My father was a B24 co pilot, went down over Hungary in '44, all but he and another perished (they spent rest of war in Stalag Luft III). I'm going to the 451st Bombardment Group Reunion in Oct.
One of the subjects that comes up is essentially "How many of our soldiers lives are we willing to risk, to accelerate the war's progress" (which in turn might save many more lives, even enemy lives). The ratio of this "currency" might be 1:10 or more. Some nut recently wrote a thing about a "no A-Bomb, Japanese mainland invasion" scenario where 25,000 allied lives were lost". I wrote back "Hell, 28,000 lives were lost in taking a much-less valuable piece of rock called Iwo Jima". I believe the numbers closer to "500,000 lives lost for a no A-bomb invasion" plus "Countless more lives lost due to delays allowing further Soviet takings of Japanese-held lands". As it was, 100,000 enemy losses due to A-bomb seem reasonable, under the circumstances. Even now, a responsible entity having the bomb and being willing to use it also has substantial deterrent powers. In the "invasion of Japan scenario", sacrificing 100,000 lives perhaps saved 500,000, plus perhaps 1 million more in future war avoidance (a 1:15 ratio?)
a) People like my Dad didn't like being sent up in faulty equipment, without fighter escorts, in bad weather, or on ill-conceived missions, but they did appreciate the war's acceleration (as it was he lost his cousin in a Japanese prison camp in '45, a B25 pilot).
b) People like the "Band of Brothers" seemed to get rewarded for their bloody successes with more bloody missions, while ineffective soldiers held back, or found ways to go home. Ike conceded privately that Patton's soldier slapping had popular support from parents back home...if they were sending their flesh & blood to fight this thing, they wanted to kick butt and not tolerate laggards.
c) Like Patton & Gen Grant, the best way to end a war is to fight it aggressively, unfortunately spending lives so that many more can be saved.
d) Often, the lives spent are the noble ones, to whom I'll spend the rest of my life trying to honor.
