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Erick Mead wrote:
Well, like Hillman, I was not making a statistical argument -- you threw out some numbers toward one end of spectrum and I threw out some countering numbers toward the other end, and there is not simple statistical case to be made on this issue -- which was my only point.
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Actually there is and with all due respect a couple of folks have made it...
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There is a psychological case -- and that is where mythical thoughts have application, for Ueshiba as for Hillman. Humans may be trainable but they are never tame.
Do men fight for facts? They will fight for lies. They will fight for love. But they only really fight for lies about love, so ultimately-- only love is worth fighting for.
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Actually survival is a more powerful instinct than love on the battlefield, and altruism among soldiers is the realization that one has a better chance of survival with the others so they combine their efforts. The stresses of modern combat and combat training create and solidify this bond. Personally I am still very close with a number of Rangers I served with though I've never experienced combat myself.
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I like Keegan -- particularly "Mask of Command." I am fond of Victor Hanson as well... Tolkien obviously (on fighting "the long defeat"), not to mention S.M. Stirling -- the latter two , not history of course -- but strong on the mythic mode in modern terms of stories about war itself as a human endeavour vice simply stage dressing for other drama or storytelling.
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Not sure where you're going with this other than to point out certain Western Romantic Myths about combat?
William Hazen