- Joined
- Feb 5, 2017
I've read different historical fiction and non-fiction of the late 1700s British Navy and a lot now of CW history.
It seems like officers and some able-rated seamen could keep on a vessel and keep working. Obviously you can't climb rigging with a peg leg or only one arm so your job would be limited.
Then you get to the CW and find that there are all sorts of soldiers on either side with missing arms or legs still active. I seriously don't know how Hood continued on with missing a leg and arm. Over the last couple of weeks, while riding my horse, I was really trying to figure out how Hood could even stay balanced on a horse while missing a leg - in action. I don't mean a quiet trail ride but sudden swift turns, jerks, gallops.
Then by WW1, I don't read anymore of the services, British or US, accepting soldiers with missing limbs OR retaining them once an amputation happened.
So when did the rules change? And I guess, why did the services change their thinking?
It seems like officers and some able-rated seamen could keep on a vessel and keep working. Obviously you can't climb rigging with a peg leg or only one arm so your job would be limited.
Then you get to the CW and find that there are all sorts of soldiers on either side with missing arms or legs still active. I seriously don't know how Hood continued on with missing a leg and arm. Over the last couple of weeks, while riding my horse, I was really trying to figure out how Hood could even stay balanced on a horse while missing a leg - in action. I don't mean a quiet trail ride but sudden swift turns, jerks, gallops.
Then by WW1, I don't read anymore of the services, British or US, accepting soldiers with missing limbs OR retaining them once an amputation happened.
So when did the rules change? And I guess, why did the services change their thinking?