The war simulation was not near or remotely close to the scence that a real war actually would produce. I am not saying this is a bad thing, seeing as real war entails killing, blood, homesickness etc. but in attempting to compare it to the attack on Normandy beach is somewhat of a reach. ALthough, We did accurately portray the ratio of soliders on one side vs. the other and we also applied some of the same tactics (ie. the parachutters).
The simulation in class did not change or effect my veiws toward war in anyway, I simply veiwed it as a game. On the other hand, the reading and looking back on the facts of the time did strengthen my position agaist war. It re-enstated my feelings of hate toward the brutality of war in general and it made me angry to think of the mass slaughters of soliders all over the world. The threat of nuclear attack is much greater now, and it would make the slaughtering the thousands of Japaneese look lik nothing. There has to be a better way.
Overall, it was a fun expirience, more than anything, and i think it is safe to say the everyone enjoyed having a paper ball fight in class.
1 comment:
I know what you mean about simulations. Sometimes, I feel like they are a bit of an insult to the real thing, but the fact is that they are fun and I guess I disagree a bit in that I do believe that on some very superficial level they help me to understand the situation just a tiny bit better. Either way as you say, the facts of WWII are pretty chilling and our teachers did a good job of sharing that information with us. I also thought that McNamara's thoughts were the best window into the world of warfare I have seen other than the book The Things They Carried. Try to push your reflections a little further; you have really good ideas.
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