When it comes to the word soldier, what comes to our minds is an image dressed in military uniform and majestic. Most people probably think of the tall image of soldiers on the battlefield who are not afraid of strong enemies and bravely kill enemies. However, not all soldiers are the same as we think. On the battlefield, many soldiers, like ordinary people, will be frightened by the cruelty of war, and the pressure they have to face is unimaginable to us ordinary people.
Soldiers who are "scared silly" by war are also easy for ordinary people to experience "like this".
In the cold weapon period, the opponent's weapons are prepared and guessed where they will come from. In the era of hot weapons, the way of warfare has changed dramatically. Powerful thermal weapons are fired from far away, and soldiers die without even seeing the enemy, which makes the soldier's spirit constantly worry that a shell falling from the sky will deprive him of his life.
Looking at the inexplicable death of their companions around them, and the fear of facing death at all times, many soldiers began to collapse. During the First world war and the second world war, a very large number of soldiers were destroyed by the cruelty on the battlefield, completely lost their normal thinking, and became "fools" in our eyes.
These soldiers, who are frightened by the war, because their eyes are dull, will only look into the distance. The Americans also invented a term: "a thousand yard gaze." It means looking like you're looking at a distance of 1,000 yards.
Even these soldiers with strong willpower, after experiencing the cruelty of war, will be frightened and stupid, if ordinary people experience this, of course, it will be more unbearable, and it is easy to be like soldiers.
The mental disorder caused by war to soldiers was not recognized by various countries until after World War II. In today's technical terms, this mental disorder is called "post-traumatic stress disorder."
What is PTSD?
Post-traumatic stress disorder refers to a mental disorder that causes a person to delay or persist when he has personally experienced a large number of deaths, or is often in the threat of death or serious injury. The symptoms of PTSD are like those of a frightened soldier, with sluggish and numb eyes, fatigue, nightmares, brain confusion and hearing and vision impairment.
I believe that as long as a normal person is threatened by death at all times, no one can always maintain psychological normality, and it is normal for these soldiers to be frightened and lose the ability to think of ordinary people. And such mental trauma was actually very common in World War II.
War is not only very harmful to ordinary people, but also to soldiers who face war. Peace-loving should be a good spiritual quality that everyone and every country must have.