Hand-to-hand combat...how could people do this?

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

Kill or be killed?

Combat involves our flight or fight responses, on a battlefield there is no real place to run, so your instinct to survive take over.

Also soldiers are trained to ignore the humanity and suffering of the enemy in the midst of combat and to focus intently on the objective at hand. A lot of training focuses on the suppression of our desire for compassion and our fear to harm others.

Not everyone can mentally take to this conditioning and often times those folks return traumatized by the experiance.

The epic game Metal Gear Solid 4 explores PTSD in great detail and what it truly means to be a soldier.

TJ

Thank you, Tim and Orange,
I've actually immersed myself in thinking about the Civil War recently. I tend to do such things...move into a subject till I exhaust myself. Such questions, as I posted here inevitably come up, and I usually have no one to ask!
Thanks
Patty