07-25-2010, 11:24 AM
A tentative addition to the discussion from a newbie, but one with some practical experience after 13 years in the British Army.
As mentioned above, a soldier's immediate formation are the mainstay of his well being and morale (his tent mates/section/troop) and this cannot have changed across the ages. He lives and breathes everything with these men and even the loss of one can be sustained in the companionship of his fellows - they all have the same loss and can share in the natural grieving process.
Hand to hand combat requires substantial imagination these days to understand the horrors (as we would perhaps call it; there are some grusome account of bayonet combat from more recent history), but for Roman - and earlier and later - soldiers it was the normal environment in which they lived. Civilian life could be just as brutal and death was a common occurrance. They also had the process of clearing the battlefield after an engagement and reclaiming the dead and wounded. My personal opinion is that the process of burying a colleague in an honourable and celebratory way allows closure and the knowledge that the same respectful obsequies will be afforded to oneself when one is killed. When the object of the combat is boiled down to its smallest form, the tent mates/section/troopers are fighting to protect themselves and their colleagues and as each small constituent part succeeds, a greater victory is achieved.
Modern warfare is far more immediate, disruptive and , more importantly, isolationist. It is all very well getting wounded soldiers out of the front line and away to medical care asap, but they are then dislocated from their organic support structure. His mates cannot visit him in hopsital if he has been airlifted 20km behind the front, and his new companions become all the other wounded and suffering around him - and it can be combat wounds, RTAs and (on many occassions) a bed next to someone who technically is "the enemy".
Isolation also occurs to those in armoured vehicles who have little interaction with their vehicle companions and modern research indicates that "space age" helmets with multifarious targetting equipment, monitors, information overload adds to a soldiers feeling of detachment and isolation - he is on his own surviving for himself and not for anyone else. This affects the lowest organisational groupings and begins to fracture the comaraderie required for the survival of good mental health.
PTSD in all its forms affects those who are detached immediately from their environment in which they have faced fear, apprehension, aggression, adrenalin; all things shared with colleagues and which makes it a valuable and necessary shared experience, and all things civilians and those at home cannot understand.
Another downside of modern warfare is the rapid removal from the battlefield due to air power (ie transport air craft). In May 2003, I was ordered home from Iraq at 0600 in the morning due to the immediate requirement to react to the declaration of the end of hostilities by President George Bush Jnr. At 0800 the next day I was sitting at home in Oxfordshire with a cup of tea being asked if I had had an "interesting" time by friends and neighbours...talk about isolation!!! LOL!
This couldn't happen in the ancient world as everything obviously took more time, but I wonder how many Veterans wanted to take their grant of land and live away from the heart of the fort and to fend for themselves after years of sharing every daily task with men who were their real family? I am sure their life expectancy was as short as modern veterans who are also cut adrift from their life support.
(Going to stop now as I am depressing myself LOL!!!)
As mentioned above, a soldier's immediate formation are the mainstay of his well being and morale (his tent mates/section/troop) and this cannot have changed across the ages. He lives and breathes everything with these men and even the loss of one can be sustained in the companionship of his fellows - they all have the same loss and can share in the natural grieving process.
Hand to hand combat requires substantial imagination these days to understand the horrors (as we would perhaps call it; there are some grusome account of bayonet combat from more recent history), but for Roman - and earlier and later - soldiers it was the normal environment in which they lived. Civilian life could be just as brutal and death was a common occurrance. They also had the process of clearing the battlefield after an engagement and reclaiming the dead and wounded. My personal opinion is that the process of burying a colleague in an honourable and celebratory way allows closure and the knowledge that the same respectful obsequies will be afforded to oneself when one is killed. When the object of the combat is boiled down to its smallest form, the tent mates/section/troopers are fighting to protect themselves and their colleagues and as each small constituent part succeeds, a greater victory is achieved.
Modern warfare is far more immediate, disruptive and , more importantly, isolationist. It is all very well getting wounded soldiers out of the front line and away to medical care asap, but they are then dislocated from their organic support structure. His mates cannot visit him in hopsital if he has been airlifted 20km behind the front, and his new companions become all the other wounded and suffering around him - and it can be combat wounds, RTAs and (on many occassions) a bed next to someone who technically is "the enemy".
Isolation also occurs to those in armoured vehicles who have little interaction with their vehicle companions and modern research indicates that "space age" helmets with multifarious targetting equipment, monitors, information overload adds to a soldiers feeling of detachment and isolation - he is on his own surviving for himself and not for anyone else. This affects the lowest organisational groupings and begins to fracture the comaraderie required for the survival of good mental health.
PTSD in all its forms affects those who are detached immediately from their environment in which they have faced fear, apprehension, aggression, adrenalin; all things shared with colleagues and which makes it a valuable and necessary shared experience, and all things civilians and those at home cannot understand.
Another downside of modern warfare is the rapid removal from the battlefield due to air power (ie transport air craft). In May 2003, I was ordered home from Iraq at 0600 in the morning due to the immediate requirement to react to the declaration of the end of hostilities by President George Bush Jnr. At 0800 the next day I was sitting at home in Oxfordshire with a cup of tea being asked if I had had an "interesting" time by friends and neighbours...talk about isolation!!! LOL!
This couldn't happen in the ancient world as everything obviously took more time, but I wonder how many Veterans wanted to take their grant of land and live away from the heart of the fort and to fend for themselves after years of sharing every daily task with men who were their real family? I am sure their life expectancy was as short as modern veterans who are also cut adrift from their life support.
(Going to stop now as I am depressing myself LOL!!!)
Moi Watson
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, Merlot in one hand, Cigar in the other; body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, what a ride!
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, Merlot in one hand, Cigar in the other; body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, what a ride!
