WW2 ETO -vs- PTO - where would you wanna go? Europe or Pacific? - Page 2

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - WW2 ETO -vs- PTO - where would you wanna go? Europe or Pacific? (Page 2 of 2)

Posted: 11/19/2009 11:38:27 PM EDT

[#1]

Wow. It's always depressing to see how many people on this site are 88s.

Posted: 11/19/2009 11:41:13 PM EDT

[#2]

Europe. I'd rather not have guys charging me with primed hand grenades and no expectation of surviving...

Posted: 11/20/2009 5:26:22 AM EDT

[#3]

This thread sure drew out some Nazi lovers!

Posted: 11/20/2009 5:39:09 AM EDT

[#4]

Europe if I was a ground pounder.

Posted: 11/20/2009 5:55:11 AM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:

Hypothetically-speaking, if you had a choice to go to Europe (ETO) or the Pacific (PTO) during WW2, where would you want to go?

Me? I'd avoid going to the PTO at all costs! Bushido mentality is/was borderline psychotic..

I would want to go to neither. Getting shot at is not my idea of a good time.

If I HAD to go, it would be ETO. My Uncle was in the Pacific with the Army in WWII and he had some horrific accounts of what it was like.
He is at peace now.

Posted: 11/20/2009 6:00:33 AM EDT

[#6]

ETO. I've read enough about the Pacific and the only way to sum it up is "holy shit."

Shit, at least the Nazis you'd fight would think that getting to go home was a good idea.

Posted: 11/20/2009 6:05:29 AM EDT

[#7]

Had I been around back then, I would have been in the Air Corps......so it's ETO for me.

I get the willies thinking about having to ditch......and being caught between the Devil and the deep blue sea.

Posted: 11/20/2009 6:07:17 AM EDT

[#8]

My grandfather "got both".

Posted: 11/20/2009 6:15:29 AM EDT

[#9]

Pacific for me. The Japanese never effectively used their submarine fleet. Plus, I spend most of my time out there anyway.

Posted: 11/20/2009 6:26:03 AM EDT

[#10]

After hearing stories about the conditions at Peleliu from my dad's uncle, I would take the ETO.

My great uncle that fought at Peleliu was a seabee, he said that the jap snipers would shoot at their armored bulldozers all day. When the fighting got bad, the Marines told handed him a rifle and told him he was a rifleman now and to get to the line. Hard corral you could dig foxholes in, ungodly hot, drinking water that was stored in barrel that previously contained fuel, and a well dug in enemy. I also tend to get a little sea sick from time to time, so its the ETO for me.

Two of my dad's other uncles fought in the Bulge. They are all gone, man I wish I could have heard more of their stories.

Posted: 11/20/2009 6:38:53 AM EDT

[#11]

Somehow I suspect that our soldiers and Marines in the Pacific had a much, much harder time with PTSD. Some of those poor guys were never the same.

Personally, I would have liked to have been a Corsair pilot, one of Merrill's Marauders, or an OSS operator.

Posted: 11/20/2009 6:56:53 AM EDT

[#12]

Europe for sure. Heat, humidity, nasty little creatures......no TNX.

Posted: 11/20/2009 7:00:45 AM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
I would go to Europe. Before the outbreak of the war and join the Germans in their fight.

So does this mean I would get to shoot your ass if I went ETO like my grandfather?

Posted: 11/20/2009 7:05:01 AM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
eto

the pto was a couple levels of hell deeper

When a good day in the PTO is spent in bowels of a transport ship, the ETO is easily a better place to fight.

Posted: 11/20/2009 7:08:31 AM EDT

[#15]

ETO. If captured, you had a better than zero chance of surviving until War's end.

Posted: 11/20/2009 7:16:46 AM EDT

[#16]

This is a tough one. The weather in Europe is better most of the time, except for the winters, and the Germans were nicer to American POWs. On the other hand, the Germans were better, if less fanatical, fighters. So, to make a decision, I have to ask: Is this mid 1990s, 25 y.o. Jennifer Aniston, or today's Jennifer Aniston?

Posted: 11/20/2009 7:17:48 AM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
Pacific

I have nothing against the Axis in Europe

Take your bullshit somewhere else fuckhead.

Posted: 11/20/2009 7:24:32 AM EDT

[#18]

I would have loved to been part of an elite unit in the ETO. The FSSF, OSS or Rangers stalking Nazi's is just cool. Being a Marine Raider in the Pacific with Edson would have been cool as well.

Posted: 11/20/2009 7:31:16 AM EDT

[#19]

Europe.

Unless you were a jew, the Germans tended to treat prisoners a bit more civilized. The Imperial Japanese were nothing less than complete fucking savages.

Posted: 11/20/2009 7:34:10 AM EDT

[#20]

I'm half Korean, so European theater for me (less risk of friendly fire-also less risk of me getting thrown into a slave labor camp like my ancestors if captured)

Posted: 11/20/2009 7:50:40 AM EDT

[#21]

I'd pick ETO, mainly because I wouldn't have wanted to fight in the tropics.

Sure the Japanese were crazy fucks, but I wouldn't have wanted to deal with THEM, bugs, heat, humidity, etc.

Now, give me a choice between PTO or Vietnam and any of the sandbox scenarios, I'll take the jungle for concealment purposes, Alex.

Posted: 11/20/2009 7:56:03 AM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Pacific

I have nothing against the Axis in Europe

Take your bullshit somewhere else fuckhead.

This thread is sure bringing them out....

Posted: 11/20/2009 7:59:26 AM EDT

[#23]

I'd rather go to Europe.

Two of my great uncles fought in the Pacific; one an aviator and another a Marine. Both hated the Japanese long after the war and from memory one of them blamed them for some of his injuries post plane crash. They told me it was horrific fighting them.

