Arjuna says to Krishna... "Krishna! as I behold, come here to shed their common blood, yon concourse of our kin, my members fail, my tongue dries in my mouth, a shudder thrills my body, and my hair bristles with horror; from my weak hands slips Gandiv, the goodly bow; a fever burns my skin to parching; hardly may I stand; the life within me seems to swim and faint; nothing do I foresee save woe and wail! It is not good, 0 Keshav!" So the greatest warrior of ancient India is afraid! How can this be? After all doesn't he have a god to drive his chariot for him? Isn't he fully trained? Doesn't he have good reasons to want to kill the other side? The answer to all these is yes. Yet Arjuna is still afraid. Battle is obviously a difficult thing to enter into, even for princes. The God Krishna spends the next 90 pages of the Bhagavad­Gita convincing the prince that it is okay to slaughter his cousins. It works and the war begins. Arjuna's doubts remain though. Krishna has to coach him through each moment of ruthless fighting. Given this it is a wonder that anyone is able to stay in battle. It is difficult to fight a war if all the soldiers are throwing up in fear! THE US ARMY EXPERIENCE IN WWII At the start of WWII the US army started asking these questions. They realized that in WWI lots of soldiers just couldn't handle it. They called it "shell shock" but what ever it was it made men useless in battle. They needed a solution on how to prevent this kind of break down from happening again. During WWI the army fought a new kind of war. A war in which battles grinded on for months and millions of men were killed. Because of this they began to notice for the first time that men had a literal breaking point after which they were no longer good for battle. "Shell shock" was the word of the day. They realized that in the next war they could not afford to lose as many men as psychological casualties. They needed an answer on how to prevent this. The answer they settled on was to describe shell shock as an illness. Some people were more vulnerable to this kind of illness than others but if a person got it they could be treated. This sounded good in 1940, so the army instituted 2 programs based on it. The first program was to screen all incoming soldiers for existing mental illness. The second was to establish a mental health intervention system that would follow the army into battle What happened in those 180 days that was different from the 290 the average German had? In fact both sides faced very similar war experiences. For the first 90 days in combat, the soldiers efficiency only increased. They became better at shooting, ducking, patrolling, scrounging, and following orders. After that first 3 months both the German and the American soldiers began to experience an erosion in effectiveness. The fact that the Americans broke sooner than the Germans was due to there being less support in the army system to keep them going rather than any inherent weakness between people (especially since many of the US soldiers were descendants of German Immigrants)! As combat efficiency eroded, soldiers were more likely to zig when they should have zagged. Shooting speed and reaction time decrease. All manner of psychiatric symptoms appear, and individuals begin to start "breaking down" during high stress moments. The British and German NCOs tended to intervene in their psych casualties before the break down occurred. This kept men going for those extra 60 days. The US mental health support system only kicked in after the break down occurred. INTERVENTION: TO LITTLE TO LATE The army's intervention system was really very simple. When ever a soldier started having symptoms that interfered with his combat effectiveness, he could get treatment. Most soldiers chose to ignore this system due to a number of factors. Even today people are not very interested in seeking counseling. It was even more frowned on 50 years ago. If a person was labeled "crazy" by his friends then he could be cut off from the vital support that a small unit provides. They might not try to rescue him as hard since he was "not reliable anyway." Add to that the fear of being given certain "expendable" jobs and one can see why not looking weak was so important. Macho may look foolish, but it has its place in protecting an image. Soldiers also knew the army's policy of not sending wounded soldiers back to their units after recovery. So seeking "help" meant being cut off from the greater help that the small unit afforded. Consequently, soldiers who were on edge tended to stay too long. During the heat of battle a soldier or medic might notice that Charlie just "checked out" mentally and is now rolled up in a fetal position. Charlie has just "frozen". It is an exaggerated fear reaction. But it is probably enough to get him sent back to the rear. Other people go berserk when they break and make suicide charges. You can see why the casualty rate increases with these fellow, can't you. The first stop on the trip to the rear is the unit's aid station. Physically and psychiatrically wounded soldiers mingle together, awaiting aid. Some soldiers decide on