War is complicated business.
I always wondered, why people think that war criminals, murderers, rapists and the lot were any different from 'normal' people with families, talents, hobbies and interests. My hobby is motorsports, I don't even think about comparing it to war, but it does put 'normal' people under stress. And guess what? People change. In everyday life I'm a lazy slacker bastard, very careful not to get myself hurt or even dirty. When I'm racing, I'm a perfectionist, unforgiving (to myself and others), I get cold, emotionless, I'm in a state that can perhaps be best described as 'cold controlled aggressive sociopath', watching the world through squinted eyes and with a stiff jaw. I do things that in normal situation would make me scream like a little girl, not to mention things that would put me in harm's way an things I'd be UNABLE to do in the first place. Belieave me, I can slide the car while racing, but in normal everyday driving I get stiff, my hair stands on end and usually I screw up if I loose grip (of course, experience makes such situations a lot easier to handle and I know how to prevent them from happening in the first place). I'll also happily put myself under both physical and mental strain. Only when I return home I'm shocked to feel like I'm dead: my muscles hurt, I have strains and bruises (where did those come from?) and mentally I feel like a zombie, like someone scooped out my brain and left nothing but an empty space. But it's all good the next day, I'm back to my normal self. I sit down in front of my PC and browse through photos from the last day's event, knowing it was me who did those things but already finding it hard to believe. "Yeah, I guess it's me in that photo... but I couldn't possibly do those things, could I? Look at me, I'm just a normal guy."
What I'm trying to say is this: I think war puts normal people in unnormal situations, and they have to cope. But to cope, our organisms need to shift back to primal survival mode and that means people behave differently then they do normally. I also think it's impossible to say, how a proffessor, milkman, miner or a convict will act once the battle stress hits. Some of this stress can be replicated in training but ultimately I think it's a different reaction for each individual. Who will be a coward, a hero, a mate you can relay your life on and who will turn out to be a cocky idiot that will get himself and his squad killed? I can't say 'I'd done this and that differently under those conditions' because I simply do not know myself well enough.
I hope my post makes any sense to you guys.
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