On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society

by Dave Grossman

Constant praise and assurance to the soldier from peers and superiors that he “did the right thing” (One of the most important physical manifestations of this affirmation is the awarding of medals and decorations.)

constant presence of mature, older comrades

careful adherence to codes and conventions of warfare by both sides

Rear lines or clearly defined safe areas where the soldier can go to relax

presence of close, trusted friends and confidants

cooldown period

Knowledge of the ultimate victory of their side and of the gain and accomplishments made possible by their sacrifices

Parades and monuments

Reunions and continued co...

unconditionally warm and admiring welcome by friends, family, communities, and

society, constantly reassuring the soldier that the war and his personal acts were for a necessary, just, and righteous cause

proud display o...

In the case of the Vietnam veteran all but the first of these rationalization processes were not only mostly absent, but many of them were inverted and became sources of great pain and trauma to the veteran.

But you can never get them to believe that they like it, which is the major reason armies try to get their recruits before they are twenty.

but the most important qualities teenagers bring to basic training are enthusiasm and naivete….

Their recruits usually have no more than twenty years’ experience of the world, most of it as children, while the armies have had all of history to practice and perfect their technique.

This was America’s first “teenage war,”

or just an emptiness that no one could understand.

“They trained me to kill. They sent me to Vietnam. They didn’t tell me that I’d be fighting kids.”

This resulted in a deterioration of traditional conventions and an increase in civilian casualties, atrocities,

and resultant trauma.

The standard methods of on-the-scene rationalization fail when the enemy’s child comes out to mourn over her father’s body or when the enemy is a child throwing a hand grenade.

“Children were trained,” said Mealy, “to throw grenades, not only for the terror factor, but so the government or American soldiers would have to shoot them. Then the Americans feel very ashamed. And they blame themselves and call their soldiers war criminals.”

thirteen months for the U.S. Marines.

In this environment it was far more possible, even natural, that many soldiers would remain aloof, and their bonding would never develop into the full, mature, lifelong relationships of previous wars.

What happened in Vietnam is the moral equivalent of giving a soldier a local anesthetic for a gunshot wound and then sending him back into combat.

Societies have always recognized that war changes men, that they are not the same after they return.

Finally, it was a way of telling the soldier that what he did was right and that the community for which he fought was grateful

his community of sane and normal men welcomed him back.

The continued stability of these units after departing the combat zone ensured that detailed (and psychologically essential) after-action briefings and reviews could be conducted at home stations.

Now the Russians themselves will concede the evils of communism.

They lost the battle but they won the war. And the war was worth fighting.

was greeted by a hostile environment in which he was ashamed to even wear the uniform and decorations that became such a vital part of who he was.

But perhaps they have a right to remain in their shells, and it may be that the society that drove them there has no right to expect reconciliation or forgiveness from them.

“guilt about leaving one’s buddies to an unknown fate in Vietnam apparently proved so strong that many veterans were often too frightened to find out what happened to those left behind.”

survivor guilt

Psychiatric casualties increase greatly when the soldier feels isolated, and psychological and social isolation from home and society was one of the results of the growing antiwar sentiment in the United States.

was an increase in Dear John letters.

Their letters were an umbilical cord to the sanity and decency that they believed they were fighting for.

These psychiatric casualty ratings were similar to home-front approval ratings for the war, and an argument can be made that psychiatric casualties can be impacted by public disapproval.

They were euphoric over finally returning home alive; many were exhausted after days of travel, shell-shocked, confused, dehydrated, and emaciated from months in the bush, in culture shock after months in an alien land, under orders not to do anything to “disgrace the uniform,” and deeply worried about missing flights. Isolated and alone, the returning veterans in this condition were sought out and humiliated by war protesters who had learned from experience of the vulnerability of these men.

These returning veterans had shamefully and silently accepted the accusations of their fellow citizens.

This defensive repression and denial of emotions appear to have been one of the major causes of post-traumatic stress disorder.

today we reap the legacy of those blows in a bitter harvest of PTSD in our Vietnam veterans.

I will leave it to the reader to make your own best judgment and proper application of these bitter lessons to current and future wars. But I hope that no reasonable person can deny the urgent need to constantly apply the lessons of that tragic war in the decades and centuries to come.

long delay time and the erratic nature

“a reaction to a psychologically traumatic event outside the range of normal experience.”

often emerging after a long delay.

Societies which ask men to fight on their behalf should be aware of what the consequences of their actions may so easily be.

Stellman and Stellman found that the victims of PTSD are almost solely veterans who participated in high-intensity combat situations. These veterans suffer far higher incidence of divorce, marital problems, tranquilizer use, alcoholism, joblessness, heart disease, high blood pressure, and ulcers.