I'm watching a re-run of the HBO series, "The Pacific" and I never knew why

[1monster]

32. I saw a series on the Pacific War on the History Channel several months ago.

I don't usually watch television at all, but this series caught my interest when my husband was doing his regular flip through the channels.

The sheer insanity of it all kept me glued to the set. I still can't believe the studpidly, incredibly irrationality of the way that war was fought -- on both sides.

For those who don't know: The Japanese took those little islands in the Pacific, some not much more than two miles long or wide and dug in, literally, with camouflaged caves and tunnels running between them. The U.S. forces would land on those islands under devastating fire, and take them inch by inch, sometimes losing 10,000 to 15,000 men in the first day. But take them they did, even though the Japanese fought to the death to the last man.

Insanity.

And in so saying, I do not belittle or denigrate the soldiers who fought those battles. I am in awe, though, that they were able to come back, those who survived, to the USA after the war and live normal lives, helping to build the strongest economy this country has ever seen...