Read this article which is floating about.
http://www.mediumdifficulty.com/2012/03/01/call-of-apathy-violent-young-men-and-our-place-in-war/

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Disclaimer: I am not an academic. I have no education past the age of 16, so my writing may be rough. What I do have is an entire adulthood of military service, which I terminated recently when I decided I wanted more money for doing the same job. I am a private military contractor, and I have an issue with the depiction of war in videogames — or more specifically, the soldiers in those games.

Its an interesting & actually disturbing article & I was thinking how fitting it was too the descriptions in this article on PSC's from 2004.
http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ0304-MAR_IRAQ#ixzz1C0PG2qRG

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About a hundred yards into Iraq, we stopped to pick up weapons. A half dozen Kurds in white Citroë ns met us in a trash-strewn lot just over the border from Kuwait. They were unloading the guns onto the trunk of one of their cars as we pulled up. The pile amounted to a small armory: German MP5 submachine guns, AK-47's newly liberated from the Iraqi army, 9mm Beretta pistols, and dozens of magazines of ammunition. Just a few feet away, American soldiers stood by the side of the highway directing convoys of fuel trucks heading north. They must have noticed the cluster of men in plain clothes arming themselves with automatic weapons. They didn't acknowledge it. No one demanded to see our identification or weapons permits. No one even asked what we were doing. By local standards, what we were doing was normal. Only a moron drives to Baghdad unarmed. There were no morons in our convoy. These were American civilian contractors, employees of one of the private security companies the U.S. government has hired to pacify and reconstruct postwar Iraq. The group was led by Kelly McCann, a forty-five-year-old former marine officer and security expert who also works as an analyst for CNN. McCann and I have been friendly for a couple of years. When I asked him what exactly civilian contractors were doing in Iraq, a subject about which there has been much speculation but relatively few published facts, he offered to show me.

I call bullshit on the first article, personally. Sounded exactly like the sort of thing Call of Duty players and Walter Mitty characters want to hear 'all front line soldiers are psychopaths' .. Shh.. It's a secret. And written by an anonymous source from 'Special Forces' (rolls eyes).

As for the second article, it's a magazine - written to the audience the author of the first article lectures about. They seem to contradict each other a bit.

I think at the end of the day you just have to go by the most reliable source on things like this.

My first hand experience of highly trained killers led me to believe that they are people just like the rest of us, not 'sociopaths'. In my own mind, you may well be a man capable of shooting someone in the face from a few feet away, and have done a few times (or many), but it's horses for courses.. When you go to the pub or walk to the SPAR to get some milk you aren't wearing your gear, carrying a gun, and haven't gone through the long and short term 'rituals' that you did when you killed someone.

I might be talking out of my arse, that's just my theory.

When I dishonourably quit the army I was marched about by a Corporal and he was very emotional (i.e. upset and not far off tears) because he thought that my backing out demonstrated what civilians thought of the people that do the dirty work - He felt very unappreciated and not worth much (in monetary or professional terms). This is a hard man who was a total cunt to the recruits and had earnt the right. Like I said, horses for courses.

Regarding psychopaths in the military, I'm sure there are a few, perhaps. However I read in a recent book that they don't make good soldiers for a few reasons, and that struck me as likely. Naturally I'd presume only team players make it into the Armed Forces, with like I said a few exceptions.


Edit: I've no doubt as well that a lot, if not all, soldiers that kill learn to enjoy or celebrate the killing. It's essentially revenge, isn't it? At the very least, I'd presume you'd have some satisfaction knowing that there's no way that he's coming back..

Wether your thoughts change after the passage of time is another question though.

I feel much the same way as Mike.

I'm no expert either BTW. I'm under no illusions that my brief period of service has given me tons of insight into this area.

In fact, I feel a bit silly even talking about this subject. For the reasons above and below!..

I think anybody writing about the dirty stuff will smell like a walt to be honest. Even if he's been there. I mean here's this guy trying to be all gritty and keeping in real... and his words still reek of drama queen. If only because he's taken the time to get all expressive about the subject... which in theory a true 'sociopath'' i'm-just-in-it-for-the-killing soldier wouldn't do. Because he'd be too busy doing something violent, surely? Or sworn to secrecy etc.

And something to bear in mind is that he appears to be American (although he used the word 'bum' in the British context!). There are fundamental differences in the American and British soldier's mentality IMHO. So one man's take is not expressive of all soldiers.

There are sociopaths who serve, for sure. But I would imagine there are degrees of sociopathy and that these tendancies can change over time. Because as Mike said, a true full blown psycho wouldn't get on very well in the standard military environment at all. Perhaps in certain unspoken areas of what has come to be known as 'black ops', ( ) being a bit of a loner and weirdo is a plus. But to get there one would have had to pass through all the regular military stuff. There are no Billy-no-mates in the military, esp the Army. They don't get past basic training IMO.

I didn't read the second article properly Matt, but I did notice Jim Grover mentioned in there

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long and short term 'rituals' that you did when you killed someone.

Can you elaborate?

Lastly, I've come to believe that there can be a relatively normal person who does actually care about other people (albeit, certain people) and things (certain topics, animals etc), but happens to just fucking love violence in the same way some people love football.

Gotcha. Good point

Boxer puts on handwraps, Infantryman puts on 4 tourniquets.. Depressing comparison but there ya go!

Talking of the pre-emptive placing of tourniquets... we were having a lesson once where the Cpl was talking about this. One recruit asks...

"Would it be wise to put one around your neck for head and neck wounds?"

Then just as the sentence finished leaving his mouth he realized what the fuck he'd just said and facepalmed himself as we started cracking up