This Kind of War: The Classic Military History of the Korean War

by T.R. Fehrenbach

Perhaps, also, at the beginning a word must be said concerning discipline. “Discipline,” like the terms “work” and “fatherland”—among the greatest of human values—has been given an almost repugnant connotation from its use by Fascist ideologies. But the term “discipline” as used in these pages does not refer to the mindless, robotlike obedience and self-abasement of a Prussian grenadier. Both American sociologists and soldiers agree that it means, basically, self-restraint—the self-restraint required not to break the sensible laws whether they be imposed against speeding or against removing an uncomfortably heavy steel helmet, the fear not to spend more money than one earns, not to drink from a canteen in combat before it is absolutely necessary, and to obey both parent and teacher and officer in certain situations, even when the orders are