How does a soldier deal with the possibility that they may die in a battle?

gugliamo00

People who join the military at present do so willingly.

The military is kind of the enforcement branch of the government's foreign policy. It's a combat outfit. Every recruit should know this going in. If not, the fact that he or she is taught to shoot, march, and a host of other combat skills peculiar to his or her particular branch should give him the idea. Now, the government wouldn't go to the expense and bother to train recruits for combat were there no chance whatsoever that they would ever see combat. So every sensible recruit should come to the conclusion that he or she might see combat. Now here are a couple irrefutable rules in combat. (1) In combat some people die. (2) There's no guarantee you won't be one of them. It's not rocket science.

But, I suppose that's pretty academic. At that point it's still just training.

The next window of opportunity for enlightenment is before you deploy, when you make out a will.

I guess the next chance of a catharsis is when you're going outside the wire for the first time. Suddenly the danger is almost palpable.

If it hasn't happened by then, when the bullets zip past your head it had better sink home... or there's a likelihood you're going home in a box. A little fear is a good thing. It makes one cautious. Too much fear can paralyze one and make it difficult to do much of anything to protect oneself.

For me, it hit in Boot Camp. I was interviewed to be a candidate in a specific program. One of the questions asked... actually the first question... was, "Do you want to die for your country." The question, the thought process by which I searched for and found an answer changed my life... and probably helped keep me alive for the next dozen or so years.

"Do you want to die for your country," should be the question every person contemplating joining the military should ask himself or herself before going to the recruiting office. Too many are enamored by benefits or something else of that sort... all of which are of no consequence if they get killed.

How do they "show courage"? I think that's an individual thing. One suggested it's to protect his buddies. Maybe for some it's love of country, or an elevated sense of duty. But, with a few with whom I've spoken, and in my own case, when the stuff hits the fan and is flying all over the place, training kicks in, and you simply do what needs to be done. I've seen it happen with new guys, and after it's all over they look at each other with amazed expressions as if to say, "Holy <bleep>! We did it! And it was almost textbook!"

Randy B

Soldiers don't show courage to face death. Soldiers show courage to fight along side and protect their buddies. I've never entered a firefight looking for anything other then a way to protect my friends and fellow soldiers.

Fred

One who thinks they will live will surely die, One prepared to die will be victorious and take many heads.

If you are too confident you dont act smart and end up getting killed.

If you are scared, at least you think about trying to survive.

classandbrass

Accept it. You are in the position to win or die trying. I am over there so you don't have to fight here.

My job is to defend you, at ultimate cost.

I don't deal with the possibility of death, I train and work towards the possibility of going home. I am personally responsible for my friend seeing his 5 month old child, for the first time.

jeeper_peeper321

The same way you face the possibility of getting hit by a drunk driver, every time you leave your house.

You have a far higher chances of being killed by a drunk driver, than you do in combat.

We prepare for the worst but hope for the best. We remember our training. Most of all, we don't think about the fact that we could die unless it comes close to happening. One of the biggest things we can do to hurt ourselves is live in fear. Not all troops deal with it the same way, others have their own way to deal with it, such as keeping pictures of family or praying.

Blu

That is something that you come to terms with if not before you ever join, then shortly afterward. As for showing courage in the face of death, it isn't like that. When the **** hits the fan you don't have time to think about dying, being afraid or running the other way. You have an objective that has to be taken and dying isn't part of the plan. Killing the enemy is.

Of course for a REMF's MOS things may be different but I was never anything but a line dog.

Raised Right

Its a muscle reflex , you just do your job and what happens after that is fate

Evolve or become extinct

Remember it was his choice to enlist when there was no draft.

I really Don't care.

They enlisted. They know they face the possibility..they either turn tail and run away or fight for their country.

And D L.... the "guy" you quoted was General George S. Patton.

Golden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j2F4VcBmeo

James

I just remember that it is more dangerous to live in the slums of L.A. in California than it is to be over seas in a firefight... Look up the muder statistics for L.A. and then look at the death toll of american soldiers in the war and tell me what would scare you more?

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