Camaro Essay Example For Students

Camaro Essay Joshua Lee WilliamsonMrs. RenteEnglish 11January 24, 2002The name Camaro came from a French word for friend. The decision on the name came down to the last minute, with most of the world sure the car would be named, The Panther. Although the strange name had to be explained to the public, Camaro fit in with other Chevy names- Corvette, Chevelle, Chevy 2, and Corvair. The main reason the Camaro was introduced was because of the huge success of the Ford Mustang. The Camaro was roughly the same size as the Mustang, a little wider and based more on performance. The Camaro is one of the last remaining muscle cars still in production today. It is only fitting that buyers still expect maximum performance from their Camaros. It is that expectation that has kept the Camaro alive for all these years, while many other cars have faded away, lost in memory. The Mustang GT only only offered the 289- cubic inch or an 390- cubic inch V8 in 1967. The Camaro rolled out with 302, 327, 350, and 396 cubic inch V8s (Camaro 14) The Camaros style was much smoother as well. The introduction of the Camaro threw pony car development into a frenzy. Before the Camaro, the Mustang and Barracuda were not quite considered full muscle cars. Most serious performance enthusiasts still opted for intermediate sized GTOs or the Chevelle Super Sports (SS). The Camaro changed the image of those sport coupes. (Camaros, Eric Ethan)The Z28 and the stout SS-396 were more than just a stylish ride. Under the hood Camaros were well respected. Such respect helped establish the Camaro as the premier high-performance pony car. Camaro sales increased each year form 1967-1969. To this day, these Camaros are the favorite among enthusiasts. The Camaro brings a bad-boy image to the street and the track. The car has always been based on racing even when the Camaro was not officially involved. Its at home drag racing, and racing away from convenience stores after hold-ups. Because of this, media has given the Camaro a bad boy reputation.(American Muscle Cars, 47)1969 saw several noteworthy changes to the Camaro. The grill became deeper set, the taillamps were longer and thinner and broken into three segments. A heavy eye-brow crease was added on the both sides of the car extending from the front wheel well to the rear wheel well. A matching crease went from the rear wheel well to the rear quarter panel. Endura rubber bumpers were available on the Camaro as well as a two ram air induction systems for the SS. The first was a new special hood with a rear facing inlet and cold-air duct underneath the hood. The second was a dealer installed cowl plenum kit that came with a special air cleaner and adapter. No special hood was needed. The RS package was still popular, and included a special grill with concealed headlights and washers, and RS badging. The SS standard 350 received a slight power boost to 300bhp but the big news was the availability of special 427 cid equipped Camaros. The first were special dealer-installed units, most notably the Yenko Camaro 427. Yenko Sports Cars, based in Pennsylvania, along with other Chevy dealers such as Nickey in Chicago, Dana in California, and Baldwin-Motion in New York, would install the L72 427 cid block, rated at 425bhp by Chevrolet, ordered under the Central Office Production Order System (COPO) code 9562 into a buyers Camaro. The Yenko Camaro 427 is typical of the breed; it came from the factory with no ornamentation, badging, and the 427 in a crate. Yenko installed the 427 block, changed the rating to a more realistic 450bhp, and added 15-inch rally wheels, bigger front roll bar, and sYc (Yenko Sports Car) badging. A full complement of racing add ons were available and sub 13 second quarter miles were possible with a few more dollars. Overshadowing these dealer souped up Camaros was the factory Camaro ZL1. Specially designed to compete in the NHRA Super Stock drag classes, Chevrolet made it an option under the COPO system. The cars began as SS-396 cubic inch/375bhp Camaros with the F41 suspension. The SS trim and engine were deleted, and the 427 engine, cowl-induction hood, front disc brakes, a choice of heavy duty 4 speed transmissions were added. The ZL1 sported aluminum heads and the first aluminum block ever made by Chevrolet. It shared the L88 aluminum head/iron blocks engine rating of 430bhp but made closer to 500bhp making it probably the most powerful engine Chevrolet ever offered to the public. And it weighed just 500 pounds, the same as Chevys 327 small block. The car was blessed with a 5 year/50,000 mile warranty an d was fully street legal. With factory exhausts and tires, it turned low 13s; with headers and