JABQ04 said:
Some tense situations a WWI soldier would find himself in:
For an infantryman; a gas attack. Jus minding your own business in your trench when someone yells GAS GAS GAS, starts clanging the warning on an empty artillery shell canister. Having to thrown on your mask as your being enveloped in a cloud of chemicals. Field of vision is suddenly reduced in half.
Being under an artillery barrage. Where the term shell shock comes from. Men just broke under artillery barrages. Their minds cracked and many were left wrecks of their former selves. For a point of reference, the British fired over 1 million artillery shells in a week in preparation of the Somme Offensive in 1916. Continuous shell explosions and the ground rumbling. Trenches collapse, men blown apart or simply vaporized if a direct hit. Men buried alive by debris raining down.
For pilots, constantly looking for enemy fighters. Not like the movies, an enemy swoops in and fires a bird or two and is gone. Hard to see and track. Pilots constantly had to be running their heads and scanning, which is why the WWI pilot is typically pictured with a scarf, to protect his neck from chafing. Weapons malfunctions, damaged planes trying to stay aloft. No parachutes for stricken planes.
I've seen a few movies that have shown the prelude to going over the trench wall in a no-man's-land charge. Super personal and emotional moment with team dynamics, commitment, coaching etc.. The whole "in the trenches" metaphor is kind of slap-you-in-the-face obvious with the football tie in, but could dovetail into the before/after season dynamic.