Kaluens,
The bottomline is.. your job as a soldier or sailor at war, is to destroy the enemies of your country in order to win the conflict. Each individual you allow to live is another cog in the enemies war machine.
As a US Army Paratrooper (1/508th Lt Abn) I found that a "
no friendlies" attitude worked just fine. If you train for 3 years to kill and cant do it, you are in the wrong line of work. Some folks can live with their dirty work.. others cant.
Im sure it was the same with the Kaluens in WW2. If you have a full blown goose stepping fanatic, Im sure he wasnt loosing much sleep about how many sailors lungs he filled with salt water. And at the other end of the spectrum there were probably those who had pangs everytime they heard "torpedo teffer".
Each one of us is different and theres no way of knowing, til you cross that threshold, how you will truly
feel.
Til then Kaluens.. "
Pick up your hat! Try and look like a sailor!"
PS It was "
SAVING Private Ryan" 