slicks, it could turn 11.6s @ 122mph. This was the fastest car ever produced by Chevrolet. Performance had its price $4,160 for the ZL1 engine alone pushing the price of the Camaro ZL1 to an unbelieveable $7,200 (about double the price for a SS396 Camaro). Chevy needed to build 50 to qualify the car for racing; it actually built 69, 59 Camaros and 2 Corvettes. The high price made them difficult to sell and at least 12 engines were removed and about 30 cars were returned back to Chevrolet. It took until the early 1970s to sell them all. (GM auto technical data 134-167)Production of the 1969 Camaros continued into the beginning of 1970 as the all new 1970 Camaros were not released until mid 1970. Despite predictions of the collapse of the pony car market, the new Camaro was released with much fanfare and much success. Most of the credit went to the new styling, which was European-inspired a nd would prove so popular that it would last until 1982. The new Camaro was two inches longer and had five inch longer doors. It had better noise insultation. Under the hood, the Camaro SS continued with the 350 and 396 engines. After January 1970, however, the 396 engines no longer displaced 396 cubic inches. Chevrolet actually enlarged them to 402 cubic inches but the executives decided to name it the 396 to take advantage of the name recognition and avoid any attention from insurance carriers. The Z28 saw the most radical change an all new 350 cid engine know as the LT-1 350. It was rated at 360bhp (it had a rating of 370bhp when installed in Corvettes). This engine proved much more tractable, reliable, and generally outperformed the 302. (GM tech 155-162)For a lot of reasons, the 1970 is often remembered as the last great year for American muscle cars. The pressure on the auto makers had been building for quite some time. The Environmental Protection Agency was formed shortly a fter the 1970 Camaro hit the road, and insurance companies were making it harder and harder for young people to buy the high-powered machinery everyone wanted. One of the first mandates form the government was the phasing out of leaded gasoline and a dramatic lowering of auto exhaust emissionsThe 1970 Camaro had huge changes under the hood because of the new government restrictions. The Z-28 saw its 350 cid engine drop from 360 hp to 330 hp. Both the SS350 and SS396 (still with a 402 cid engine) saw decreases in power ratings and a proposed 400 cid engine never saw production. The RS package was still available with corresponding trim and appearance changes. A 174 day strike at the Ohio plant where all Camaros and Firebirds were built severly limited 1972 model year production. Even worse, 1,100 unfinished Camaros had to be scrapped because they didnt meet 1972 federal bumper safety standards. With the declining performance market, there were many calls to cancel the Camaro. Luckily cooler heads prevailed and the Camaro stayed in production. Visually, the 1972 Camaros had a revised grill with only seven vertical slats instead of the previous 12. Another GM mandate required that all power ratings be given in net terms (including all accessories). Although that led to drastic drops in peak numbers, the new ratings were actually more accurate than the old gross power ratings because they were a better reflection of the power that actually hit the roadThe big news for 1973 was the deletion of the SS option, which only left the Z-28 to carry the performance banner. The RS option remained with revised front bumperettes. A new Type LT option wa s added as a luxury package which included a weak V8 and several trim items. The Z-28 saw another decrease in power as hydraulic lifters replaced its solid ones. As a sign of the times, air conditioning was available on the Z-28 for the first time. Despite all this, production for all models was up. The Chevrolet Camaro would continue, unlike most of its muscle car era competitors, in one form or another, until it would return to its performance roots in the early 1990s. For 1974, the Camaro was given its first real face-lift of the new generation. Its nose featured a revised grille opening and the larger, impact-absorbing bumpers required by law. The taillights were replaced by flat, one-piece assemblies. The reworked nose and new bumpers stretched the carss overall length by 7 inches. The engine lineup was simplified by the removal of the 307 inch V8, leaving the 250 V6 and the 350 V8 engines as the sole choices. The Z28 was back for 1974 but with the first major alteration of its appearance since 1967. The traditional twin stripes running the length of the car were replaced by huge Z28 graphics on the hood, with three stripes trailing behind each character. The