Sheepdog Tip of the Day, Before Combat tip 120
The essence of the military is that to be a good leader you must truly love (in a strangely detached fashion) your men, and then you must be willing to kill (or at least give the orders that will result in the deaths of) that which you love. The paradox of war is that those leaders who are most willing to endanger that which they love can be the ones who are most liable to win, and therefore most likely to protect their men. The social class structure that exists in the military provides a denial mechanism that makes it possible for leaders to order their men to their deaths. But it makes military leadership a very lonely thing.
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing
Sheepdog Tip of the Day services:
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Other killology services:
Bullet Proof Mind for the Armed Citizen Seminar
The Killology web site
Additional Resources
For PTSD, Shepherd Resource Group.