Killing and The Psychological Cost.

[Sean Manning]

Historical studies on killing, which began in the 1800s, revealed startling truths about men's ability or desire to kill others. Prussian guardsmen's musket accuracy was tested against targets and then against men in a battle. It was found that 70% or so of them could hit a target without difficulty, but when faced with a real man, less than 10% of their shots were accurate. A musket from Gettysburg was found with 20-something balls in the muzzle. Comparisons between the number of rounds fired and the number of casualties in WW2 bear no comparison - something like 3,000 rounds per fatality. There are many similar findings from different periods, and they reveal that despite everything occurring in the savagery of battle, many/most men do not want to kill. Once it has happened a second time, however, and as I mentioned above, it becomes easier. The third time is easier again, and so on.

That is a good example of the weaknesses of Grossman's argument. For example, hitting a moving target, on ground that isn't clear and level, with the air full of dust and powder smoke, while people are shooting at you and horses are screaming and people are shouting, must have been a lot harder than shooting at a wooden target. So this could be a result of soldiers being reluctant to kill, or of combat being much more complicated than target practice, or both. Similarly, did those over-loaded muskets at Gettysburg result from soldiers wanting to look like they were fighting without risking killing anyone, or from them repeating the loading routine again and again but leaving out the "pull the trigger" step (or not noticing that the gun had failed to fire) in the stress and confusion? In stressful situations, people often repeat the same action again and again even if it is not working.

He's got some very interesting ideas, and armies today take him very seriously (he lectured the Patricias when a friend of mine was serving with them), but a lot of his supporting evidence is weak, and he doesn't seem greatly concerned with that.