Z28 continued with 245 hp, although the engine benefited from the introduction of GMs High Energy Ignition (HEI). Cbest Ernest Hemingway EssayThe Rally Sport replaced the Sport Coupe in 1989, and was now available with the L03 V-8. Headlamp pockets were no longer painted black on the RS, as well rear shoulder belts, and the Corvette PASS-Key Ignition lock system was on all Camaros. As for the IROC, the P245/50ZR-16 were replaced with new P245/50VR-16 tires. The TPI motors for better Multec fuel injectors, which meant more performance, and new calibration eliminated the cold start injector. As well the base 15 inch IROC wheels were restyled to match the appearance of there 16 inch sibling, the four wheel disc optional rear brakes were increased to 11.65 inch rotors (from 10.5 inch), which allowed for better stopping and a more reliable parking brake. The G92 option upped the ante a bit with its performance exhaust (Dual Catalytic converters) which added an extra 10 ponies (hp)The 1990 model year was only a half year of production. Due to the termination of the Chevrolet IROC contract, no IROC-Z s were produced after 12/31/1989. Instead, the 1991 Camaros were introduced early during last half of the normal 1990 model year. 1990 IROCs and RSs are easily identifiable: 1990 was the first year for the updated interior which included drivers side airbag, redesigned instrument panel, yellow lettering on dash, rounded controls. So 1990 IROCs are the only IROCs with the new interior. 1990 RSs are the only RSs with the new interior. (GM tech manual: Camaro)For 1991 The IROC-Z was dropped, and the Z28 returned was the big headline for 1991. All Ground effects were redesigned, with side scoops in front of each wheel, and received a large Ferrari F40 like Wing. The Z28, CAMARO on the front license plate, was replaced with the Bow-tie, and the the hood louvers were replaced with power blisters, and badging only appeared on the rear bumper. The fresh new 16 inch wheel was now standard on the Z28 with optional P235/55R-16 tires or P245/50ZR-16 tires. But the P245/50ZR-16 tires were standa rd on the 350 Z28 and the Z28 Convertible. Fr the first time the Rally Sport was available with 16 inch wheels, it also received grid tail lights from its sister the Z28. B4C special service police package became available to law enforcement agencies only. Cars were RS coupes with Z28 5.0 TPI or 5.7 TPI drivetrains and Z28 suspensions. These cars came equipped with the 16 inch wheels and P245/50-ZR16 tires, engine oil cooler, rear disc brakes, and limited slip axle. Midyear, the 1LE 11.86 inch front brakes and HD calipers became optional for the B4C. This package was the only way to get air conditioning and the HD front brakes. There were 592 1991 B4C Camaros built. It was the 25th anniversary of the Camaro and the last year for third Generation production. 1992 also marked the end of Camaros produced at the Van Nuys plant (the only Camaro producing plant since the Norwood plant closed at the end of the 1987 model year). All Camaros had 25th anniversary badge on dash. The 1992 model wasnt changed very much because of the long awaited debut of the next generation Camaro. And so, after two fuel crises, a couple recessions, and six presidents, all was much as it had been 25 years earlier: high-powered Camaros and Mustangs dueling on the street and on the track. And the scary part was, things were about to get even more competitive. 1993 was the year of the 4th generation Camaro . Not only was the exterior radically transformed, but under the hood there were numerous performance upgrades. 1993 saw the debut of the fourth-generation F-body, and a marked increase in power. Camaros and Firebirds received a version of the 5.7 liter LT1 engine from the Corvette. This Gen-II small-block featured aluminum heads, reverse-flow cooling, and a redesigned intake setup that made good power all the way to the engines 5800 rpm redline. The 1993 LT1 was rated at 275-horsepower, and LT1-powered F-bodies were good for low-14s at the strip. Behind the new engine was an equally new Borg-Warner T-56 6-speed manual transmission, or a 4L60 (a renamed 700-R4) 4-speed automatic carried over from the previous generation. The rear-axle assembly remained basically the same as the third generation, albeit a tad wider. A new short/long arm (SLA) independent front suspension and aggressive, flowing bodywork capped by an extremely raked windsh ield rounded out the first models of the new generation. In 1997, Chevrolet celebrated the Camaros 30th birthday with an anniversary option to commemorate the event. The anniversary Camaros were draped in white paint with Hugger Orange stripes, as used on 1969 Indy Pace Cars. Overall, the visual effect of orange over white was perhaps better suited to the older cars, but the look was still striking. Chevrolet even revived the interior with 30th anniversary logos. White wheels added to the effect. 