yokel
Member
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2007
- Messages
- 1,235
You forgot the most important factors: fear of dying and the will to live.
The greatest fear held by most is not that of death or a combat wound, nor is it the sobering probability of disease or capture by the enemy. In a sense, the men one fights with on the line are more feared than the ones who have him in the sights of their rifles.
Fear of cowardice propels soldiers to persistently perform deeds they would not have been capable of without the critical pressure of their peers. Soldiers want nothing less than to be branded as a coward; even death holds more appeal than the alternative of "shirking" combat and losing the respect of peers.