I know this is an unusual post. I've been reading a book about the Civil War, THE KILLER ANGELS, by Michael Shaara, upon which the movie GETTYSBURG was based. I actually went and rented the movie yesterday also, which seems to follow the book step-by-step, word-for-word. There was much hand-to-hand combat in the Civil War. I guess there was also the same in succeeding wars.

I have always wondered how soldiers manage to do such a thing...?
I would turn tail and run! Is it a matter of military training, learning to become a killing machine? Belief in a cause? Much the same, I wonder how contemporary soldiers engaged in Iraq or Afghanistan manage to do what they are doing. I doubt there is much hand-to-hand combat, but there certainly are confrontations that require close-range killing. How does one develop the nerve to do this?
Patty