On Killing

• See also executions of civilians. See civilians, close- range killing of

• remorse for, 236-37

Cold Harbor, Battle of, 25-27

combat addiction, 234-36

combat simulators, 177-78

commandos, 129, 180

compulsive states, 47

comrades, accountability to, 149-51, 152-53, 173, 233. See also bonding; peer pressure

comrades, recent loss of, 179, 189, 330, 342

concentration camps. See Nazi concentration camps

condemnation, of Vietnam veterans, 250, 276-80, 288-89, 290

conditioning. See also drill, military

• for ambush or raid patrols, 61

• of assassins, 161, 306-07

• authority, role of, 260-61, 303, 314,319

• effectiveness of, 257-59, 341

• for hand-to-hand combat, 132, 190

• to increase firing rate, 18, 35, 177-79, 181, 189, 233

• to increase firing rates, 334

• post-traumatic stress disorder and, 283-84, 291

• posturing, effect on, 13

• in Vietnam era, 178, 250, 252-55

• violence in U.S. and, 302-03, 306-16, 325

confusional states, 45-46

Congo, atrocities in, 217-21

Conrad, Joseph, 214, 342

conscientious objectors, 1, 25, 29

continuous combat, 43-45, 48, 84

• exhaustion and, 69

• fraternization with enemy during, 158-60

Contras, 14, 224

conversion hysteria, 46-47

convulsive attacks, 46

cooldown period, 271-73, 285-86, 293

Cooper, Jeff, 207

courage, 83-84, 224

cowardice, 31, 84

Cramer, Chuck, 254

crew-served weapons, 153, 340. See also artillery; bomber crews

Crimean War, 122, 144

Crook, General, 12

cult killings, 210, 211

cultural distance, 158, 160-64, 188, 190, 209

Custer’s cavalry, 57

D

darkness, effect of, 72, 169, 172

Davidson, S., 335

Dearden, Harold, 200

death

• empowerment through, 206

• instinct (Thanatos), 37, 332

• obsession with, 47

democracies, 340

Dengler, Dieter, 117

denial, 137, 237, 279

• of atrocities, 211-13, 215

• cracks in veil of, 156-58

• in executions, 201

• by firing squads, 343

• by leaders, 148

• of mass murders, 209

• of midrange killing, 111-12

• as response to killing, 91-93

• social distance and, 168

denial defense mechanisms, 255-56, 260, 261

depression, 84-85, 149, 150

desensitization, 161, 256, 307-08

• Vietnam era, 161, 251-52, 259-60, 304

• violence in U.S. and, 261, 304, 311, 328

Detmer, Douglas, 278, 280

Devereux, James, 147

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III-R), 77, 84, 182, 282, 340

Dilulio, John J., 301

Dinter, E., 92, 149

Disraeli, Benjamin, 339

distance, effect of, 97-99, 188-89, 341

• American violence and, 303

• emotional distance, 98, 156-70, 303

• in executions, 201

• face of victim as factor in, 128

• physical distance. See physical distance, effect of

divorce, effect of, 290, 291, 322, 345

Douhet, Giulio, 55

Doyle, Edward, 197

Dresden, firebombing of, 101

drill, military, 17-18, 20, 24, 27

drill sergeants, 190, 317-19

drug use

• American violence and, 303, 304

• by Vietnam veterans, 290, 345

• in Vietnam War, 269, 270-71, 345

DSM-III-R. See Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III-R)