1998 was a big year for the Camaro. It received a major refreshening with body upgrades including a new front fascia, a new hood, composite reflector headlamps, and new fenders. The 1998 model also received chassis upgrades, a new 4-wheel disc brake system and a new anti-lock brake system (ABS). But the biggest upgrade was the all new LS1 V8 engine for the Camaro Z28. This new engine produces 335 horsepower. Thats more than twice the standard horsepower offered in the 1982 Z28, to shine a little perspective on the state of modern high-performance. Although most Camaros sold through the years have not been performance models, it is still the image and reputation of the various Super Sports, Z28s, Pace Cars, and IROC-Zs that have defined the Camaro and kept the car in the public eye. While other car fashions have changed, Camaro buyers still want powerful V8s driving the real wheels, preferably with a manual transmission between the two. Given the opportunity, they will buy performance . Words/ Pages : 4,830 / 24

Rockhampton Essays - Rockhampton, Queensland Heritage Register

Rockhampton Rockhampton Facilities and Popular Attraction Compared to Other Cities Rockhamptons biggest attraction would be that it is the beef capital of Australia. {more information how it was the beef capital and when it was} Rockhampton was discovered in 1850 when gold and copper were discovered about 100 km away promoting this town's growth as an agricultural market and port. Good Morning Our City Rockhampton has one of the biggest tourist attractions compared to other cities like bundaberg, Mackay, Gladstone and Townsville. Some of Rockhamptons biggest attraction is that it has a reputation of having historical buildings in front of the harbour acting as a waterfront. The Dreamtime Cultural Centre which is devoted to display aboriginal art and history, also this town boasts by having custom houses, an outstanding gardens, which shows an extended range of trees, plants and animals. Other cities does not have as much tourist attraction as Rockhampton. Some have bigger shopping centers and larger sporting facilities but they don't have a reputation of having outstanding houses or places to show off their natural surroundings English Essays

How to Write a Great College Application Essay Title

How to Write a Great College Application Essay Title Your application essays title is the first thing the admissions folks will read. Although there are many ways to approach the title, youll want those words at the top of the page to make the proper impression. Why a Title? Lets start with the  basics: Is your essay about something? Do you want your reader to know what its about? If so, your essay needs a title. Ask yourself which work youd be more excited to read: The Casque of Amontillado or Some Random Story by Edgar Allan Poe Thats About Something that Youll Figure Out After You Read It. If you dont provide a title, you dont give your reader any reason to be interested in beginning your essay other than a sense of duty. Make sure the college admissions folks are motivated to read your essay by curiosity, not by the necessity of their assigned drudge work. Picture a newspaper in which every article lacks a title. What article do you want to read? Which ones sound interesting? Clearly a newspaper without titles would be ridiculous. Application essays arent that different. Your reader wants to know what it is that he or she is going to read. The Purpose of an Application Essay Title Weve established that you need a title. But what makes a title effective? First off, think about the purpose of a title: A good title should grab your readers attention.Related to #1, a title should make your reader want to read your essay.The title should provide a sense of what your essay is about. When it comes to #3, realize that you dont need to be too detailed. Academic essays often have titles that look like this: Julia Camerons Photography: A Study of the Use of Long Shutter Speeds to Create Spiritual Effects. For an application essay, such a title would come across as over-written, pompous, and ridiculous. Consider how a reader would react to an essay with the title,  The Authors Trip to Costa Rica and How It Changed His Attitude Towards Biodiversity and Sustainability. After reading such a long and belabored title, the admissions folks wouldnt feel like they need to read the actual essay. Sample Good Essay Titles In general, there are no concrete rules for titles. Good titles can