What It Is Like to Go to War
by Karl Marlantes · first published 2011
3mentions
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3HN commenters
2013–2018first – last mentioned
67% recommend33% neutral
From the author of the New York Times bestseller Matterhorn, this is a powerful nonfiction book about the experience of combat and how inadequately we prepare our young men and women for war. War is as old as humankind, but in the past, warriors were prepared for battle by ritual, religion and literature -- which also helped bring them home. In a compelling narrative, Marlantes weaves riveting accounts of his combat experiences with thoughtful analysis, self-examination and his readings -- from Homer to the Mahabharata to Jung. He talks frankly about how he is haunted by the face of t
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…anywhere in the world was trained to kill other people, our country (and yours) wouldn't need to ask people to sacrifice that part of their humanity in service to their countrymen. You might read Marlantes _What It Is Like To Go To War_. You might find that while SEALs are happy to speak proudly what they've learned in basic training, not so many of them speak happily about what war forces them to do during deployment. Those people…
on “Adm. McRaven Urges Graduates to Find Courage to Change the World” ↗…any of it as "elective". Spending significantly more resources on veteran care might also help some countries reconsider the costs of war before engaging in it. For a good book on the subject, read "What It Is Like To Go To War", by Karl Marlantes. This is what "support the troops" should mean.
on “Johns Hopkins surgeons perform world's first male genital transplant” ↗…count" was the end goal, and "take this hill" was primarily for the purpose of incidentally killing (at a very favorable exchange ratio) the enemy. Karl Marlantes has a pretty good criticism of this in "What it is like to go to war" -- the escalating levels of lying over statistics, as well as the ultimate futility and irrelevance of the body count statistic. Unclear to me if this was due to a lack of possible focal points to attack,…
on “No Combat Without Movement: Enders Game as Maneuver Warfare Primer” ↗