IN the heat of the battle - What does it realy feel like ?

[dacanadianbomb]

I have a question , that at first might seem a bit childish but its something that amazes me and therefor I thought that someone with experience will be able to answer . if you dont want to answer this in a post , pm me .

Before anybody gets all aggressive and flame about it, write me a Pm and we can discuss it there.
Posts like " Well idiot join the army and find out firsthand " are not helpful and will be self ridiculing when one looks at the question maturely and objectively.
This post is not supposed to be a " What does it feel like to shoot someone post " or a analysis of right/wrong in any case.

And please keep it sensible and not to portray hatred against someone else.be it religous, race ******ity or whatever. Clean good discussion.



So here she goes,

When I read through these news articles about troops being attacked here, insurgents getting shot there , IED exploding beside vehicles, RPGs wizzing around the place , it seems so unbelievably sterile and non-dynamic reading it in a post in a internet forum.
It has this strange " as a matter of fact " feeling to it.
I wanted to know what the situation feels like for a person for real, and not just in a news article,
Is it one second everything is ok , next you have rockets and bullets cracking around you, do you shiver, do you have a panic second, is everything clear ? Are you cold , hot or sick? can one see it coming ?, is it a gut feeling?, is an action decision made through instinctive training, or survival instinct? Do you deal with an enemy, pack up and continue on , do you head back to base for reporting after making contact ?

As a non-military no combat experience civilian, it is so far beyond the realm of ones imagination to be able to put these situations into a context that would portray it well enough.



Thanks in advance for interesting posts.

cheers David

[catdat]

I was going to leave this alone but I'll make a couple of short comments. Don't expect too many vets to respond. I don't know what the % of people here with combat ops exp is - even 7 out of 10 Actice Duty are not Combat Arms so it's a small % that fight.

Every situation and every MOS has a different perspective. A dat like me is not going to have the same experience as a grunt. An Ambush is not going to be similiar to recce.

Movement to Contact - not fun.

Combat - adrenaline and training.

That's all I'm going to say about it.
catdat

[incubz5]

Accounts in battle vary depending on the individual and the circumstances. I read mostly books written by former Special Forces soldiers and they their accounts of battle tend to be very professional, very get-the-job-done, and they keep their wits about them.

Probably the best account of a modern battle that will give you a sense of what it feels like is Mark Bowden's "Blackhawk Down." Bowden interviewed scores of SF soldiers that were in that ill-fated raid and his book was put together from their account of that day. It's online for free and you can read it here:

http://inquirer.philly.com/packages/somalia/sitemap.asp

There is fear but also adrenaline. The time goes by fast. There is a surreal nature to it (how could there not be??). That's what one gathers from the book. You'll see. Read it.

[dacanadianbomb]

Thanks for your replies. I can see the problem you are describing with the threadstarting post catdat . I am sure every situation is different and person-dependant. Could it be that people then with prolonged fighting experience , just simply dont like to talk about it, or cant due to restrictions on what they are allowed to talk about? ( OPSEC its called I think ) ?

Maybe a question relating to types of actions would be fruitfull like for isntance " What type of operation do you dislike the most - Search and Destroy type, Nights , Patrols ?" or something like that ?

incubz5 - I read a large part of that in ' 99 while at Brock university , online. The whole thing seemed to have that kind of effect, it sounded like complete and utter chaos but with some surreal kind of composure by the peolpe involved.Kind of like that " matter of fact " feeling I described before.

[1Cie GevGn]

I think it's different for everyone, + depends on the situation and all that. I also think you'll find it very hard to get an accurate description of it, it's one of those things you can only describe once you've expirienced them.

Just my opinion

[dacanadianbomb]

I agree with your opinion, thats why I asked for people with experience to answer.

[JiJoMacLE45]

"It feels like warm apple pie!"

[dacanadianbomb]

Good one chief.

[Obergefreiter]

Movement to Contact - not fun.

Combat - adrenaline and training.

That's all I'm going to say about it.
catdat

That is about how I would put it.

[Tane Angle]

Hormone cocktail-fear, adrenaline, more fear, anger. Some things that I don't know if there are words to describe. And sometimes it's not quite autopilot, but training kicks in, and it's just functions, not really noticing the rest.