take a variety of forms: A good title can be clever or play with words. See, for example, Porkopolis  by Felicity or Buck Up  by Jill. Porkopolis is a nonsense word, but it works well for an essay on becoming a vegetarian in a meat-centric world, and Buck Up employs both a literal and figurative meaning of the phrase. As youll read below, however, you dont necessarily want to try to be too clever. Such efforts can backfire.A title can be provocative. As an example, a student who wrote about encountering new foods while abroad titled her essay Eating Eyeballs. If your essay focuses on a humorous, shocking or embarrassing moment in your life, its often easy to write an attention-grabbing title. Titles such as Puking on the President, Romeos Ripped Tights, and The Wrong Goal are sure to peek your readers interest.An essay title can be concise and straight-forward. Dont feel that you need great wit and alliteration in your title. Simple and direct language can be quite effective. Consider, for example, The J ob I Should Have Quit  by Drew,  Wallflower  by Eileen, and Striking Out  by Richard. These titles dont play with words or reveal great wit, but they accomplish their purpose perfectly well. In all of these cases, the title has provided at least a partial sense of the essays subject matter, and each has motivated the reader to continue reading. What the heck does Porkopolis mean? Why did you eat eyeballs? Why should you have quit your job? Avoid These Title Mistakes There are some common missteps that applicants make when it comes to titles. Be aware of these pitfalls: Vague language. Youll be off to a remarkably bland start if your essay is titled Three Things That Matter to Me or A Bad Experience. Bad (or good or evil or nice) is a painfully subjective and meaningless word, and the word things might have worked well in Tim OBriens The Things They Carried, but it rarely adds anything of value to your essay. Be precise, not vague.Broad, overly general language. This is a continuation of the vague language problem. Some titles try to cover far too much. You dont want to call your essay My Life Story or My Personal Growth or An Eventful Upbringing. Such titles suggest that you are going to attempt to narrate years of your life in a few hundred words. Any such effort is doomed to failure, and your reader will be doubting your essay before beginning the first paragraph.Overblown vocabulary. The best essays use clear and accessible language. When a writer attempts to sound intelligent by adding unnecessary syllables to every word, the reading experience is often torturous. When an essays title is My Utilization of Erroneous Rationalizations During My Pupilage, the readers immediate response is going to be pure dread. No one wants to read 600 words of that garbage. Strained cleverness. Be careful if youre relying on wordplay in your title. Not all readers are fans of puns, and a title may sound ridiculous if the reader doesnt understand a supposedly clever allusion. Cleverness is a good thing, but test out your title on your acquaintances to make sure it works.Clichà ©s. If your title relies on a clichà ©, youre suggesting that the experience that you are narrating is unremarkable and commonplace. You dont want the first impression of your essay to be that you have nothing original to say. So if you find yourself writing When the Cat Got My Tongue or Burning the Midnight Oil, stop yourself and reevaluate your title.Misspellings. Finally, nothing is more embarrassing than a misspelled title. There, at the top of the page in bold letters, youve used the word its instead of its, or you wrote about patients instead of patience. We all make these mistakes, but take extra care with your application essay. An error in the title is a sure way to elim inate any confidence your reader has in your writing ability. A Final Word About Application Essay Titles Many writers- both novices and experts- have a difficult time coming up with a title that works well. Dont hesitate to write your essay first and then, once your ideas have truly taken shape, go back and craft the title. Also, dont hesitate to seek help with your title. A brainstorming session with friends can often generate far better titles than a solitary session of pounding your head on your keyboard. You do want to get your title right- its going to make an immediate impression on the admissions folks who read your essay, and you clearly want them to enter your essay in a curious and eager state of mind. Finally, if youre writing your essay for the Common Application, keep in mind that your title will go in the text box with the rest of the essay, and the title will count toward your essays overall word count.

