back to the days of guns and roses.

letters from iwo jima triggered 2 important thoughts in me.
1. is the romantic war(i.e. where the distinction of good and evil is clear cut) the only way one person can fight a war and expect to wiggle out of it alive? after all, in very blunt terms, 'it's either you shoot or you get shot.' and the dilution of sympathy and compassion for your opposite number is merely going to get you into trouble, bcos for one, sympathy is not reciprocrated on the battlefield.

2.as i have already realized a long time ago, but reminded once again, that there is a distinction between combatants and civilians in their perspectives towards war. the dichotomy between the two creates a gulf that would take ages or even foreer to bridge. using this mould in our current society, how much of a gulf is there between the people who experience it, and the people who merely here about it?