Hand-to-hand combat is certainly traumatic, but days or weeks of "I could get randomly blown up any moment" might be worse in some ways? Also, soldiers with "shell shock" used to be executed...
Good point. The Romans were supposedly proud of their "decimation" rule, where they randomly kill one of out ten soldiers found to be cowardly on the battlefield. Your choices are either fight to the death or risk one-in-ten odds of execution when you get home. A policy like that tends to over-select for those who return home in triumph.
Hand-to-hand combat is certainly traumatic, but days or weeks of "I could get randomly blown up any moment" might be worse in some ways? Also, soldiers with "shell shock" used to be executed...
Good point. The Romans were supposedly proud of their "decimation" rule, where they randomly kill one of out ten soldiers found to be cowardly on the battlefield. Your choices are either fight to the death or risk one-in-ten odds of execution when you get home. A policy like that tends to over-select for those who return home in triumph.