Some warriors are drawn to the thrill of combat and find it the defining moment of their lives. Others fall victim to fear, exhaustion, impaired reasoning, and despair. This was certainly true for twentieth-century American ground troops. Whether embracing or being demoralized by war, these men risked their lives for causes larger than themselves with no promise of safe return. This book is the first to synthesize the wartime experiences of American combat soldiers, from the doughboys of World War I to the grunts of Vietnam. Focusing on both soldiers and marines, it draws on histories and memoirs, oral histories, psychological and sociological studies, and even fiction to show that their experiences remain fundamentally the same regardless of the enemy, terrain, training, or weaponry. Peter Kindsvatter gets inside the minds of American soldiers to reveal what motivated them to serve and how they were turned into soldiers. He recreates the physical and emotional aspects of war to tell how fighting men dealt with danger and hardship, and he explores the roles of comradeship, leadership, and the sustaining beliefs in cause and country. He also illuminates soldiers' attitudes toward the enemy, toward the rear echelon, and toward the home front. And he tells why some broke down under fire while others excelled. Here are the first tastes of battle, as when a green recruit reported that "for the first time I realized that the people over the ridge wanted to kill me," while another was befuddled by the unfamiliar sound of bullets whizzing overhead. Here are soldiers struggling to cope with war's stress by seeking solace from local women or simply smoking cigarettes. And here are tales of combat avoidance and fraggings not unique to Vietnam, of soldiers in Korea disgruntled over home-front indifference, and of the unique experiences of African American soldiers in the Jim Crow army. By capturing the core "band of brothers" experience across several generations of warfare, Kindsvatter celebrates the American soldier while helping us to better understand war's lethal reality--and why soldiers persevere in the face of its horrors.

This monograph examines the organization and missions of the Army-of-Excellence divisional cavalry squadron as outlined in the 1980 Operational and Organizational Concept for Division and Corps 86 Cavalry and in Field Circular 71-8, AOE Close Combat Heavy Brigade and Divisional Armored Cavalry Squadron (Preliminary Draft), 1984. The AOE squadron, without tanks and at greatly reduced strength, is to be used primarily as a reconnaissance-by-stealth force, with secondary emphasis on screening, line-of-communication security, and command-and-control enhancement. The AOE squadron is a radical departure from its "fighting cavalry" predecessor, which was a strong squadron equally capable of performing reconnaissance, security, and economy-of-force missions. The AOE squadron seems to be a return to the pre-World War II armored division reconnaissance battalion--a lightly armed and armored force also designed primarily for reconnaissance by stealth. This monograph, by examining the experiences of cavalry leaders, various research reports, review board findings, after-action reports, and official manuals, traces the evolution of the reconnaissance battalion from a reconnaissance-by-stealth unit into a strong, multipurpose cavalry squadron and then back to a reconnaissance-by-stealth unit under AOE. The arguments in favor of reconnaissance by stealth are examined: Fighting distracts reconnaissance units from their primary mission and causes unnecessary casualties, and cavalry units sufficiently armed and armored to permit combat lose the traditional cavalry advantage of mobility. Advocates of fighting cavalry refute these arguments and also point out that the divisional cavalry squadron must be able to combat the tanks that will be found in Soviet reconnaissance and security elements.

Some warriors are drawn to the thrill of combat and find it the defining moment of their lives. Others fall victim to fear, exhaustion, impaired reasoning, and despair. This was certainly true for twentieth-century American ground troops. Whether embracing or being demoralized by war, these men risked their lives for causes larger than themselves with no promise of safe return. This book is the first to synthesize the wartime experiences of American combat soldiers, from the doughboys of World War I to the grunts of Vietnam. Focusing on both soldiers and marines, it draws on histories and memoirs, oral histories, psychological and sociological studies, and even fiction to show that their experiences remain fundamentally the same regardless of the enemy, terrain, training, or weaponry. Peter Kindsvatter gets inside the minds of American soldiers to reveal what motivated them to serve and how they were turned into soldiers. He recreates the physical and emotional aspects of war to tell how fighting men dealt with danger and hardship, and he explores the roles of comradeship, leadership, and the sustaining beliefs in cause and country. He also illuminates soldiers' attitudes toward the enemy, toward the rear echelon, and toward the home front. And he tells why some broke down under fire while others excelled. Here are the first tastes of battle, as when a green recruit reported that "for the first time I realized that the people over the ridge wanted to kill me, " while another was befuddled by the unfamiliar sound of bullets whizzing overhead. Here are soldiers struggling to cope with war's stress by seeking solace from local women or simply smoking cigarettes. And here are tales of combatavoidance and fraggings not unique to Vietnam, of soldiers in Korea disgruntled over home-front indifference, and of the unique experiences of African American soldiers in the Jim Crow army. By capturing the core "band of brothers" experience across several generations of warfare, Kindsvatter celebrates the American soldier while helping us to better understand war's lethal reality--and why soldiers persevere in the face of its horrors.