Reply #5: I do not know why they kill themselves, but I know something about death in war

[ThomWV]

Why does anyone kill themselves? Who can ever know? I'll make this observation though, if you ask to hear the story of how they got there from every man in your local jail I can guarantee you that family problems and alcohol will play a big part in most of the responses you get. I suspect suicides would give similar responses if they could.

If you ask how men die in war that is quite a different matter. My war was a long time ago and it was just as different and the same as our current war as any other. They are all the same. In war men die by bad luck or because they are stupid or a combination of the two. One day during my war a patrol was moving up a trail when it was ambushed from ahead. About half the men jumped to the right and about half to the left. Everyone who jumped to the left was mowed down by machine gun fire, they all died. Everyone who jumped to the right survived. Bad luck, good luck. Two guys just stood wide-eyed frozen in the path. They were both killed. Stupidity.