Introductions

[Martin Lamb, Head Moderator]

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Share whatever you would like to share.

[Martin Lamb, Head Moderator]

Hello! I am 18. I'm still in high school. I have just enlisted into the Army. I enjoy reading history books and books on startegy and tactics. I also write poetry in my free time.

[Micaela]

oh heyy!

[Martin Lamb, Head Moderator]

Hello, thanks for joining.

[Micaela]

no problem i was looking 4 groups with as ltitle people as possible and urs seemed interseting

[Martin Lamb, Head Moderator]

Thank you

[Micaela]

ha soo we talk abt wars here? i must say im not an expert but i do like watching the specials when their on the history channel

[Martin Lamb, Head Moderator]

Yes, we discuss books and other items related to wars.

[Micaela]

that sounds interesting... the war i find most interesting right now at least would prob b the revolutionary war but either of the 2 world wars r interesting

[Martin Lamb, Head Moderator]

Yes I find World War 2 the most interesting. I would like to move this conversation to the Lounge, because this is the Introductions thread.

[Paul]

Hi, My name is Paul and I am 60 years old. I was in the Army back in '69 thru '73. I have always loved reading, especially when a book "grabs" me and won't let be go.

I am presently reading Storming The Heavens by Antonia Santosuosso. Sub title, Soldiers, Emperors, and Civilians in the Roman Empire.

I look forward to partaking in stimulating conversations concerning WAR.

[Martin Lamb, Head Moderator]

Hello Paul! Thank you for joining and also thank you for serving your country. I have just enlisted in the Army last November. I am looking forward to serving my enlistment. What type of war books interest you?

[Paul]

1776 impressed me of how poor ignorant farmers beat the Hessians and the Kings Army.
Team of Rivals impressed me how the north won even though some of the north's generals were rooting for the Confederats.
Then I went Julias Ceasar's 2 books, Civil War and The Gallic Wars. and on and on.

[Martin Lamb, Head Moderator]

You are a fan of the ancient wars and military actions. Would you be interested in leading a thread on Ancient Military?

[Paul]

My interests are based not so much on military but on a crazy mix of religion, politics and military, like for instance Julius Caesar not only was a General, but also a polition and held a religious post in the Roman Government. Caesar Borgia also a general, politician and Religious posts.

[Martin Lamb, Head Moderator]

That's interesting how sometimes in war all three of those intwine. Such as the Crusades.

[Paul]

exactly...even Crazy Horse, son of a holy man beat Gen Custer and died like Julius Caesar.

[Silvana]

Hi, my name is Silvana and I'm a certified WW II buff (at least according to my friends). Have been fascinated with WW II since early. I've always loved war movies and WW II classics like A Bridge Too Far and Das Boot are among my all time favorites.

My first book on WW II is Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest which I read in college, which has been a sort of a Bible for me since. It attracted me to read more accounts on this war since then. Currently I'm reading The Last Battle from one of my fave WW II authors, Cornelius Ryan.

Now I want to know/read more more about the following topics:
- military engineers
- medics
- aerial battles between the Luftwaffe, RAF, USAF etc
- war in North Africa and the Mediterranean (except El Alamein since it has been discussed tons of time)
- war in Southeast Asia (Japan used to occupy my country for 3.5 years)

[Trish]

Hi, there. My name is Trish and I write young adult fiction. My current project is about a young Marine coming off a deployment to Afghanistan, but I'm interested in war in general, as well.

[Míceál, Assistant Moderator - World War II History]

Silvana, regarding aerial combay during WWII I would suggest Masters Of The Air by Donald L. Miller, The Few: The American "Knights Of The Air" Who Risked Everything In The Battle Of Britain by Alez Kershaw, Fighter Boys: The Battle Of Britain 1940 by Patrick Bishop, Broken Swastika: The Defeat Of The Luftwaffe by Werner Baumbach, Mighty By Sacrifice: The Destruction Of An American Bomber Squadron Aug. 29, 1944 by James Noles.

[Míceál, Assistant Moderator - World War II History]

Silvana, I can recommend numerous books on particular battles in the Pacific. For now I would recommend Retribution: The Battle For Japan by Sir Max Hastings and The Rape Of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust Of WWII by Iris Chang.

[Martin Lamb, Head Moderator]

Silvana wrote: "Hi, my name is Silvana and I'm a certified WW II buff (at least according to my friends). Have been fascinated with WW II since early. I've always loved war movies and WW II classics like A Bridge ..."

