Stephen Black wrote:
> In short, the reason soldiers don't fire their guns when
> under fire may not because they don't want to kill, but
> because they're paralyzed by fear and so unable to act
> effectively. Malmo (1975) makes exactly this point, in a
> chapter on the relation of arousal to performance. He says,
> as part of a general discussion of this issue:
Stephen, you offer a very good hypothesis, but there is one
other fact concerning the wars that would seem to weaken it somewhat.
During the Korean war, the percentage of soldiers who "cut-and-ran"
under fire was several times that of WWII. Thus, if fear was the
over-riding agent, it would seem that percentages would have been
reversed for the two wars--as well as for Vietnam where most of the
troops were conscripts, not enlistees, and therefore could reasonably be
expected to be more prone to the effects of fear than a career military
person--particularly since in Vietnam the stress factor was several
times higher than in Korea or WWII (unlike those wars where a clear
"Front line" existed behind which you were fairly safe, Vietnam offered
_no_ areas--including R&R in Saigon--where that held true, and thus the
military personnel were under constant stress conditions during their
entire tour of duty).
An additional point re: the effect of MTV, btw. Here in the
Jackson (MI) area, we just had a spate of teenage assaults in which
teens would video tape their acts against innocent people. According to
crime reports this has been happening in a large number of communities
throughout the US. The reason? The kids want to win a prize for their
videos on an MTV program devoted to this kind of material!!!!
Just a few thoughts to "muddy the waters."
Rick
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Rick Adams
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Department of Social Sciences
Jackson Community College
Jackson, Michigan
". . . and the only measure of your worth and your deeds will be the
love you leave behind when you're gone." --Fred Small
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