Question for those who've seen action.

[3rd Horseman]

Prep H

  From my experience all are jittery before going in, if you are not scared then you are not functioning in the right frame of mind to fight your first battle. I found that as my experience in battle increased I became more aware of what to fear and not as I found out what all the sounds and sights mean. Some mean extreme danger some mean ignore it too far away to hurt me. I also found that as I became more battle hardend I sometimes became fearless and a little recless. This I found to be the precursor to Cbt Stress. I found that once I became completely free of fear I became dangerous to the En (goodthing) and to myself and team (badthing).
On my deployment we had a soldier within our team who was deploying for a 3rd time, your exact question came up to him as it was our first time. He called a meeting and sat us all down and discribbed what it was like the first time. In a nut shell he said, we are all scared, you will loose complete control of yourself for only a moment the first time you are effectively engaged, then you will switch to the drills and all will be just fine.  He was right.
I can remember one very poignant time when we had been fighting for some days and things were not looking very good for us. We were outnumbered cut off from friendlies and running low on all the needs. During a night battle we found ourselves being encircled and the EN was closing in for the kill. When the fire was effective and I felt the wave of fear falling over me I looked around at our small group and saw everyone fully involved with great intensity trying to do there very best. One of the soldiers looked back at me and smiled that was all I needed to push the wave away and concentrate on my drills for I knew I was not alone. Later in the battle I glanced to my flank and oddly enough the soldier to my other side was looking at me the same way I looked at the other soldier, I smiled at him and he went back to the drills I am assuming that glance pushed the fear away. In closing these are the notes I wrote in my field message pad that night. On leadership in battle, it is the management of fear that is most important not that you fear, just that you control it. In particular the team must be able to see that all is OK even if it is not. The presences of a leader during the most intense period of the battle is Paramount to success. Look them in the eye, kind smile, funny comment and fear that could envelope the unit falls away. This same theory works for all levels so firing teams need to be in close contact to give that smiley smirk in a glance to reassure.

My 2 cents

 

[3rd Horseman]

I've never been to the Ghan, Then hearing your section commander yell "Rapid fire!" then the beautiful "Cling, Cling" of your bolt slamming the buffer spring to the back of the stock followed by an empty casing ricocheting off the casing deflector and spinning out into the dusty air.

The first part of your post was good, but the part I note above me thinks you have seen too many war movies with the battle scenes played in slow mo. You don't hear the sound of your rifle since the sound of battle is so loud, you don't see your casing cause your eyes are on your sight picture looking for the next kill before you get killed. By the end you have such pain in the the eyes from the strain you think you got something in them and your head is ringing from the noise.

 

[RHFC_piper]

The presences of a leader during the most intense period of the battle is Paramount to success. Look them in the eye, kind smile, funny comment and fear that could envelope the unit falls away. This same theory works for all levels so firing teams need to be in close contact to give that smiley smirk in a glance to reassure.

This is the type of info that is invaluable to soldiers facing combat deployment.  When put into practice, this will save lives and effect the battle as much as any other SOP/TTP employed by a fighting unit.

Good post. 

Just from my own experience, I'd say I have to agree 100%.  When deployed (and in pre-deployment) you will learn to rely on you section/platoon/troop more than you ever have before. Not only for fire support, but also for moral support.  I believe it is important for the leadership of these organizations to foster this in all the soldiers in their command.  Confidence is key; confidence not only in you and your groups training and combat abilities, but also in thier ability to provide moral support. 

When the unfortunate, but inevitable occures, and a member of the group is lost, it will be your peers and leadership that you'll turn to for support, and they will be turning to you.  The same will occure in battle.  There's no one else out there for you to turn to in your time of need, just your military family.

You don't hear the sound of your rifle since the sound of battle is so loud, you don't see your casing cause your eyes are on your sight picture looking for the next kill before you get killed. By the end you have such pain in the the eyes from the strain you think you got something in them and your head is ringing from the noise.

