Charley Goddard joined the First Minnesota Volunteers at the age of fifteen. He was excited about the shooting war that was talked about at town meetings and posters.
He believed that this was going to be the only shooting war to ever happen. He also believed if he didn't sign up he would miss this great shooting war. He was determined that he was not going to miss this opportunity, he lied about his age so he could be part of the war. He also believed he would not be in harm's way and that the war would be over by the fall.
Charley quickly learned that he would not be going straight to war. When he arrived to Fort Snelling he did not receive a military issued but a pair of black pants that were too short, a pair of gray socks and a black
felt hat. This would be his first disappointment of many more. While at Fort Snelling the only action Charley saw was play acting battles and lots of drills. He grew bored with all the fake battles and drills, he began to think about leaving the military. Then on June 22 the First Minnesota Volunteers were called to come to the shooting war. On the trip to Manassas, Charley got to travel in luxury. He saw many sites and how different people lived. After passing a very poor family, he was thankful for the life he left behind. The Battle Of Bull Run was Charley's first encounter of a shooting war
Long, hard days of recruit training began for the army. Every day he was up at 6am, doing physical training, learning battle tactics and how to use weapons, lunch, going out to the rifle range, dinner, and then night lessons until 10pm.
The soldiers lacked basic necessities such as clothing and food. In Document B it Dr. Albigence Waldo states, "There comes a Soldier, his bare feet are seen thro' his worn out Shoes, his legs nearly naked from the tatter'd remains of an only pair of stocks". In other words, these soldiers clothing were very worn out due to being used so often and were not provided with brand new attire. Since there were many mouths to feed, food became scarce, which left many soldiers starving. Around the camp soldiers cry
The most interesting thing I found while reading this story is that even though the soldiers carried a ton of weight around with them, they insisted on carrying as much as possible to insist they were prepared for any given situation. Also, just as we are all different individuals, each soldier carried their own personal things that depended on their own habits and hobbies. Some examples of the necessities the soldiers had to carry with them include, “Among the necessities or near-necessities were P-38 can openers, pockets knives, heat tabs, wrist-watches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-Aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, Military Payment Certificates, C-rations, and two or three canteens of water (O’Brien 125). These were just some of the things these men had to carry with them just to undergo some of the conditions surrounding them. Besides those items I explained things like weapons and magazines made up most of the majority of the weight.
The question of quitting rings loudly in my mind. The year is 1777-1778 at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania in the middle of the deadly winter. Many men are dying because of diseases, the climate, and even starvation. I know what I need to do, nobody said it would be easy, I need to re-enlist. General George Washington is asking all of the men that same question: Would you re-enlist?, and I can’t believe that some of them will not even consider it. Why would you quit when you still have so much to fight for? My country deserves their freedom, and why would I quit when I’m still healthy? After all, George Washington is a great leader, and is an agreeable man, he would fight with us to the very end.
When the young men did sign up, they were doing so as individuals looking for adventure, but the army saw them as mere units and battalions. One reason why the men were signing up was apparent to me when Snowy, Barney and Frank etc. were talking around the fire about signing up. One of them was pushed to sign up with the line “The girls go wild over a uniform”. Archie joined up because he wanted an adventure, ...
In the beginning of Sledge’s memoir, he depicts his desire for joining the war. His feeling that the war may end soon prompts his aspiration to get into action. While the military students are at Georgia Tech to continue their studies before being sent to boot camp, Sledge (among a few others), purposefully fails classes so he can be sent straight to boot camp and begin the journey to the front. Sledge wasn’t prompted only by patriotism. He has a superficial idea of what war entails. During this period in his journey, his morals are high, and he views the war to be a positive. However, some of this feeling could have been encouraged by the fact that they were Marines. Marines were not just your typical soldier and he took pride in that. This pride itself gave him more hope and confidence going into the unknown. Even though Sledge is upbeat and excited for and during boot camp, you can sense a small fear that lingers in the back of his head about the dangers that his future holds. This sense of fear increases as he nears his departure for Peleliu. Sledge writing this book well after he completed his stint in the war comments after he described the excitement to begin boot camp and their journey ...
...o join the war, that quickly changed. They never had enough food, water, or clothing. While the desire to stop and give up was found, each man continued on, knowing that a task had to be completed if they wanted to defeat the Axis powers.
According to document A there was an estimated amount of deaths that ranged from 1800 to 2500 deaths! If you do the math that means that 1 out of every 10 men are going to die due to sickness or other causes. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to die. I don’t even want to think about dying. And I know I would only have a 90% chance at surviving so that’s why I wouldn’t re-enlist.
...hermore, going to war was an act of cowardice. He had to put aside his morals and principles and fight a war he did not believe in.
The Lincoln County War was a small skirmish between civilian factions in the New Mexico territory in 1978. It started as a feud between two rival general stores in Lincoln County. It was plagued by poor dissemination of information because, both sides were deputized and assumed they were operating with the law. By the end of the conflict twenty-two people had died, and with the exception of Billy the Kid, both sides were pardoned for their actions. There was no clear winner, and due to questionable tactics, distrust in the local government was the main result of the conflict.
The life of a soldier in the Continental Army described by Martin was perceived to be bold and exciting. Martin’s own motivations and reasons for why he joined the Continental Army was because of his desire for adventure and travel. Martin like many young men at that time had in his mind glamorous ideas of what being a soldier would be like. According to Christopher Geist, “Many, including Martin, must have been drawn, at least initially, by the adventure of it all. His guardians prevented his first attempt to enlist at age fourteen, and he was envious of his young associates who had marched off to fight. "By and by," he wrote, "they will come swaggering back, thought I, and tell me of their exploits, all their 'hair-breadth 'scapes.' ...O, that was too much to be borne with by me." He enlisted the next year. Many a wide-eyed youth must have been easy pickings for recruiting sergeants.”
pressured by the societies they are raised in to sign up for the military. They are persuaded by
“Too smart, too compassionate, too everything. It couldn’t happen. I was above it”(O’Brien 45). Even though he thought about all of those reasons why they were unsuitable for war, when asked about their plans of action, they are indecisive, they decided to wait. Sooner or later John, and Tim were going to be drafted, and they had to face the fact that they had a very slim chance of being rejected. “I would be summoned for a preinduction physical at my local Gravesend draft board, where I had every reason to expect I would be found fully acceptable for induction-what was called 1-A-fit to serve, and standing at the head of the line”(Irving 474).When John knew that he was going to have to get his physical examination in order to be drafted, Mrs. Hoyt claimed that she could help John avoid being drafted by faking mental illness, yet Owen decided to take matters into his own hands. Mrs. Hoyt had successfully helped other local boys avoid the draft, yet it was possible for the boys to do more harm to themselves mentally and physically, thus Owen was not willing to let John run the risk of being mentally scarred. “And there was also that draft notice tucked away in my wallet ”(O’Brien 47). Tim had his draft card for a long time and seems to
... was against war and how much he valued not only his own life but his comrades’ life.
[Actually,] I had so many reasons for wanting to do this. The first was for money. The military was willing to train me, feed me, house me, and when I was back home give me cash for college, "up to" forty thousand dollars. At that time I thought that was an incredible deal. Where else in the world could I find an opportunity like this one? [Yet t]he price I would pay wouldn't be worth "up to" forty thousand. Another great reason for joining the Army was to get in shape. I had visions about this ultra lean and strong body I would get from running five miles a day. I was also looking forward to the overall experience of inner strength, confidence, and pride in my country. As much as I was excited about doing something different and brave, I was also full of fear.