Chapter five focuses on the aggressive nature of soldiers on the battle front. The author explains how the World War ii was fought and how modern day soldiers conduct their war activities. According to the author, there are three factors that determine the aggressiveness or killer instinct of soldiers. Soldiers can be classified into avengers, natural killers and conditioned killers. The predisposition of killers depends on recent experiences, temperament and training.
Training soldiers to kill is common in modern day because people have careers as soldiers. These people are conditioned to kill. Therefore, they are taught various methods of killing and fighting. Most killers are conditioned killers.
Predisposition of killers could also be due to recent experiences. Soldiers could kill their victims as revenge on behalf of their relative or friends. Soldiers could have lost their kin in a recent attack. Therefore, they target to kill their victims as a way of avenging for their lost loved ones. These soldiers are called avenger killers because they kill on behalf of someone else.
Finally, there are natural killer soldiers whose will to kill is in-born. There are few people of this kind. In fact, only 2 percent of the soldiers are natural killers. These soldiers are temperamental on the battlefield. They enjoy killing their target as a hobby. They are naturally aggressive, and derive satisfaction from conquering physical obstacles.
This chapter addresses the issue of aggressive predisposition of killers by classifying them into three main categories. Avenger killers kill because of recent experiences; conditioned soldiers kill because they are conditioned to kill. Temperamental soldiers kill because they like it.
Works Cited
Grossman, Dave. On Killing. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1996.
