Its incredibly easy to forget in just a couple generations how perilous some missions really were. D Day ranks quite high on that list, and every American should reflect on the sheer guts it took to pull it off. There was absolutely no certainty of success, no certainty of survival, and absolutely no fluff when it came to training. I carried an original copy of Col Applegate’s classic, Kill Or Get Killed, to Afghanistan. Still have it, pictured below. If for nothing else, it gave an interesting perspective on how training has progressed over the years. Look through it yourself:
Reblogged this on FOR GOD AND COUNTRY.
Yep, this is how tough the training was for D-day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_Tiger
I always try to remember military colleagues of mine who died in training/exercises just practising a hazardous job – we often overlook them.
The hundredth anniversary of Bella Wood is coming up in a couple of days.
Simper Fi Devil Dogs!
Don’t forget the Rooskies, guys and gals. It might have been a different game on DDay if the Wehrmacht hadn’t been gutted from Hitler’s folly on the eastern front.
It makes my stomach hurt to watch old newsreels of these young grunts before the invasion knowing that a good many of them would be dead in a couple of hours. What a day.