All Quiet on the Western Front

I just finished reading a classic war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front. It's something you may have had to read in high school. If you are not familiar with it, it is about a group of German soldiers during World War I. Here is a link to its entry in Wikipedia.

Wiki: All Quiet on the Western Front

While the book is fiction, it is heavily influenced by the author's( Erich Maria Remarque ) own WWI experience. What struck me most was how hard the everyday life was of a WWI soldier. Provisions are scarce, clothing was inadequate and living conditions were terrible.
The men suffered constantly from lice and dysentery. On top of this is the carnage of the WWI trench warfare; gas attacks, barbed wire, flame throwers, extremely close range fighting, hand-to-hand combat.

The medical capabilities of the day were also very limited by today's standards. Wounds to arms and legs almost always resulted in amputation. On top of that, amputation didn't necessarily buy you a ticket back home. Soldiers were sometimes fitted with prosthetics and sent back to the front. The author himself was wounded 5 times during the war.

My grandfather was a machine-gunner in WWI. I now have a whole new respect for him.