On Killing

Inc.

Gray, J. G. The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle. Copyright © 1959 by J. Glenn Gray; © renewed 1987 by Ursula A. Gray. Reprinted with permission of Ursula A. Gray.

Griffith, P. Battle Tactics of the Civil War. Copyright © 1987 by Paddy Griffith. Reprinted with permission of the author.

Grossman, D. A. “Moral Approach Only the Start: The Bottom Line in P.O.W. Treatment” in Army: Journal of the Association of the United States Army. Copyright © 1984 by the Association of the U.S. Army. Reprinted with permission of Army magazine.

Heckler, R. S. In Search of the Warrior Spirit. Copyright © 1990, 1992 by Richard Strozzi Heckler. Reprinted with permission of North Atlantic Books.

Holmes, R. Acts of War: The Behavior of Men in Battle. Copyright © 1985 by Richard Holmes. Reprinted with permission of the author.

Keegan, J. The Face of Battle. Copyright © 1976 by John Keegan. Reprinted with permission of Shiel Land Associates.

Keegan, J., and R. Holmes. Soldiers: A History of Men in Battle. Copyright © 1985 by John Keegan, Richard Holmes, and John Gau Productions. Reprinted with permission of Shiel Land Associates.

Keillor, G. “Hog Slaughter,” from “A Prairie Home Companion,” produced by Minnesota Public Radio. Copyright © 1994 by Garrison Keillor. Reprinted with permission of the author.

Moran, L. Anatomy of Courage. Copyright 1987, Constable & Company Ltd., London. Reprinted with permission of Constable Publishers, Constable and Company Limited, 3 The Lanchesters, 162 Fulham Palace Road, London W6 9ER

* * *

Many of the quotes within this book are from personal interviews with the author. As mentioned in the acknowledgments, another major source for this book has been Soldier of Fortune magazine. In the environment of condemnation and accusation that existed immediately after the Vietnam War, SOF was the only national forum in which Vietnam veterans could attain some degree of closure by writing of their experiences in a sympathetic and nonjudgmental environment.

I would ask those who would prejudge this material as “mindless machismo” to observe the true nature of these narratives. Many of these veterans tell of instances in which they did not kill the enemy even when they had every reason and justification to do so; and many tell of the shock and trauma associated with having killed, and the guilt and anguish which followed their experiences. I want to thank Colonel (retired) Alex McColl, at Soldier of Fortune, for his support and assistance in using these quotes (a detailed listing of which can be found in the bibliography) and I would like to thank all of the authors of these and every other work quoted in this book, and all of those whom I have had the privilege to interview as a part of this study. This book — indeed this entirely new field of study, which I have termed killology — would not be possible were it not for those who have gone before us, the veterans and authors on whose shoulders this study stands.

Index

A

acceptance, of killing. See rationalization and acceptance, of killing

accountability. See comrades, accountability to

acute combat reaction, 36

aggravated assault, 299-301

aggression

• absence of empathy and, 182-83

• distance, effect of, 97

• emotional withdrawal and, 160

• facing, 61-62, 76-78, 81

• genetic predisposition for, 181, 182

• in Nazi death camps, 78-79

• obedience and, 141-43

• patterns of, 6, 181

• resistance to engaging in, 54, 76-78

• response to, 5-16

• sex and, 134-37

• training for, 319. See also conditioning

aggressive psychopaths. See psychopaths, aggressive

Airborne, U.S. Army, 68

air combat. See pilots

Air Force, U.S., 30, 182

Alexander, General, 85

Alexander the Great, 12-13, 120, 128-29

ambush patrols, 60-61, 196-99

amnesia, 46

Anderson, R. B., 236

Andrade, D., 282

Angell, Norman, 33

animal response patterns, 5-6

anonymity, effect of, 151-53

anxiety states, 47

Appel, J. W., 52

Arab-Israeli War, 43

archetypes, behavioral, 184, 340-41

Arendt, Hannah, 207

Army, U.S., 34, 35, 68, 82, 189, 253, 255. See also Army Rangers, U.S.

• Air Corps, 30, 181

• fear acceptable in, 53

• Special Forces, 68, 129, 257

Army Life pamphlet, 53

Army magazine, 34, 35

Army Rangers, U.S., 67-68, 71

• knife-kill training, 129

• POW treatment, training in, 204

• in Somalia, 258

Arnold, Tracy, 132

artillery, 11, 27, 57-58, 59, 80, 97, 107-08

assassins, 160, 306-07

atomic bombs, 99, 102, 108, 331

atrocities, 105, 263

• in Congo, 217-21

• defined, 194