On Combat Quotes

“There is no shame in failure. For a warrior the only shame is in not trying.)”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it. —Thucydides”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“Napoleon said, “The moment of greatest vulnerability is the instant immediately after victory.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“Despite our wonders and greatness, we are a society that has experienced so much social regression, so much decadence, in so short a period of time, that in many parts of America we have become the kind of place to which civilized countries used to send missionaries. - quoting William Bennett”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace

“Pain shared is pain divided, and you are only as sick as your secrets. In a debriefing, you have the opportunity to share those secrets and to share your pain as you come together to help each other through a traumatic event. Those who say that they do not”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“Ted Turner said: “Television violence is the single most significant factor contributing to violence in America.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“when soldiers were left to their own devices, the vast majority of them, on all sides, could not kill.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“those who experienced the “Thank God it wasn’t me” response. Having this thought race through your mind upon seeing violent death is arguably one of the deepest, darkest, most shameful of all human responses. However, when you tell people that it is a normal thought, it is as if a huge weight has been lifted, and their sense of shame no longer has power to hurt them.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“You will likely hear participants say such things as, “So that’s what you did?” “Oh, I forgot about that.” “So, when you did that, that’s when I did this. Now it makes sense.” Like a jigsaw puzzle that had been scattered with pieces missing, it all begins to come together as everyone adds their one or two pieces.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“if a student ever states that he is dead, the right answer is, “No, you aren’t dead! I don’t give you permission to die. I don’t train people to die. I train them to live!”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“If there was a leader present ordering soldiers to fire, then almost everyone would do so.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“The sense of personal effectiveness and self confidence created by realistic training is as much a stress reducer as when the muscles go on autopilot.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“the rate at which we are trying to kill or seriously injure each other, might be at the highest levels in peacetime history.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“The murder rate is being held down by medical technology,”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“Per capita aggravated assaults in the U.S. increased almost sevenfold between 1957 and 1993.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“It should be dangerous to attack a warrior, but when we turn our protectors into cowed puppies, they sometimes do not even have the spirit to defend themselves from the kicks of an ungrateful public. And in the end, they may not be able to protect us and our loved ones at the moment of truth. It”
― Lt. Col. David Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace

“probability of loss of life after a traumatic event can be greater than loss of life during the event.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“The best advice I was ever given for testifying in court was simply to “Take . . . your . . . time.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“There are always those people who say something like: “Debriefing? I don’t need no stinking debriefing!” and we believe them. But the debriefing is not necessarily for them; it is for their buddy, partner, spouse and their children.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“the Romans were one of the first to also place leaders behind their men in an open order of battle.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“90 percent reduction in violence among the boys who had television and video games removed,”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“Stanford study showed two other interesting side effects when television viewing was eliminated for a semester: A significant decrease in obesity and a decrease in nagging parents for toys.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“the majority of the learning on a tactical exercise comes afterwards in what is called an “after action review,” where all the participants talk about what took place. This phase is so important that to not do it is to have essentially wasted the exercise.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“What battles have in common is the human: the behavior of men struggling to reconcile their instinct of self-preservation, their sense of honor and the achievement of some aim over which other men are ready to kill them. The study of battle is therefore always a study of fear and usually of courage, usually also of faith and sometimes vision. —Sir Herbert Butterfield Man On His Past”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“through a scenario where he fails, and then you put him through it again and he succeeds. First you revealed a flaw in his armor and then you taught him how to shore up that weakness. In so doing, you brought him out the other end of the exercise as a superior warrior.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“if we drill our children on mass murder simulators, that too will be a reflexive, autopilot skill that is available to them at some tragic moment of truth.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“We didn’t train giving verbal commands, so they weren’t available to us during high stress situations.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“I also taught my young charges to use the siren as little as possible, because the sound of it elevates the heart rate, and ultimately the pitch and pace of the voice.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“learned in World War II that only 15 to 20 percent of the individual riflemen fired their weapons at an exposed enemy soldier.”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

“as your heart rate goes up, your tunnel vision can get narrower and your auditory exclusion can increase.)”
― Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace