Often times, when I think about war, I only think about the protagonist going against the antagonist. I think that the only thing worth worrying about is the enemy and their position. We never stop to think about the weather and terrain that these soldiers face on a day-to-day basis. My vision of war is clouded by what comes out of the Hollywood movies. Luckily, such war veterans like Norman Mailer write and publish novels like The Naked and the Dead, which gives me a better insight as to what war is really like. Mailer's description of the weather and terrain throughout his novel shows that the weather and terrain is the soldiers' main enemy.

Sometimes, just crossing the terrain to get to the next battlefield is the biggest challenge. Rivers and large creeks are always a real challenge for any...