War-fighters: Experiences Of Army Aviators

This discussion compares the experiences and characters of two esteemed soldiers: Edward Rickenbacker, and Truman Smith. These two men fought very different wars, but seemed to use very similar tactics in dealing with war. Through their valiant efforts, each of these men outlived the wars they fought in. In addition, they were also able to keep their minds relatively free from the weight of war.

Before Edward Rickenbacker and Truman Smith’s combat experiences can be compared, a little background information on each man needs to be reported. Edward Ricken

Both Eddie Rickenbacker and Truman Smith entered war with little preparation. Yes, they had both been through flight training before heading to Europe, but neither man was truly prepared for war. After Truman Smith trained with the RAF in his hometown, he seemed eager to fight . He wanted to win the war in a short amount of time. Unfortunately for him, World War Two was not ended in a timely manner to say the least. Rickenbacker volunteered for the Air Service during World War One. He did not have aspirations of being the most successful pilot of the war. In fact he had major problems with airsickness when he first started flying . Rickenbacker’s desire was to honorably serve his country in the war with Germany.

Upon entering into war, both men came up with strategies for keeping their sanity, and conserving their pre-war characters as much as possible. Despite the differences in times, both Rickenbacker and Smith realized they had to keep their sense of humor if they were to survive , . In fact, Smith even comments that humor is a natural instinct created to reduce the friction created by life’s “outrageous fortune7.”

Carl Von Clausewitz’s On War has changed the way militaries view and evaluates combat, since it was first written in 1832. In his great work, Clausewitz discusses the nature of war as well as his theory of war, before divulging into general strategies for offense and defense. The forces he says are the crux of theory for every army are those of moral qualities of war. Clausewitz states that men only fight well in battle when they are unhindered with ethical dilemmas dealing with war. In other words, soldiers must not feel that what they are doing on the battlefield, or what

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