Thank you for joining Silvana! World War II is also my main area of interest. I read book, articles, watched a variety of movies about the war. Plus my grandpa was a MP in the Army Air Corp during the war. I am going to start a book recommendation thread so you can post what books you are looking for and other members can help you.

[Martin Lamb, Head Moderator]

Trish wrote: "Hi, there. My name is Trish and I write young adult fiction. My current project is about a young Marine coming off a deployment to Afghanistan, but I'm interested in war in general, as well."

Hello Trish, thanks for joining our group! A very interesting project you are working on. I have some friends in the Marines who have come back from Afghanistan. They have some very interesting stories about their experiences over there.

[Martin Lamb, Head Moderator]

Dr. Michael wrote: "Silvana, regarding aerial combay during WWII I would suggest Masters Of The Air by Donald L. Miller, The Few: The American "Knights Of The Air" Who Risked Everything In The Battle Of Britain by Ale..."

Hello Dr. Michael, thank you for joining and making those book recommendations! Would you be interested in helping out our members and recommending books for them?

[Míceál, Assistant Moderator - World War II History]

Yes I would. By the way, my Dad was a flier in the Army Air Corp during the war.

[Martin Lamb, Head Moderator]

Wonderful! Thats great, has he told you alot about the war? History is always more exciting when you can hear first-hand accounts.

[Míceál, Assistant Moderator - World War II History]

A bit. Not a lot. My uncle was a Marine who landed on Iwo ima but he would never talk about it. I have a friend who was a B-17 pilot who was shot down over Germany in Sept. 44 and spent the rest of the war in a stalag. I've been helping with his memoirs. My brother was in Viet Nam and was shot up pretty good. He has a lot of stories.

[Martin Lamb, Head Moderator]

My friends that come back from Iraq and Afghanistan have stories also. One of my friends has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from his tour of duty.

[Míceál, Assistant Moderator - World War II History]

What is your status? Will you be deployed soon? Couple of kids I coached in baseball are now Marines and one is going for his second tour. The other is in training in California.

[Martin Lamb, Head Moderator]

I'm still in high school, so I don't go to basic until august. My recruiter said I might be sent back here to Fort Irwin to train then get sent overseas because combat engineers are in need.

[Míceál, Assistant Moderator - World War II History]

My former baseball player is in training in combet engeneering in the Marines. Out of college in 2008. The other is a Marine lieut. Been to Afganistan once. Going back.
I wish you luck my friend.

[Martin Lamb, Head Moderator]

Thank you.

[Matt, Assistant Moderator - Naval History]

Hi my name is Matt. I'm a high school History teacher with interests is primarily naval history mostly in the War of 1812, Age of Sail, Napoleonic Wars, Civil War and World War II. I work on restoring a WWII Fletcher class destroyer and sail as often as I can or my wife will allow. I'm active in the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

[Martin Lamb, Head Moderator]

Hello Matt welcome to the group! Are you the only one working on the destroyer?

[Míceál, Assistant Moderator - World War II History]

Hey Matt, good to see you here. Thanks for the recommendation on Whirlwind. There was a very good program on The Military Channel last night regarding The Bataan Death March. Keep and eye out for it being repeated.

[Matt, Assistant Moderator - Naval History]

Hi Michael,
Good to see you as well. I was thinking you might like the book as I was reading it. I like Tillman's aircraft "biographies". Last summer I read his "biography" on the F-4U Corsair and loved it. I will Tivo the Death March thanks for the suggestion.

[Rosalie]

My name is Rosalie and I am 66 yrs old. Since I lived for part of WW II, I thought I should know something about it. I have been reading books about the people escaping from the Nazis and Russians during the war. It is amazing to me the amount of cruelty people have inflected upon other people. I never heard or read of these atrocities in high school, undergraduate study or graduate study. I am just now starting to read of the war with Japan.

[Paul]

Rosalie, welcome to the group. I am 60 and I know how much of our history was'nt taught to us. If I knew then what I know now I would have gotten better grades in History. Look forward to your comments.

[Martin Lamb, Head Moderator]

Hello Rosalie!

Welcome to the group. I am 18 years old. I agree even now certain parts of history isn't included in history classes. If they are some of it is only brief general information. Well I look forwarded to your views points in our discussions.

