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Originally Posted by Raellus
I've said it before, but the above is where I think you are failing to factor in the human element of combat fatigue and homesickness. You're looking at this more than like an accountant, and less like a psychologist/sociologist.
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But the human element is not a constant factor, it does not affect everyone the same. From my prospective combat fatigue is vastly over blown, I think mostly due to Hollywood and the media. Based on my personal experience I have served closely with about 1000 or so, and can count on one hand the number that have moderate to severe combat fatigue, and maybe another handful that have minor. So like I said I think it is very over blown, as my personal experience puts it at about 1% (am I am willing to say that it could be higher, but nothing like what you see from media).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raellus
As I've already mentioned elsewhere, desertion was a big issue for the U.S. military in the ETO during WWII, despite cultural barriers and no realistic way of getting back to the States (don't believe me, check out Charles Glass' The Deserters). It was an even bigger problem during the American Civil War when both sides fought much closer to home. If you haven't already watched it, you should check out the movie, Free State of Jones.
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I am not sure that the cultural barriers were that big in the ETO during WWII, German has been one of the major places that immigrants to the US came from, so for a lot of troops it was not that major of a cultural barrier but the culture of their parents (or grandparents).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raellus
Come on, now. If you hadn't seen your family in [up to] four years, and hadn't heard from them in nearly as long, you would stay in camp and prepare to redeploy to God-knows-where simply because your unit "arrived intact, under orders and still disciplined" and your CO ordered you to? Well, you might answer yes to that question, but I think a lot of people would answer, "Heck no. I've given my country x years of my young adulthood, risked my life, killed, and seen my buddies blown away. The least they can do is let me go see if my family is OK. If they don't, well then, screw 'em. Let somebody else take a turn at the front line. I'm leaving. Let them try to stop me."
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This is the much more tricky one I think, more so for Guard and Reserve units, who I could see really wanting to go home, but an active duty unit that if still in good spirits more willing to hold to the party line, even more if they are being sent to there pre-deploment home base area.