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Today was a rough day for the squadron. From dawn to dusk were received constant enemy fire. One after another you heard the mortars go off and sometimes witnessed them go off so close you would be sprayed with dirt from the explosion. It was horrifying to see some of my good buddies from boot camp just be blown up in front of me. Arms, legs, even entire bodies were just blown up in front of me. The worst part about seeing them be dismembered was the fact that due to the lack of medics many of the men just sat there in agonizing pain. Even the ones that were hit and received medical attention died a lot of the times because of lack of sanitation. You would look over and see bandages being applied even though they were just filthy. Rats would crawl all over them and would eat the soldiers who had passed. Never will I forget what happened here. it’s been a few weeks since I’ve had a warm meal too. The last thing that I ate was that cracker and a stale piece of bread. I don’t ever remember being this hungry in my entire life. Sometimes I get so hungry I can’t control myself I just zone out when the enemy fire comes in. Sleep. I don’t think I have slept more than 4 hours in one night in the past month. It’s almost impossible because of the cries of soldiers and the constant feeling of wet and cold clothes on my body. You wouldn’t believe how wet these trenches get. Sometimes the trench will fill up halfway with water and we will have to stand in it for hours unless we want to get shot. There will always be some kind of animal in the water too. Snakes a lot of the time which scare the crap out of me. I’m just so exhausted and want to go home. It’s so annoying how awful our trenches are but whenever we take over the German’s trenches they are ten times nicer. They’re clean! They have wooden planks on the ground to keep out the mud and water. They have enough room to get some sleep where you don’t have to be face to face to someone when laying down. They sometimes have electricity and running water. How great would that be to have a place to clean yourself in the trench. The Germans dig great bunkers it’s so unfair for us. We like to claim were the best but dang do those Germans have it good. Over my term, I have learned to appreciate things more too. For example, conversation. During times of war it gets really depressing and when you are able to sit down and talk to one of your buddies it’s pretty great. I also appreciate my house and bed back at home too. Never have I been so tired and uncomfortable in my life here at war. The trench life sucks.

There are many words that can be used to describe the life of a soldier in a trench during WW1. Horrific, terrifying, wet, muddy, infested, demoralizing. The list goes on and on. During this time period, trenches were a new way to fight in the modern era. The Germans had nice trenches with boards to walk on, light, running water, etc. Trenches for the Americans were rough due to the fact that they believed they wouldn’t be there too long. In these trenches, they would be soaked and mud everywhere. Especially the ones on the front lines experienced constant opposing firepower from mortars and grenades. In these trenches, the disease was common due to the lack of sanitation. They would also be exposed to many rodents too. During this style of warfare, soldiers were forced to adapt to these harsh conditions and be able to stay like this for months at a time. It was almost impossible to sleep because of rats crawling over you or mortars flying over your head and throwing mud and shrapnel into their faces. The trench life was brutal and rough. I give so much respect to the soldiers that continued to fight for this nation and especially to the ones who ultimately sacrificed their lives so that we could stand here today.

citation: Dunleavy, Brian. “Life in the Trenches of World War I.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 23 Apr. 2018, http://www.history.com/news/life-in-the-trenches-of-world-war-i.

After reading President Wilsons 14 points my initial thinking was that this is a lot to demand.  Then you realize that all of this is necessary and not as demanding as you think it would be. I would say overall these points are in the best desire of all countries across the world and was thought out very well by the President and the U.S. government.  There were quite a few points that I believed were absolutely necessary in order to prevent future wars involving the entire world. One of these points was the one about how there will no longer be secret treaties between individual countries. This may sound dumb but WW1 proved to show that this could have been avoided if Russia knew Austria-Hungary were allying with Germany.  It served as a domino effect that one after another somehow almost every major country in the world was linked with another causing an eruption with the entire world. In the future, this would help to know who you are threatening to go to war with next time two countries disagree upon something. In Wilson’s points, there were also some really defective ones too. One of these points was the idea that national armaments would be brought to a low for the taxpayers.  This serves a very poor and unrealistic idea when in times of war. When in times of war you want the production of artillery, ammunition, firearms and any kind of military vehicle to be in it’s highest production at any cost. Without the mass production of these armaments, a war can be consequential to the entire country if the war is lost.

Thanks for joining me! My name is Ethan Sutton and I am writing this for my history class. During class today we witnessed a few pictures from world war one. My initial reaction was wow! It’s so hard to understand what people go through especially during the war and I know that a picture can’t do much but it sure did help me see the true devastation this war left on the world. One image that really stuck out was the one with the picture of the field which is a resting place for thousands of men. Even decades after the war the landscape is still be affected today. You can see craters all over the land and at first, it’s kind of cool but once you understand how they got there is really frightening. A few other images were like this too and had a similar effect where initially you think how cool it is but then you realize how awful and horrific these scenes are. One thing that surprised me about some of these pictures was the sheer size of this war and what it took from so many people. There was an image of a man standing in the middle of a field covered in artillery shells and to think how much damage these would have caused is quite horrendous. Not everything was sad though. I also enjoyed the image of a few men in a bunker just relaxing what seems to be just right after a battle. They had to cherish these moments and it was cool to see one of these few moments.

“Facts don’t care about your feelings”- Ben Shapiro