Martin

[Jenn]

Hello, I'm Jenn! I'm 19 and in college as a biology major and paleontology minor. I love history, and read history books when I can. In high school I took every history class I could, including two years of Military History and a semester long Civil War course. Unfortunately I don't have time to take any history classes for fun, though I wish I did. I'm going to join the Army as soon as I get my bachelor's degree and head to graduate school. My brother served in the 3rd ID in Iraq, and my grandfather was a medic with the 29th Infantry in WWII.

And I agree with the above. I had some excellent history teachers, but we really don't learn all that much, especially about world history. I know that US history is important, but four years worth with absolutely no required world history? It was rather upsetting.

[Matt, Assistant Moderator - Naval History]

Hi Jenn,

I feel your frustration and as a History teacher I might be able to shed light onto the issue. First most curriculum's are developed at the state level then worked on and flushed out more on the local level. It then depends on a few factors first, the expertise of the teachers, most History teachers unfortunatly are US History teachers. This is unfortunate because most high school History teachers view the US History classes as the premier classes to teach.

What the other major factor is that the local school board must work in conjunction with state standards and the the school board budget to determine the best education available. Many states have hired people to develop their state standards who have no idea about historical continuity. A few states Virginia and Massachusetts are the ones that come to mind have developed state standards that have historical continuity in mind. However if the local school board feels that History only needs 3 credit hours for graduation and 2 must be either World and a US that limits what can really happen. What results is that students recieve a watered down version of History. To achieve results things have to be left out. That is where the tragedy occurs the fact that to maintain a budget and offer courses in a wide variety of classes things are often left out by necessity.

What needs to occur is for states to adopt standards that make sense. I have taught in schools where students take World History I in one year then the next two years were US then World History II. That is insane. I teach in a school where in Sixth grade the students start in Pre-History then advance until their Sophmore Year in World History. This gives them the knowledge to succeed and US History can be a year long course that can be put into context. this is my dream for across the country but it would require people running for local school boards and making a logical History curriculum and finally universities/colleges pushing World History more. I don't see that happening.

[Míceál, Assistant Moderator - World War II History]

And THAT'S why I quit teaching. Well, it's one of the reasons.

[Matt, Assistant Moderator - Naval History]

Dr. Michael wrote: "And THAT'S why I quit teaching. Well, it's one of the reasons." Its one of the things about teaching I don't like when it comes down to learning and bottom line.... bottom line wins. How can you fit 5,000 years of World History into 1 or 2 years without leaving major gaps in the education. As my Grandmother always said if you buy cheap you get cheap but if you invest you will attain wealth.

[Míceál, Assistant Moderator - World War II History]

It's the problem with the entire educational system (including college). There are so many other classes I would have taken in college if not for the chicken shit the liberal arts system has in place.

[Matt, Assistant Moderator - Naval History]

I agree at my university to keep foriegn language professors employed I had to take four semesters of a language, then because I'm so Mathmatically inclined I had to take six classes. I don't speak French to this day and after the first three classes the other three were repeats to keep TA's employed. Don't get me on taking a Masters in Education from EdD's who haven't been in a high school classroom in a few years but I have to listen to their theories and pay to hear them tell me why they won't do my job. Its time for a reboot in most of the educational system.

[Jenn]

I'm so happy I'm in the honors program :D No liberal arts classes for me, just my 7 honors classes.

I went to a really small rural school, so it was pretty bad. Even talking to people once I came to college, they had world history classes and all kinds of AP classes they could take. We had none.

[Matt, Assistant Moderator - Naval History]

Jenn,

Again I feel your frustration I grew up in a rural area and we had limited classes like you are describing. A rural school excerbates the limited classes, limited budgets etc.

[Paul]

When I was in school, we had New York State history in 7th, Ancient history in 8th, world history in 9th grade, world economics in 10th grade and US history in 11&12th grades.

I think, it's been a while.

[Martin Lamb, Head Moderator]

Hello Jenn!

Welcome to the group. Since I see we are talking about history classes. I took Ancient History in 7th grade, World History in 8th grade, no history class available in 9th grade, World History Honors, 10th grade, U.S History AP 11th grade, a semester of Economics, and currently another semester of American Government.

[Diane]

Hi. My name is Diane and I am 56. I am not a fan of war but I do love reading about it. (Does that make sense?)

I am especially interested in WWII perhaps a result of being influenced by many WWII Vets when I was growing up.

This is my first experience with a goodreads group so please be patient with me as I learn the ropes. You all seem like people I would like.