their own that they are okay and return themselves to the fight. Other sit and wait, shaking in their boots. If the soldier is lucky, he will not meet General Patton in the aid station. Patton got into big trouble for hitting such a soldier in an aid station in Sicily. He thought the man was a coward for leaving the battle without being wounded. Many people shared his views, thus another disincentive to seek help sooner. From the aid station the psych casualty was taken to, crisis intervention camp between 10 to 20 miles behind the lines At this point he would get to talk to a counselor, have a good, meal and a quiet nights sleep. For those who had only frozen out of fear, this kind of treatment would quickly help them fee better and prepare them to go back into battle--2 or 3 days was all it took. For those who had other symptoms going on as well the stay might be a few days longer. For some though, just talking about the trauma of battle was not enough. They were shipped off to another hospital near the coast of France. This second hospital treated people with more extensive counseling, and even better food and sleeping quarters. If a ma improved then he was generally good serve in rear area Jobs. H could go back into battle, but depending on how long he ha already been in combat was a good determinate as to whither h would break down again. Some people did not respond to treatment at the rear hospital and were shipped home. Such men were placed in hospitals for long term care. They were given honorable discharges and if they were lucky they got out of the hospital in 1948! Whether a soldier was returned to the front or not, that stress of battle had done its work. BATTLE STRESS What is battle stress anyway? That word gets thrown around pretty freely and is not at all clear. A big part of it come from not being in control of the situation. This tends to be internal perception so it is difficult to measure. What is easier to observe are the events one is called to live through. Consider what risks one faces after the shooting starts... Being killed/maimed/wounded Killing someone else The noise of guns going off witnessing one's friends being killed/maimed/wounded The feeling of certainty that one is going to die The feeling of being cut off from everyone you love etc. 180 days of being shot at would be enough by itself to break anyone, but that is not all that goes on in war. In between battles, soldiers are called on to live in squalid conditions, march and counter-march constantly, and be ready to fight in a moments notice! In the heat of battle sacrifice like this can seem very noble. Indeed, men tend to be most willing to help their fellow men at the same time they are killing one another. What is not noble is what happens after the shooting stops. Tending dead and wounded friends is not glorious. Scrounging food is not fun. And the rape and pillage that is conducted on the local population is anything but noble. They too make soldiers useless for combat As the stress of battle increases, a man's shade of gray is darkened. As it does so men start having symptoms. THE SYMPTOMS OF BREAKING Most people are not aware of what the continuum of mental health looks like. So what follows is a rough outline of what mental illnesses are more and less problems. No real nervousness, just normal run of the mill problems. Anxiety, nervous about work/family/health/death Addiction, maybe drinking weekly, using it to deal with stress Panic Attacks, fear of people places or things for no reason Post Traumatic Stress, intrusive memories of a disturbing past Depression, fell down/heavy/tired/hopeless for no reason Dissociated, spacing out as a defence against memory of the past Mania, feel real good, Real Good, REAL GOOD! Not in reality Psychotic, hearing voices/they're out to get me, crazy Brain Damaged, poor memory, visual hallucinations, vegetable Don't take this scale too literally. There are some very functional psychotics and very dysfunctional addicts. But in general the further down the list, the more trouble the person will have with stress. Arjuna spelled out very well the normal symptoms of going into battle. Dry mouth, shaking, weakness in the hands and knees, feel hot, faint, and a strong desire to run. Normal fear reactions. On the outside he probably looked calm and collected. That is what posturing allows one to do. Other people hide their fear by swaggering and boasting. Very few people admit their fear like Arjuna. And this is odd. Fear is nothing to really be afraid of. It heightens one's senses and mobilizes energy. A mastered fear is actually better than anger at motivating a person to fight. Prolonged fear, or more importantly undealt with fear, lead to symptoms developing. They are in a way signs that a person is emotionally "shorting out." Prolonged battle stress can lead a person to have... difficulty sleeping poor appetite a mild uncomfortable feeling excess nervous energy to work off physically (finger tapping etc) a dizzy feeling forgetful of small details physical pains (back, head ache, stomach, legs, arms) become emotionally numb difficulty breathing, hyperventalating, pounding