The Men -Part 2

The men of this book were Marines, and Navy Corpsmen(medics), they enlisted in the marines because of history of the marines and it being a tough outfit. The men lived normal lives, school, girlfriends, family, work etc.. They were all wanting to serve their country. The book is about one person mostly, but the history covers all six flag raisers. Three of the six died on Iwo Jima. Several were veterans of other pacific campaigns, one had a premonition of death in this last campaign, and indeed he did die.
Ira Hayes was the only non-white of the six, he was Pima Indian of the Gila Reservation in Arizona.
Although this story is about Marines, this is not to take away the same bravery of all our troops in all theaters of war, in all battles, in wars, in all branches of service.
The goal in writing about this is for you to understand the American Fighting Man, why and how they do what they do and the effects afterwards.
The men train for months on end, in military discipline, in fighting, marksmanship, in being a team, day after day, drill after drill until you learn to stay alive and do your job and maybe another job besides, and most important learn to kill, and do it all by instinct after some time, as natural as breathing. The men become close, live together, drink together, talk, laugh, maybe visit friends families, learn about their families, loves and sometimes fears, or plans afterwards. I a word "comradeship", the real meaning, you may just hear buddies, but it goes beyond what most can understand about those words.
As before I encourage you to read this book, told far better than I can begin to say!