“On Killing” by Dave Grossman Review Essay

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In the book “On killing,” a military psychologist, a former lieutenant colonel of the US Army, Dave Grossman, gives a detailed retrospective characterization of human behavior in combat, and also shows the effect of murder on the human psyche, linking it with the level of psychogenic losses in war and PTSD in combat veterans. In his opinion, there are four models of reaction to danger: the fight-flight dichotomy corresponds to the behavior options of any creature faced with a threat that does not come from representatives of their own species. The other options are posturing and submission. Grossman believes that the actions of soldier or a policeman lie in choosing one of these four models, of which the last two are predominant.

Posturing can be seen in the high crests on the helmets of the ancient Greeks and Romans, in the shining armor of medieval knights, bright uniforms and plumes on the heavy, uncomfortable shakos of soldiers of the Napoleonic era. All of these military accessories served one purpose: to allow their owners to look and feel taller and more dangerous and make the same impression on the enemy. Nowadays, the same aspiration can be seen in the aggressive colors of the camouflage uniforms of some armies.

For centuries, the battle cries of soldiers made the blood run cold in the veins of their opponents. Whether it was the Greek phalanx’s battle drum, the “hurrah!” of the Russian infantry, the shrill cry of the Scottish bagpipes – soldiers always instinctively sought to intimidate the enemy through nonviolent means to physical contact, encouraging each other and impressing the enemy with their ferocity. Since the use of the posturing model does not assume a real collision with the enemy, for most soldiers, according to Grossman, this acts as an additional incentive to shoot over the enemy’s heads or not to shoot at all.

More than posturing, according to Grossman, following the subordination model is common in combat, which is manifested in the fact that “non-shooting” soldiers were ready to do anything: deliver reports, assist the wounded and help with their transportation, bring ammunition – anything not to fire at the enemy, even in the case of an obvious threat to one’s own life. Thus, Grossman says: “The belief that most soldiers will not killing the enemy in close combat contradicts what we want to believe, contradicts what we have been told for thousands of years of military history and culture” (Grossman 276). Grossman considers the instinctive fear of causing damage and death to a human being in close combat as well as observing the results of using one’s weapons one of the sources of psychogenic losses and PTSD, along with lack of sleep, lack of nutrition, exposure to the elements and emotional exhaustion (Grossman and Paulsen 11). Grossman asserts that mental damage is less often observed in gunners, pilots and sailors, for whom the enemy is just a mark on the radar or a conditional icon on the map, or in special forces soldiers, whose main task is to detect the enemy and point shock weapons at him.

According to Grossman, to make soldiers effective in battle special training is needed. Thus, a Marine Corps lifestyle and training show very well how soldiers are educated to overcome their natural instinct to save a life. The training includes elements of posturing such as the battle cry “oorah” and serious physical training with elements of hand-to-hand combat where marines learn to look their opponent in the face and fight against real people. The developed combat training allows the marine corps to minimize the effect of unwillingness to kill as all soldiers are trained to deal with a real enemy. Moreover, constant drills instill soldiers with immunity to weakness so that they are ready to take their commanders’ orders without hesitation or uneasy feelings about prospective killings.

Works Cited

Grossman, Dave. On killing: The psychological cost of learning to kill in war and society. Open Road Media, 2014.

Grossman, Dave, and Kristine Paulsen. “On media violence and aggression.” Journal of the American Academy of Pas, vol. 31, no. 8, 2018, pp. 11-12.

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IvyPanda. 2023. "“On Killing” by Dave Grossman Review." August 19, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/on-killing-by-dave-grossman-review/.

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