heart increased drinking (either amount or frequency) blackouts, increased tolerance to drink, excessive drinking sudden panic, a desire to run claustrophobia sadness, tears sudden intrusive memories of a past bad event (a battle or abuse feel real down, tired a lot, no energy, no motivation, hopeless suicidal feel outside of you body, memory lapses, unreal feeling no sleep for prolonged periods high energy levels, irrational decisions, feels too good, frantic hear voices, paranoid, think your "special" see "snakes", feel spiders of the skin, smell "things" poor memory, confused easily, easily agitated There are set patterns that symptoms appear, but I won' bore you with 100 years of psychiatric research. What i Important here is that practically any pattern of symptoms ca occur if a person is exposed to enough combat. Generally health people get milder symptoms, while crazy people Just get crazier Fortunately many of these symptoms are fairly brief in duration and pass once a person gets out of the stress. Some example might make the effect of these symptoms more understandable. TWO EXAMPLES OF STRESS Consider the stories of two soldiers, Tom and Dick. Tom is basically health except that he came from an abusive home. He doesn't talk about it, but he had a very scary childhood in which he was beaten and possibly sexually abused. REMEMBER Tom is a nice guy, pretty normal, will probably make a good soldier. Dick is also pretty normal. He drinks maybe twice a month, but reports drinking very heavily between the ages of 18 and 22. He has all the signs of alcoholism but they are not greatly interfering in his life yet. He too is likely to make a good soldier. They both go through basic training and are assigned to battle as combat riflemen. Both Tom and Dick drink when they get the chance to, but then so do most of the other recruits. Dick occasionally get drunker than the rest, but not every time. When they go overseas, they both start to have difficulty sleeping. Most people do. Tom has some bad dreams, but he doesn't talk about them. At base in England, the two settle in easily. Dick may begin having some problems with his superiors since he doesn't appear to like authority much. Tom tries to be everyones friend. He is still having bad dreams but they get a little better once he settles in. He finds that drinking helps calm his nerves as well. Anticipation mounts as the invasion is prepared. Tom's dreams get worse the closer to D-Day. He keeps it to himself, but he is losing enough sleep to get tired. Dick may actually cut back on his drinking since he wants to be at his best for the landing. They go ashore on D day late in the day. Both have all the symptoms of fear. It does not stop them and no epic poems result. Instead they tighten up the muscles in their Jaws and guts and ignore the fear. They both see friends killed. They both hear bombs and guns and airplanes. They both shoot their rifles at the enemy. That night they are both exhilarated and exhausted. The campaign goes on. They both become better soldiers for the first 90 days. Dick finds out how to scrounge alcohol. He does so as often as possible. He drinks in battle and is noted for his "iron" nerve. Tom drinks to go to sleep, but even with the alcohol he has increasingly bad nightmares. He has moments during the day when he has flashbacks to bad memories from childhood. He has mood swings, and others begin to treat him with a light touch. Dick's sleep is also very poor. At times he feels sudden rushes of fear even when he is not being shot at. Drinking helps calm his nerves. But he realizes that if he drinks enough to calm himself all of the time, he will soon get in trouble with the Lt. At this point both Tom and Dick are good candidates for treatment. A relatively brief intervention would ease some of their stress and maybe get them to stop or cut back on their drinking. Unfortunately neither will get any treatment. They are not going to talk about their problems since they both have spent a lot of the lives avoiding them. The army breaks out and races across France. Both of the men feel their stress ease during the exploitation. As winter sets in though, and the war grinds down again around the Rhine, their symptoms get worse. Tom is the first one to break. One day he freezes while on patrol. No one is killed but he is still shaking when they get back to their lines. Dick gives him a drink to buck him up but now everyone knows that Tom can not be relied on. Dick in the mean time has begun to feel mood swings as well, mainly into depression. Alcohol doesn't help this much. Tom stays with his unit but is not given responsible jobs. He starts to hear a voice that says his name, he tells the chaplin. The chaplin is not part of the mental health system so misses this important cue. He tells Tom to pray more. Dick mean while is promoted into an NCO position due to his reputation as a scrounger with nerves of "steel". He bucks up due to the responsibility but his depression gets worse. He has times when he can barely get out of bed. His appearance goes even more to hell than normal. He gets surly with the