Just as Grossman sees the need for addressing the post-combat backlash right way, so does he see the need for training to address these physical manifestations and distortions before they occur in battle. He says that this can be controlled for through training. One specific issue Grossman raises and that occupies much of his thinking concerns the act of killing and the fact that this is not something that comes naturally to most people. In combat, though, it is a necessity in order to survive. Grossman asks how we find such men to do combat, and here he talks about much of the training that is given to these men. That training involves combat itself, of course, but it also involves finding ways to react to stress and fear. Grossman speaks here to those who train soldiers more than to the soldiers themselves and tells those trainers how to react to their students and how to convey as much of the reality of combat to them as possible. Ultimately, those, they will only understand once they themselves have been in combat. Grossman offers examples not only from military combat but from spending time with and talking to police officers, men who also face danger and know the meaning of combat and how it affects them and other officers.

The trained soldier is one who needs three things to survive in combat: "the weapon, the skill, and the will to kill" (155). Grossman discusses how the...

Grossman is quite honest about the process and about the meaning of combat and killing, noting that "strange elations can come from the act of killing" (162). Grossman notes this from observing "how people respond to what is one of the most significant acts one human being can do to another" (163). Much of the rest of the book is taken up with considering how combs is approached and what it does to those who participate in it.
Grossman's book is directed both at those who train soldiers and at the young soldiers themselves. What he ahs to say clearly affects the young "warrior" and shows him what sort of response he is likely to make, how he will feel, how he can inoculate himself against some of the bad responses he may make, and so on. Grossman has been in combat, and he is able to show the young soldier what combat is like and how different it is from the romanticized image the soldier may have from movies and stories about war. He points out some of the problems that may develop and so helps the young soldier recognize when one of these problems is developing. His advice can be very helpful to the neophyte and may also help clarify issues for the veteran who needs to understand what he went through.

Works Cited

Grossman, Dave. On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace. PPCT Research, 2004.