The third chapter focuses on the emotional distance between soldiers and their target or enemies. Soldiers face four main emotional factors when on the battle front. They should ensure that they do not have any form of emotional attachment to their enemies. The emotional factors include moral, cultural, mechanical or social. Keeping emotional distance ensures that the soldiers have no sympathy when fulfilling their duties. a soldier who keeps emotional and physical distance from his target is better placed to kill than one who has close emotional or physical distance.
Using examples of soldiers who took part in the World War II and the Vietnam War, the author explains how soldiers can be affected emotionally by experiences in the battle field. Soldiers experience social obstacles as a result of emotional influence. When a soldier is close to the enemy either physically or emotionally, they become weak and sympathetic. The author believes that keeping away from physical or emotional contact with enemies is the best way to ensure soldiers remain ruthless. Soldiers who later identify the people they killed become emotional and even regret their actions.
Soldiers must keep moral distance by focusing on their objective rather than morality. If a soldier keeps thinking how bad it is to kill, they will end up letting the enemies flee. The soldier may even be killed by the enemy. Cultural distance must also be kept. This is by avoiding practices and beliefs of the enemy. If the soldier believes in the cultural procedures of the enemy, they could start observing taboos and beliefs of the enemy. There should be no mechanical link with enemies as this will create leaking of information. This could result in the enemy using the soldier’s tricks to kill him instead.
Therefore, this chapter gives an account of the emotional distance aspect on soldiers. Soldiers must keep away from their target enemies. There should be a clear gap in cultural, social, moral and mechanical distance between soldiers and enemies.
Works Cited
Grossman, Dave. On Killing. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1996.