captain. He gets busted back to a private. During the Bulge, Tom shuts down in a fire fight. After the shooting stops, his friends find him curled up in a little ball. He is sent back to the aid station (just missing General Patton) and goes to the crisis station. He begins to talk in a day or so, but he is not ready to go back to the front. He goes to the rear hospital in Cherbourg. By late January he is talking again and is ready for rear area service. At wars end he is driving a forklift in Antwerp. The V-2s bother him but they do not push him over the edge again. Meanwhile Dick also shuts down in a Bulge fight. He goes to the Crisis station and after a few days rest is ready to go back to the front. He gets shipped to a new unit where he is treated with respect since he has been in "it" since D-Day. Dick avoids getting to know the people to protect himself from 1. caring when they get killed and 2. so they will not find out about his mental problems. In late March, Dick zigs when he should have zagged and gets shot. His mood is buoyant as they carry him out. He is going home! After the war both men find that no one understands what they have been through. So they just don't talk about it. They have nightmares for years and may both increase their alcohol consumption to deal with it. They are described as good soldiers who served their nation well. They are also marked for life by the traumatic experiences they've seen. BROKEN SOLDIERS It is easy to say that mental illness is an individual thing and that it has nothing to do with morale. I believe this is wrong since there are very clear psychological symptoms associated with fear and stress induced disorders. Men break, the real question is what use is a man after he has broken? During the American Civil War, US Grant once visited Bill Sherman at his camp in Tennessee. He found a man in a deep depression, who was contemplating suicide. Grant was himself a heavy drinker, but he was able to pull Sherman out of himself. Together they lead the north to victory. So while Sherman was forever always disturbed by the sights of the aftermath of battle, he did his duty. So maybe broken men are worth rehabilitating after all. Humans are basically herd creatures. The Germans and British recognized this placed much more energy on maintaining small units than the US did. Humans are calmed by being around people they trust. One gets the feeling that there is a little control in life. "My friends will save me" is a powerful force in maintaining morale. Unfortunately people do die in battle. At some point the pseudo family of the unit breaks down. The Native Americans suffered an estimated 80% death rate due to Old World diseases. Their societies collapsed as a result. This was significant since it allowed the Europeans to spread over this continent, effectively displacing an entire race. Europe only suffered a 30$ to 50% death rate from the Black Death, and its society survived. It would appear that after a group suffers 60$ loses that the cohesion falls apart When one considers that there are also casualties from those who are made combat ineffective by the stress of watching the other die, it becomes clear why units fall apart when shot up too badly. The individuals get pushed over their emotional limits and freeze. They become a group on individuals, with none of the support a small unit normally gives. Even though the Plague of 1346-1350AD did not destroy our culture it did through it into a economic slump for the next 100 years. Grant rehabilitated Sherman in a day by giving him a purpose and an example. Rebuilding small groups take longer. Unfortunately the mental health system of the US army was counter productive to this goal. The lesson learned by all is that humans are not cut out for war. We break too easily. Mental illness symptoms play a big factor in what a groups morale is. A long serving unit may not have a good morale. They may well be ripe for a rout given their length of service. This would be an interesting point to keep in mind when making morale simulations. POST TRAUMATIC STRESS The worst part of wars is that they linger for years after the last bullet is fired. If a soldier was deemed "lightly gray" before entering the service, after the war he will be at least "moderately gray". This increases the likelihood of mental illnesses later in life. I've worked with veterans of WWII, Korea, Vietnam, The Gulf War, and The Ethiopian Civil War, for post traumatic stress. From what I've read, it was present in the veterans of WWI, the American Civil War, Napoleon's Russian campaign, and the American War of Independence. I suspect it has always been around a lot longer than that. There would appear to be a limit to the amount of nasty dirty war a person can tolerate in their life time. After that they can do peace time pursuits but their use in battle is quite limited. We generally elect them to be presidents. Back to Experimental Games Group # 24 Table of Contents Back to Experimental Games Group List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1993 by Chris Engle This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com