring your wounded pals as you head towards a hail of bullets over no man's land. Revenge for their fallen friends and the nationalist propaganda helped them to want to kill the enemy. For king and country!
They didn't have the luxury of worrying about getting their hair wet in the rain or congesting traffic.
