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Aaron Fountain
Dr. Tyce
History 202
7 April 2016
Flaw of War: Preparation & Toughness
In the book written by E.B. Sledge, the battle of Peleliu and Okinawa were times that
tested his endurance, stamina, and overall strength as a human being. The reception and treatment
that he first received at boot camp was a device that eventually led him to accomplish his leathery
personality especially during the battle at Okinawa. In order for the human mind to cope with
potentially traumatic events, one may try to lose their fears of whatever the event may
encompass. In the aspect of war, these fears would consist of gore, stench, and death. To strive to
completely eliminate these fears is impossible, since Sledge writes about the uneasiness he felt
when he came upon a couple of Marines yanking the gold caps and teeth from Japanese corpses.
Overall, the anxiety and fear of Sledge was shown throughout every soldier but with one flaw;
masking the brutality of war leads to depression and stress.
In the assault on Peleliu, Sledge runs across a dead Japanese medic, who had been hit
with a mortar shell. The experience was apparently bad for him, since he states that his face was
stricken in horror, as he saw the empty abdominal cavity of the corpsman (Sledge 70). To see a
human being without the mental barrier of friend or foelaying eviscerated on the ground
would cause somebody to freeze on any action that they were carrying out. In the case of the
battle, Sledge had to capture the interior of the small island. The fighting was worse on the hills
known as Bloody Nose Ridge, where all was needed to be strong. Under normal circumstances,
the human body could handle decent amounts of stress, but during war things can change

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completely. When Sledges team moved farther inland on Peleliu, the Sherman tanks located
behind their position mistook them for the Japanese. Sledge confessed that he had been changed
from a trained mortar gunner to a terrified mass (75). This only sheds light on the fact that even
though the men had been trained in boot camp and on Pavuvu, the instilled toughness and
courage was manmade. The result and effect of war is in itself animalisticthe main objective
is to take an enemys position for ones benefit. Not only did Sledge lose his artificial bravery on
Peleliu, he also forfeited it on Okinawa. First of all, the Japanese had waited to assault the
Americans farther into the island. When the Marines heard someone yell, The landing is
unopposed! (205), they believed it was a sick joke. Later, their tense yet carefree feelings would
cause a problem with the eventual fighting on the island.
Later on in the operation on Okinawa, the Marines encountered a brief period of pausing
in the battle due to weather. To the Japanese, the weather would not have served as a deterrent to
their cause, as the American soldiers feared many sneak attacks on their position. The Marines
had fears of the Japanese maiming and wounding them (240). The brutality of the Japanese
soldiers was something to be feared by the Americans, due to accounts of beheading, which not
only happened in the Pacific islands but in the island of Borneo as well. Either way, it was not
going to take an institutionalized idea of bravery, and fear to overpower the enemy; frankly,
the main issue was the stress and anxiety of war. These two emotions often lead to a larger
problem of war, which is classified today as PTSD. This can take months, years, or even until
death to deal with this psychological disorder. Overall, the push for the takeover of Okinawa led
to a fear so great that not even the artificial and presupposed courage instilled in the Marines
could even hold back one of the worst psychological disorders to date.

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The incident on Peleliu where Sledge saw the horrors of war up close acted as a trigger to
the fear and chaos that many men of the Marines experienced. One such occurrence was when
Sledges company trekked through an area that was near the beaches, and the group saw the
rotting, stinking carcases of the fallen Japanese soldiers. The fallen enemy soldiers were rarely
removed, and they were often left to decay where they died. Sledge notes this experience as being
so full of horror, that it would be impossible to explain it to someone who had never seen the
dead (153). The problem that followed was that the men had to hold a certain position on the
island, but they only dirtied themselves which added to the already atrocious stench. On Pavuvu,
the stench found there was only of rotting coconuts. Sledge even stated that he was repulsed by
even the smell of a fresh coconut (37). The previous experience at Pavuvu had not led him to
experience the full horror of war, but at least there were objects that would resemble the actual
things in the Pacific. For instance, the relentless killing of the annoying crabs that plagued the
Marines can resemble the slaughter of enemies on the battlefield. In total, the stench and death
witnessed on Peleliu shook the nerves of the soldiers to the point of a hollow fear, which instantly
replaced the courage and strength on the training grounds.
In the case of battle or war, fear is going to win. People can not stand to see their fellow
beings be blown apart in combat, unless a person could be hardened enough for the job. Still, the
courage, fear, and strength often talked about in the military is utterly useless.
Commanders, officers, and generals can try to instill rigor and confidence among soldiers to
bolster their strength, but during any battle people fall victim to fear. Roosevelt said in his
inaugural address that there was nothing to fear but fear itself. If one must be tested to their
limits fighting and killing automatically, the stress and guilt will bury them, as well as fear. The
feeling was shown throughout the second World War, and will continue to happen. When the

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soldier believes that he/she must be ready to fight, the prospect of dead and rotting bodies and
other stenches will lead to them faltering in their mission. In conclusion, the bravery and courage
that every person esteems as mighty is wrong; it ultimately leads to stress, guilt, and fear, and it is
better to find ones own courage than rather to buy it artificially.

Works Cited
Sledge, E.B. With the Old Breed. New York: Presidio Press, 2007. Print.