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From: rbowman <bowman@montana.com>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Re: The joy of actual numbers, was Democracy
Date: 2 Nov 2024 05:48:10 GMT
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On Fri, 01 Nov 2024 16:14:20 -1000, Lynn Wheeler wrote:

> US in the two wars exhausted an enormous stockpile of .50 caliber, some
> dating back to ww2. I asked some people involved and they said that
> policy was "suppressing fire" ... at slightest provocation until
> ammunition was exhausted ... keeping enemy heads down and minimizing
> returned fire.

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/hope_on_the_battlefield

This is a short article by Dave Grossman. He has also written a couple of 
books like'On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in 
War and in Peace' and ' Warrior Mindset: Mental Toughness Skills for a 
Nation's Peacekeepers'.

He draws on Marshall, whose study of WWII troop effectiveness is 
controversial and other sources. The basic premise is many soldiers are 
very reluctant to put their sights on a living human and shoot to kill. 
Marshall claimed only 25% of the troops even fired their weapons which 
critics say if improbable. Much harder to pin down is how many fire in the 
general direction of the enemy. Like the technique of only one live round 
for a firing squad they would rather not know if they killed anyone.

Historically snipers weren't very popular. Their effectiveness was 
appreciated but the job description is 'cold-blooded killer'. Grossman 
goes into some of the modern desensitization techniques to train soldiers 
to do what they are supposed to do and how to handle the fallout.