Again, I agree.

I went through 6 mags without ever noticing an empty casing or buffer spring.  I hardly noticed the Mag changes.  All my concentration was on the guys 20 m away pointing their weapons at me, the sound of bullets zipping past, and the incoming fire from our support elements.

 

[KevinB]

RHFC -- which is why a lot of guys in their first few TIC's will 1) run thru move ammo than they normal would 2) suffer from tunnel vision and miss a large part of the battle (sometime to the point of being flank by guys just meters away).

Keep training - I've seen a number of people become blaise about it -- and this is people who should know better.  A few gunfights does not not a gunfighter make --

 

[reddevilsrock]

morning all,

quite a thread eh? many have said it before but being in it is the only way to know. After last summer however, you will be happy to know all of our guys have done very well. While the people we are helping run away we run into it. The first time you see tracers at night coming your way your pucker factor increases tenfold. best 3 recommendations a guy could give would be is to triple your frontline, cover everybodies butt. from the gate and back is always the worst times and when you think you have enough water you never do. squirrel as much away as you or your car can carry. if you have seen that propaganda movie blackhawk down. do not ever thin out your kit. all of my guys were thrust into it about may last year. like someone said, follow your training and protect your fire team and breath. somebody else said a couple of tics doesn't make you a gunfighter but it let's you know your in it. as well, stay frosty it'll help

 

[Can-american]

I may be able to offer some advice as the sandbox and I are good friends at this point in time, you wonder about fire? Sometimes when I hear this question I grit my teeth as it is the same question people ask "Have you ever killed someone" I play first person shooter games (that is why I stay away from them) and what I like to call "Blackhawk down syndrome"  How you will react has nothing to to do but with the comfort you feel as an individual and it truly is a baptism by fire.  There is train up before you go, but firing blank rounds or a live fire round is nothing to what you shall experience.  Live fire drills are great, everyone shifts fire when they are supposed to and errors are corrected.  You have to have the confidence not to be rattled, that you can only find in you and at that point you are expected no matter what rank to stand above others so they can find strength in you.  Winston Churchill said "Never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter."  Only you will know because it will humble you when you are truly there only the people never seeing those scars of incident will brag. Take care Can-Am

 

[Fusaki]

A good book to check out is On Combat by Dave Grossman. I got it off amazon.com.

The book talks about the psychological and physiological effects of combat. To be forewarned is to be forearmed, after all. I don't agree with everything Grossman says, but he's bang on 90% of the time.

 

[Stewpid]

Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it. I haven t been in the recent fighting. However In yugo 92,we came under fire from the get go,  by artillery and the first thing i noticed was the every man for himself mentallity that prevailed for the first little while. This bothered me a bit. This was not what I was taught. Mind you before this except for maybe Cyprus 74 there was not too many people in the CF that had this experience. We learned a lot in a short amount of time on the fly. I dont know if the rest of you concur but the two things that scared me the most was the artlllery because other than ducking there wasnt much you could do and mines, a friend step on a mine that was between my legs (PMA 1 or 3???)... not a scratch on me. all I remember was a flash and black smoke...slow motion. Snipers engaged or hurassed (spelling) us a couple of times,surprisingly for whatever reason didnt make me flinch much (yeah right). We even had flak guns fire at us twice the first time I found this to be cool for the simple fact it was "pretty" at night. It seemed that you could reach out and touch the rounds going past. The second time was at the Zetra centre this time was a bit more hectic and the gun was off of a bigger caliber...oh tank fire was not fun either makes a hellish noise, I swear you could here the barrel off the tank vibrating. Their is an audio tape of our first barrage somewheres out there if someone has it out there pleeeaaasssee get in touch with me. Anyway to the troops who got back well done fellas you make me proud to say that "I am Canadian" and you did an outstanding job and definitely showed those other armies (who shall remain nameless) what soldiering is about. Oh the last int sum I heard says the talibam says you dont fight fair ....hum kind of Ironic I find