Re: Why we fight (there was an old B&W movie by that name IIRC)

--- Richard and Emily Bell <rlbell@sympatico.ca>
wrote:

> I have poorly used "panic".  Most people will say
> that they panicked in
> situations where they didn't really.	Maybe I should
> have used "terror",
> "fear", or some other expression.  High stress

Again, a soldier that allows terror or fear to control
him is a bad soldier and ineffective on the
battlefield.

> removes from the decision
> process any option that requires an action that is
> not already a habit.

Nonsense--improvisation under fire is a highly honored
tradition in the US Army.  We plan for contingencies,
and invariably find that the contingency that occours
is not one on the list.  Yet somehow it keeps working.

> British soldiers were trained to form up in lines
> and drilled until (in
> the Napoleanic wars) they could fire a withering
> three volleys a minute.
> They never broke, they stood there and died, firing
> three rounds a
> minute.  

Right.	Like I said, cadaver-like obedience (I forget
the German term) is useful if you want men to stand in
line and fire three shots a minute.  I want my troops
to fire and maneuver like humans, not stand still like
corpses.

John

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