Posted: 11/20/2009 7:59:41 AM EDT

[#24]

Quoted:

Quoted:

Pacific

I have nothing against the Axis in Europe

Take your bullshit somewhere else fuckhead.

This thread is sure bringing them out....

Just a troll to ignore.

Posted: 11/20/2009 10:03:33 AM EDT

[#25]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Pacific

I have nothing against the Axis in Europe

Take your bullshit somewhere else fuckhead.

A lot of people felt that way at the time. Japan attacked the United States. Japan tortured and murdered American prisoners. Germany did not. The elevation of the ETO over the PTO in American 'historical' memory came decades after the war.

Posted: 11/20/2009 1:00:04 PM EDT

[#26]

Quoted:

Quoted:

Pacific

I have nothing against the Axis in Europe

Take your bullshit somewhere else fuckhead.

A lot of people felt that way at the time. Japan attacked the United States. Japan tortured and murdered American prisoners. Germany did not. The elevation of the ETO over the PTO in American 'historical' memory came decades after the war.

Research "Malmedy".

Posted: 11/20/2009 1:05:25 PM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:
Ill take the Jessica Biel theater please.

Posted: 11/20/2009 1:16:08 PM EDT

[#28]

Funny thing about the military. They almost never ask you where you want to go. They take care of that decision for you.

Posted: 11/20/2009 1:18:33 PM EDT

[#29]

I'd rather fight warriors with at least a shred of honor than fuckin' barbarians.

But if I went to Europe I wouldn't be a Marine. Tough call.

Posted: 11/20/2009 1:24:21 PM EDT

[#30]

Europe for sure.

But since I'm a Marine, it would be the Pacific.

Posted: 11/20/2009 1:45:28 PM EDT

[#31]

Pacific. My grandfather fought there..(Tarawa, Marshall Islands, etc.)
If I were to fight in WW2, I would want to fight with my family.

Posted: 11/20/2009 1:50:23 PM EDT

[#32]

I probably would accept a German's surrender.

Take a Jap as prisoner? No way in hell...... -06 to the face.

Posted: 11/20/2009 1:56:28 PM EDT

[#33]

Burma with the 5307th.

Posted: 11/20/2009 3:42:18 PM EDT

[#34]

Quoted:

Ill take the Jessica Biel theater please.

LoL

I'd like to enter into the Jennifer Aniston theater

So, some of the posters in this thread were rootin' for the Japs & Nazis?? M'kay...

Posted: 11/20/2009 3:55:56 PM EDT

[#35]

That's a tough question. Africa? Crappy early tactics and sand? Bad. Italy? Trench warefare. Bad. Supply runs by the navy to Russia over the north route and submarine warfare bad. India? China? Burma? Singapore? Philipines? All bad. I guess the time frame would matter as well. Early war? ummmm, gimme UK home defense or the US assisted invasion of north Africa. Later war? Fighter escort in the Pacific or bomber over Germany after we achieved air dominance. It might have been fun to be airborne convoy defense against the UBoat fleet in the north atlantic after we (allies) developed the right weapons. We did well after that.

Posted: 11/21/2009 12:06:19 PM EDT

[#36]

Quoted:
I'd pick ETO, mainly because I wouldn't have wanted to fight in the tropics.

Sure the Japanese were crazy fucks, but I wouldn't have wanted to deal with THEM, bugs, heat, humidity, etc.

Now, give me a choice between PTO or Vietnam and any of the sandbox scenarios, I'll take the jungle for concealment purposes, Alex.

Both the Germans and the Japanese were several levels of competence above that of the enemies in the "sandbox" scenarios. Not to mention equipment, organization....

Posted: 11/21/2009 12:37:40 PM EDT

[#37]

Wow must be a BUND meeting here today with all the nazi posters. Hitler was a nut job and really did not get all he deserved like a Military Tribunal and hanged something similar to what Tojo got.

On a wholly related note to the OP's original question, I worked on a farm as a kid for an old man who was in the Pacific in the Army. I heard countless stories about New Guinea , Iwo Jima and a bunch of other places no one really wanted to go. It was really brutal and I mean that . He told me some absolutely horrifying stories once or twice. Not saying you were significantly better off. But the Pacific was a meat grinder. The Japanese gave no quarter.

Posted: 11/21/2009 12:41:38 PM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:

Hypothetically-speaking, if you had a choice to go to Europe (ETO) or the Pacific (PTO) during WW2, where would you want to go?

Me? I'd avoid going to the PTO at all costs! Bushido mentality is/was borderline psychotic..

Europe.

My father is Jewish, so I'd like to kill me some Nazis.

Plus, the climate in the Pacific doesn't agree with me, and I'd rather not fight the Japanese if I had a choice.

Posted: 11/21/2009 12:45:40 PM EDT

[#39]

My grandfather fought in both theaters with the US Navy.

Convoy escort across the Atlantic, then through the Panama Canal, then to the Pacific. A kamikaze damn near killed him when it narrowly missed the bridge and took out a radar antenna. He was in Tokyo bay for the signing of the surrender documents.

Posted: 11/21/2009 12:52:46 PM EDT

[#40]

Pacific. Europe would prolly be a little more hospitable and although I don't like Nazis, we were attacked 1st by the Japanese.

Posted: 11/21/2009 1:25:02 PM EDT

[#41]

I voted The Pacific, one of my primary deciding factors is that it's psychologically easier to kill people who look nothing like me and speak a TOTALLY foreign language. We share no culture, etc.

After reading this thread I may have changed my mind though...

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - WW2 ETO -vs- PTO - where would you wanna go? Europe or Pacific? (Page 2 of 2)

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