Mein Freund,
As you can see from my name, my background is in many ways similar to yours.
My grandfather was killed in a British air raid/bombing during the second world war.
Yet here I am, an Australian who gave an oath to The Queen Of Australia.
I think that loyalty to your mates is one of the most important things in any situation, especially when your life depends upon it.
Life has taught me that.
I have learned the hard way. Again, this is nothing in comparison to what all went down during The Great War, which was labelled the war to end all wars, yet it was the catalyst to another world war.
The sad part in all this, when we talk about "war" is that too many people don't or just won't understand anything from a soldiers point of view, views based on personal experiences. The good thing for them is that they can't understand, because they have never been in the hot zone.
We could talk about this for days and still not change anything.
Tschüss