Best years to be born in?

[Z3CH]

I'd love to have been an infantryman in WWII. It was just such a good war. Battling a crazed tyrannical leader who wants world domination. Come on, what could be better?

There's no way in hell I'd serve in Vietnam or Korea, they fought like whimps. Setting up poison traps and such, that's just ****ed up. World War 2 was fought (for the most part) with honor, most people avoided shooting medics and priests, and all that good stuff. In the current conflicts, they don't care what they kill. Those extremists will be happy killing anyone who doesn't believe what they believe.

[Scuba Steve]

Originally Posted by Jimdalf

Oh bollocks, which dates did I get wrong? Or is it just the Birth date idea thats stupid? I admit that it coul have been done much more neatly, but I'm kind of interested in the whole "best time to be unlucky?" side of things. Like a German born in 1896 would have been 18 just in time for the First World War and would have been forced to serve the full four years. Of course, so would a German man born in 1884... so yeah I should have just done it plainly and worked it out myself at the end.

And I can't believe I forgot about the Civil War, I knew there was something to fill that gap in the nineteenth century but couldn't quite grasp it... pretty big omission! I doubt that anybody would prefer fighting their own countrymen in some extremely brutal battles instead other wars, but it should be there nonetheless.

Feel free to go into as much detail as you like, if you know it you can preach it. And the emphasis of the thread should be more on exploring and celebrating history, you don't have to just talk about hte most pleasant war. The Regiment to which I am most closely linked is the Parachute Regiment, which was essentially born and baptised in the Sicilian, French and Dutch campaigns of WW2. This makes me feel inclined towards favouring that particular war, as most other regiments can trace their lineage back hundreds of years and, well, you have to love what you know. Which ain't much for us!

The European theatre of WW2 was probably as nice an environment to kill and die in as you'll find, but the naval battles of the Pacific campaigns just capture my imagination, and fights like Midway and Leyte Gulf are superb to investigate. The bravery of the sailors and pilots is just amazing... although I wouldn't want to be in their shoes!

I didn't mean the dates of the actual conflict, but the dates you added, meant as the average date of birth wasn't needed.

I entirely missed you left out the Civil War. After reading your post I knew what my answer would be and didn't thoroughly look through the options.

1980's.

That's when we actually had a thing called GOOD music.

[Scuba Steve]

Go back a couple decades and you'll have good music.

[BoyEngland]

Fighting Nazis in WWII must have been fun for some people (the weird ones) so I would usually go with that, but I would rather fight in a modern war.

Older wars (revolution, 1812, etc) you were pretty much guaranteed to die, get badly injured, or generally not come out the same person. Diseases, legs getting hacked off with saws and stuff like that just doesn't appeal to me.

Fighting now means you get better protection against the "elements" (I don't just mean weather) and better treatment for if/when the protection fails. I'm not on the front lines, but I don't think horrible things like trench foot are on the list of worries anymore. Sure they have other things, but give me a bullet to the head over hacking my leg off with a bow saw any day of the week.

[Jimdalf]

Yeah, the Revolutionary War and 1812 sound quite attractive...

1. The enemy were bloody annoying in the first place.
2. The enemy were fighting thousands of miles from their homelands, severely hindering communications and logistics.
3. The enemy were busy annoying and being annoyed by the rest of Europe, so they couldn't afford to send many of "da lads" over.
4. Foreign help. The French were damned fine fighters back then.

But then... disease! Thousands died without ever seeing combat. Not a vey desirable way to perish at all.

P.S Please do not base your knowledge of the birth of your nation on The Patriot because is incredibly inaccurate. The final battle Mel Gibson wins nearly single handedly? It was actually a British victory.

[Godmoney]

I think I would have served in World War II. I really do think that the generation of that time period is the greatest that humanity has ever seen. So many advancements came forth during that time. Many of the things we use today were created during World War II.

Also, as an American, you had a lot of support from back home. I don't think I've heard of many people protesting World War II, or spitting on the troops when they came back from serving. It was such a different time period. Very much different than today.

[Scuba Steve]

Why I am not surprised Jim thinks of the Revolutionary War as a French and British victory? LOL

[Jimdalf]

Meh, its perfectly fair to point out a battle won when most people think it was a defeat. Modern films seem to hate the Redcoats and on several occasions have portrayed them losing battles which they won. It doesn't quite translate to me saying that the war itself was a victory. But credit where its due, the French were a pretty big factor in our defeat... something akin to the influence of the USSR in "second rate, raggedy ***" Vietnam. Ahahahahaha!

[Scuba Steve]

Without the French, the outcome would still be the same. Would it of happened as fast? No. Would it of happened much later? No.