I have been off work for a week and have read both of these books. My greatest disappointment is that I never served. I was raised by a Marine and a Naval Aviator. I understand that this board does not get a lot of traffic, but I never really understood their personalities until I read these books.

I am actually sitting here at 1am in the morning with a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. I just finished with the Old Breed. I cannot imagine actually going through what Sledge witnessed and coming out on the other side with any semblance of sanity.

I have close friends that fought in Iraq and Afghanistan in the Corps. I never understood why my Grandparents (The Pilot and the Marine, WWII and Korea) forbid me from joining with my buddies. From reading these books I have some insight into why they wanted to protect me from that potential carnage. I rebelled against it, but now I get it.

I guess this is my weird way of saying thank you guys for your service and keeping me and my family safe. I am envious in a lot of ways, but happy I was not exposed to the suffering that I am sure ya'll went through.

Gig'em and Thanks.

As a Vietnam veteran (Field Artillery), I'd like to go on record that while the climate in Vienam wasn't the most pleasant, the men who have my highest respect are those who fought in places like northern Europe during the winter of '44-'45 or Korea in the winter of '50-'51. I cannot imagine fighting a war in the bitter cold that those men faced.