On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society (40 page)

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Authors: Dave Grossman

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

353

Many of the quotes within this book are from personal interviews with the author. As mentioned in the acknowledgements, another major source for this book has been
Soldier of Fortune
magazine. In the environment of condemnation and accusation that existed immediately after the Vietnam War,
SOF
was the only national forum in which Vietnam veterans could attain some degree of closure by writing of their experiences in a sympathetic and nonjudgmental environment.

I would ask those who would prejudge this material as "mindless machismo"

to observe the true nature of these narratives. Many of these veterans tell of instances in which they did not kill the enemy even when they had every reason and justification to do so; and many tell of the shock and trauma associated with having killed, and the guilt and anguish which followed their experiences.

I want to thank Colonel (retired) Alex McColl, at
Soldier of Fortune,
for his support and assistance in using these quotes (a detailed listing of which can be found in the bibliography) and I would like to thank all of the authors of these and every other work quoted in this book, and all of those whom I have had the priviledge to interview as a part of this study. This book — indeed this entirly new field of study, which I have termed killology — would not be possible were it not for those who have gone before us, the veterans and authors on whose shoulders this study stands.

Index

acceptance, of killing.
See
rationalization and Arab-Israeli War, 43

acceptance, of killing

archetypes, behavioral, 184, 340-41

accountability.
See
comrades,

Arendt, Hannah, 207

accountability to

Army, U.S., 34, 35, 68, 82, 189, 253, 255.

acute combat reaction, 36

See also
Army Rangers, U.S.

aggravated assault, 299—301

Air Corps, 30, 181

aggression

fear acceptable in, 53

absence of empathy and, 182—83

Special Forces, 68, 129, 257

distance, effect of, 97

Army Life
pamphlet, 53

emotional withdrawal and, 160

Army
magazine, 34, 35

facing, 61-62, 76-78, 81

Army Rangers, U.S., 67-68, 71

genetic predisposition for, 181, 182

knife-kill training, 129

in Nazi death camps, 78-79

POW treatment, training in, 204

obedience and, 141-43

in Somalia, 258

patterns of, 6, 181

Arnold, Tracy, 132

resistance to engaging in, 54, 76—78

artillery, 11, 27, 57-58, 59, 80, 97, 107-08

response to, 5-16

assassins, 160, 306-07

sex and, 134—37

atomic bombs, 99, 102, 108, 331

training for, 319.
See also
conditioning atrocities, 105, 263

aggressive psychopaths.
See
psychopaths, in Congo, 217-21

aggressive

defined, 194

Airborne, U.S. Army, 68

denial of, 211-13

air combat.
See
pilots

empowerment through, 205-10,

Air Force, U.S., 30, 182

214-15

Alexander, General, 85

enabling enemy through, 216, 221

Alexander the Great, 12-13, 120, 128-29

group absolution in, 224-25

ambush patrols, 60-61, 196-99

legitimizing of, 214

amnesia, 46

power of, 203-15

Anderson, R. B., 236

psychological trauma of committing,

Andrade, D„ 282

222-26

Angell, Norman, 33

range of, 195-202

animal response patterns, 5-6

refusal to participate in, 224, 225-26

anonymity, effect of, 151—53

self-destructive nature of, 214-16, 221

anxiety states, 47

self-preservation in, 225, 226

Appel, J. W., 52

U.S. position on, 205

I N D E X 355

in Vietnam War.
See
Vietnam War Bush, George, 242

attrition warfare, 80-81

authority.
See
obedience-demanding

Calley, William, 104, 145, 190

authority

Cambodia, genocide in, 212

cannons, 11, 154

Babylon, destruction of, 102-04

Canterwall, Brandon, 329

back stabbing, 127-29, 173

Caputo, Phillip, 79

Banko, Steve, 146, 173, 174, 196, 294

Carrington, Charles, 200

Barbusse, Henri, 72

Catton, Bruce, 26

Bartlett, F. C, 69, 94

censorship, 326-27

Bashan, Gaby, 199

character disorders, 48

basic training, 190, 317

chariots, 153

Battle of the Bulge, 204, 216

chase instinct, 127-29

bayoneting, 98, 120-26, 337

children

in Nazi death camps, 104

effect of movies/videos on, 308,

training in, 121, 123, 190

314-16, 322

Beebe, G. W., 52

killing of, 174-75, 266-67, 287

behavioral archetypes, 184, 340-41

China, atrocities in, 215

Belgrade, Battle of, 10-11

Churchill, Winston, 166, 242

Berkun, Mitchell, 52, 53

civilians

Bettelheim, B., 335

as bombing victims.
See
bombing, mass Bible, 132, 337-39

close-range killing of, 199-202, 263,

Binyon, Laurence, 62

265-67, 287

bomber crews, 59, 65, 79, 100-02, 104,

Civil War, U.S.

107-08

attacks during flight, 127

bombing, mass, 55-58, 79, 80, 97, 99-102,

discarded weapons in, 21—25

104, 105, 106

edged-weapons combat in, 123

bombings, strategic, 207—08

ineffective firing in, 11

bonding

killing rates, 184, 333

to comrades, 90, 149-50, 153, 210-11,

legal justification for, 166-67

269-70, 275-76

musket fire in, 10

to leaders, 144, 210-11

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