Free Essays on Punks Evolution

Punk’s Evolution "Punk is: a movement that serves to refute social attitudes that have been perpetuated through willful ignorance of human nature," at least according to Greg Graffin, a man who has a PhD and is also the lead singer of the punk band Bad Religion. This idea of social change in music is not new, by any means. People such as Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and many others had written songs of political injustice and the need for social change for a long time before punks were around. What made this different was the aggressiveness that they attacked these subjects with, a desperate, youthful, anarchic view that wanted change and they wanted it now. The Past 30 years have seen Punk music evolve with several punk revolutions in between. While Punk music is still thriving today for the most part the Punk ideology is dead. The initial idea that Punk could inspire social change through opposing mainstream methods failed due to the mainstreams acceptance and exploitation of the punk lifestyle. No one is quite sure who started punk first. Many would argue that it was the Ramones in New York with the CBGB club, while others would say it was the Clash and the Sex Pistols in England. However there is no controversy over when the movement began in the mid 1970’s. Punk was a unique phenomenon, it was music that started in the underground to try and change mainstream societal problems. Punk was a stance against consumerism, racism, prejudice or any other negative ill that was seen in the mainstream. At this time punk was it’s most raw and shocking and was best described as youth angst against mainstream society. More than anything punks strived very hard to be individuals. They were not Hippies preaching peace and love and they were definitely not practicing mainstream American values. Punks wanted to tear down the barriers in society, cause anarchy and ultimately force society to change. But most of all Punks wanted to ... Free Essays on Punk's Evolution Free Essays on Punk's Evolution Punk’s Evolution "Punk is: a movement that serves to refute social attitudes that have been perpetuated through willful ignorance of human nature," at least according to Greg Graffin, a man who has a PhD and is also the lead singer of the punk band Bad Religion. This idea of social change in music is not new, by any means. People such as Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and many others had written songs of political injustice and the need for social change for a long time before punks were around. What made this different was the aggressiveness that they attacked these subjects with, a desperate, youthful, anarchic view that wanted change and they wanted it now. The Past 30 years have seen Punk music evolve with several punk revolutions in between. While Punk music is still thriving today for the most part the Punk ideology is dead. The initial idea that Punk could inspire social change through opposing mainstream methods failed due to the mainstreams acceptance and exploitation of the punk lifestyle. No one is quite sure who started punk first. Many would argue that it was the Ramones in New York with the CBGB club, while others would say it was the Clash and the Sex Pistols in England. However there is no controversy over when the movement began in the mid 1970’s. Punk was a unique phenomenon, it was music that started in the underground to try and change mainstream societal problems. Punk was a stance against consumerism, racism, prejudice or any other negative ill that was seen in the mainstream. At this time punk was it’s most raw and shocking and was best described as youth angst against mainstream society. More than anything punks strived very hard to be individuals. They were not Hippies preaching peace and love and they were definitely not practicing mainstream American values. Punks wanted to tear down the barriers in society, cause anarchy and ultimately force society to change. But most of all Punks wanted to ...

Web Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Web Development - Essay Example As the house is nearly due the opening, he requested a live-functioning web site in high standard, with user friendly and easy navigation characteristics. In this report, the experience of developing the RS Holiday House website is reflected and based on the skill areas learned in the workshop sessions. The project goal was, also to explore alternate techniques, implement functions using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript and allow us to submit online by making the website more user-friendly. The priority area was to develop a website to display information about the business that the RS Holiday House offers and the ability to book a reservation. The creation process is represented in the plan outlined below. The process of web development varies from developing the easiest static pages with plain text to the highly complex web based electronic businesses, social network website or Internet applications (Alexander, 2009), (Shelly, Cashman, & Vermaat, 2005), and (Shelly, Cashman, & Vermaat, 2005). The planning process begins with the consultation between the client and the developer. In this phase of the website development, I have gathered customer requirements. At this stage, a discussion was carried out with the customer regarding his requirements. I also analyzed the main areas that will be addressed or covered in the website. This process was a good practice which, I have learned in the project conducted earlier on in week three. During this period, I had the opportunity to try out both sides of a client and a developer role. Knowing now how to ask right questions to find out clients requirements helped me to know how to prepare myself for this project. The outcome of the client-deve loper consultation was that the website should work on the highest standard. It should also be simple but, modern. One of the client’s requirements was that the customer would be able to book a reservation right away from the website. As the business

Two approaches to globalization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Two approaches to globalization - Essay Example From the foregoing discussion, one might expect that their products should not have successful. What happened, however, was entirely unexpected. The performance of Starbucks has become legendary. In just 20 years, the Seattle company has grown from 18 coffee shops to thousands making it a leading global brand.2 Starbucks hardly advertises but has experienced 20% bump in global brand value. According to the company fact sheet, as of November 2006, Starbucks had 7,102 company-operated outlets worldwide: 5,668 of them in the United States and 1,434 in other countries and U.S. territories. In addition, the company has 5,338 joint-venture and licensed outlets, 3,168 of them in the United States and 2,170 in other countries and U.S. territories. This brings the total locations (as of November, 2006) to 12,440 worldwide. The number of weekly customers is 30 million.3 The Roddicks' first Body Shop opened on March 26, 1976 in Brighton, United Kingdom with only about 25 natural handmade products. The rights to the name of the firm was bought from a San Francisco beauty store which still remains today as The Body Time.

