
Growing up, the first military recruiter who really caught my attention was a Marine – those old commercials with the dragons were awesome, and the uniforms just looked so sharp. I ended up joining the Army, but that first impression stuck with me. Before I even started working on this review, I dove deep into learning about the Pacific Theater. I basically went to school on WWII naval history, watching lectures by Dr. Craig Symonds and reading a ton of books. I’m talking classics like the biography of Chesty Puller, Robert Leckie’s memoir, and accounts of the brutal fighting on Okinawa. I even wanted to get a full picture, so I read books offering the Japanese perspective, like the story of Hiroo Onoda and another personal account. I wanted to make sure I really understood the weight of everything I was reviewing.