But the Cold War is what I really would like to know everything about.


Try reading The Necissary War it's about Vietnam and the importance of the 3 major proxy wars of the cold war.

WWII is the most intresting to me because it is the base to a lot of the military thinking today(mostly the Blitzkrig), even if the technology has changed...
Ovcourse I am a ring-side seat for the Arab-Israeli conflict....
The funny thing is to look at 1956,1967 and the first week of the 1982 invasion to lebanon and see how the Israelis used and prefected the German Blitzkrig....I wonder what those full-of-them-selves Nazis would think....Jews becomming #1 in a field they invented.....whoops....

Originally Posted by Redleg

My favorite war must be World War 3-5, because they have never happened..

Ah, I believe WWIII started on 9/11/2001. I would not know what else to call what we are currently engaged in. So I guess the most interesting to me is the one going on right now.

Past wars of interest is by far WWII, my most favorite to study. I just wish our country would get back that spirit of the people during this trying time and apply it to what is happening right now. There are so many naive people who do not see this as a major threat to freedom and the American ideal.

Ah, I believe WWIII started on 9/11/2001

I disagree, many have made the case that the cold war and it's three main proxy wars (Korea, Vietnam, Afgahnistan) was in actuality a 3rd World War. I do not belive that in todays day of political correctness that a "world war" can ever be acheived without some drastic event. That being said, 9-11 came close, if indeed it pushed a deep schism beetween all of Islam and the world, which it did not.

Originally Posted by Wingnutz

I just wish our country would get back that spirit of the people during this trying time and apply it to what is happening right now. There are so many naive people who do not see this as a major threat to freedom and the American ideal.

I am with you there 100%. The naivity you mention seems very blatant to me when I go down to Southern California, seeing as in my town (which admittedly only has 60 people) I cannot think of a single man who has not spent time in uniform, and several of my neihbours were lifers, so the mentality in "hippieland" is pretty foreign to me. Actually, my church back home has a listing on the bulletin board of all the service members from the church so the congregation can send letters to them, and we have almost 50. Come down here however, and some of these kids don't know a single person in the military.
Heck, I've had several of them close me out of their lives entirely after I signed up (no big loss, but it is still disturbing). I don't understand where the pride went.

Past wars of interest is by far WWII, my most favorite to study. I just wish our country would get back that spirit of the people during this trying time and apply it to what is happening right now. There are so many naive people who do not see this as a major threat to freedom and the American ideal.

The level of patriotism now doesn't even come close to comparing to the level during WWII (in America). People say "But back then it was a fight for survival blabity blah". They don't realize this now is a fight for survival too. Wonder if they would say the same thing if they were in 9/11 or a personal victim of a terrorist attack.

The one that i was sent to last year. Op TELIC. The british equivalant of "Iraqi Freedom".

Kinda strange...but its the British-Zulu conflict of 1879. One massacre of armed soldiers by stick weilding blood thirsty type zulu warriors, followed by largest outpouring of victoria cross heros in a single engagement (Rouke's drift) virtually in a 24 hour period...yep interesting.

to "What war/conflict do you think was the most interesting?" Civil War for me. Brothers fighting brothers, fathers against sons, etc. More Americans killed in the war between the states than all others put together. I believe that deep down all human kind has the capability of inflicting suffering on others regardless of what nationality they are, and especially because of what nationailty/ethnic/religious background they are. Best of friends one day, enemies the next. All throughout history we have seen it, especially within the last 60-70 years: WWII; internment of Japanese Americans in Camps right here in the good old USA, anti Japanese sentiment in Hawaii after Pearl Harbor, POW camps in the South that held German POWs, a little known fact, the internment of Native Alaskans @ Ward Cove, AK where they were shipped after being ripped from their villages in the Aleutians because of their "look", most recently, anti-arab sentiment here again in the US. Guy shoots and kills an Indian guy who owns a 7-11 in AZ because he looked like one of the 9-11 terrorists. Anti French because they don't want to fight. People with certain "names" targeted at airport screening stations...... Human nature is so predictable. If there is nothing to fight about, we will find something. The Civil War was not fought over slavery, though it was an issue. It was fought because of greed, power, money.."how dare those upstart Southerners secede from the Union?" I guess I don't know what point I was trying to make..seems I'm just rambling........sorry

How many American casualties were there in the Civil War?