Life in the Trenches Essay Example for Free

Life in the Trenches Essay Today, we were once again heavily bombarding the German lines. It was a routine thing nowadays. Some of the more experienced soldiers didnt even notice the heavy German response bombardments that were every second posing a threat to their lives. As we heard a shell landing, we heard attentively just to make sure it wasnt coming direct on us and then, the colossal roar burst from the ground. Life here was getting rather monotonous, always the same routine, four days on the frontline then four days behind lines and then the same thing the following week or so. It wasnt what the papers said up in England, they were written to hide the truth of the massacring that occurred at the battle of the Sommes for one example. Hundreds and thousands of corps lay motionless on the ground. General Haig believed that with heavy bombardments we could break through their lines. He was mistaken. Men were crushed by the machine-gun fire as if dry leaves and they lay there, untouched, rotting away in the muddy earth which emitted an incredibly pungent smell. The mud made it almost impossible to live in these trenches. The water was right up to my knees and there was nothing I could do about it. A lot of my comrades managed to get trench foot which was a disease which made your feet rot due to the fact that they remained submerged for hours if not days. Life was incredibly tough in the trenches, nothing like I had imagined it to be. I thought Id come back as a war hero but from the English articles we read, it seemed to me as if none of our letters had been dispatched or if they had been intercepted in some way, to not allow our families know the real truth. They are made to believe that all is well and that the heroes that saved the French are close to victory. This was not true. Although General Haig did believe he made some progress today, it was nowhere near what we had hopes. The Germans knew about the attack and had built very effective means to defend themselves. They had built dig outs that were up to 12 metres deep underground. This was to protect from any sort of shell attack that the English and the French had. They also had very effective barbed wire that the English didnt completely manage to destroy before the 200,000 men were sent over the top on a suicide mission. The weather was also very unpredictable some days it would be boiling hot and we would die of thirst waiting for something remotely interesting to happen and other times, we would fear for our lives when we could hear a shell whistling like a train in a tunnel, at which point, we would sink our head right into the mud and not rise until we heard a relatively near explosion. The dig-outs were a good initiative seeing as it has always been a fact that the best way to absorb shell shock is with earth. We heard that some of the accommodations for officers were rather nice in the dig-outs. They were full complete with a bed, a pump, and sometimes even some different food that they manage to bring along with them and place it in the cupboards. Everyday, there was fear of the new methods that the Germans had developed of attacking us. There was late news that gas attack was in use. Now it was regulation that we had to carry a mask with us at all times otherwise we could be gassed with new inventions such as the mustard gas which apparently burned right through your skin and you suffered a horrible and painful death. We were all worried about this new gas. We didnt know what it actually smelt like. Apparently, it had a pungent smell hence the name, mustard gas but most of my fellow soldiers feel that they would fall into panic if a gas attack was to take place One of the very few things which I feel is very positive about the whole trench warfare is the comradeship. I had made some pals that would risk their lives if it would mean saving mine. I had never experienced such a feeling until I came to the trenches. It was truly unique. Knowing that you would have to live with these people twenty four hours a day, seven days a week was a way of knowing that somebody would always be there for you. You would seriously bond with someone and would do anything to accomplish the promise you made them. This was particularly moving when one of your closest comrades dies in action and you feel you should have died with him or for him. The danger in the trenches was as dangerous on the front line as to get there. We would be exposed to heavy artillery fire in these measly little trenches that compared to the front line looked as if they were built for dwarves. When our men died, we buried them behind the trenches. It was a petty funeral, no service no nothing, just whoever wanted to attend to dig up a ditch and place his friends in there to rest in piece. It was up to you if you wanted to help seeing as there was always the chance of a stray bullet or a sniper hitting you as you were working. Most were left to rot. After a while, the trenches, with the wet weather deteriorated. There was no more a 4 thick bullet-proof parapet to save your life; the walls of the trench had collapsed to make the trench into a mud bath with water which was to reach your knees. During the wet weather it was truly disgusting. Overall life in the trenches is pretty gross and unhygienic although, some officers did get treated rather well and the food that the English were given which was usually bully beef and jam was of a much higher quality than any other front line army. Diseases spread and people suffer of lack of sleep without forgetting the fact that everyone was homesick and wishing to see their families so basically, apart from making good friends and fighting for your country, the trenches must have been a rather appalling experience.