Effects of Combat on a Soldier's Mind

The Effects of Combat on a Soldier's Mind

Introduction

It is a widely acknowledged fact as proven by history time and again, that combat is inevitable. However, the effects of combat on soldiers engaging in it can be stark and long lasting. Civilizations must be protected from invasion if they are to prosper, thrive and grow. Ben Shalit defines combat as an “integral part of human behavior” However, each human action whether conscious or subconscious has substantial consequences. The consequences of combat include not only the loss of human life on either side but also marked effects in the aftermath of survival such as self-blame, Combat Stress Reaction (CSR) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among others. Although combat is a conscious choice it is possible that some soldiers may be better prepared to handle combat as advocated in Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman's “On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace”. Recovery options are limited, but exist to cope with the physical and psychological effects and war horrors resulting from combat and war participation.

Discussion

Effects of combat on a soldier's mind

Psychiatric casualties

Statistics can define numerically the casualties and losses in war - when soldiers become a number their deaths are easily quantifiable. Post-war analysis critique and discussions can be drawn with the help of these numbers. However, on a much smaller scale, the effects of combat on the individual are rarely observed or researched. Richard Gabriel observes that in “human terms”, one of the most important costs of war is the psychiatric casualty suffered by a survivor of war.

Psychiatric casualties usually handicap survivors of war mentally. It is this mental inability and not the physical that prevents them from participating in future wars. These may include Combat Stress Reaction (CSR), disillusionment, fear, panic etc. While this disability renders a soldier ineffective in the short term if healed it would be possible for the soldier to return to work. These soldiers, rather than being evacuated, are pressed to return to war. Their reluctance is, therefore, understandable however even their evacuation is not a simple task. If one soldier is evacuated on the basis of a psychiatric casualty, fear and panic may arise within the whole unit thus leading to more psychiatric causalities.

Continuous combat takes a toll on its soldiers. As observed by Swank and Marchand in their study of soldiers in World War II on the beaches of Normandy, 98% of all survivors had turned into psychiatric casualties. The remaining 2% were identified as naturally aggressive

personalities. This appalling research conclusion shows the horrific outcome of consistently engaging in combat.

Fear

If the setting of the arena of war is such that soldiers must be exposed to the wilderness of the forest or the barren desert: a foreign, dangerous setting many miles away from home, it is quite possible that they may become distressed. This is an unavoidable aspect of war. Dr. Alfonso Bates declared “There's no place to hide in Iraq,” which can help one sympathize with Veterans from the ...