Player characters attitudes and sanity, How do you play it?

[Badbru]

I've just finished reading "Sniper One" by Sgt Dan Mills formerly of The Princess of Wales Royal Regiment, Y company, sniper platoon. I was struck by how he describes everyone, enjoying (perhaps not the best descriptor) the combat.
The universal feeling was finally as professional soldiers we get a chance to do what we were trained for, and they loved it.

Also in the book he makes passing reference to a particular attack in which a civillian was (most likely, he never confirms it) killed. The local chap was riding a bicycle past their compound as it was under attack and was caught in a mortar blast. The blast threw him from his bike and when he picked himself up, Mills describes him as having caught several schrapnel wounds the worst of which had completely severed a leg. The guy hobbles over to it, picks it up, and is last seen hobbling off down an alley with his leg tucked under his arm leaving a dreadfull blood trail.
Quite an horrific thing for most to see I'd imagine. I can write about it but I'm personally not sure that's an image I'd want to witness. He states he noted at the time that it didn't particularly bother him. Later when he mentions it again it's when he talks of phone calls home and he's wondering how you tell someone so far away, (in every respect) that you saw a guys leg blown off the other day and what's more you weren't particularly bothered by it.

This aspect of the book, that the men there revelled in the experience reminded me of a doco I have on Afganistan called "Restrepo". In that, some of the troops are asked about the adrenalin high of combat. Most refer to it as the ultimate drug. I recall one guys expression totally changed, he went all somber as he thought about it and asked the interviewer something like "How do I go home from this?" "What can possibly come close?"

In contrast to this alot of what I see on boards like this one, and past discussions with T2K players is the old war is hell, the war's over and everyone lost, it's dismal, bleak etc etc everyone is downtrodden and broken.
No-one is going to be gung ho we all just want to go home etc etc and now I'm left kinda wondering which is more apt. I'm currently playing in an online game and one part of char gen is to describe aspects of the characters personality such as Loyalty, Sanity and Piety etc. Most players apear to have pegged those last two fairly low but I'm wondering if there is not still the likelihood of soldiers still getting off on it all, so to speak?

So to those who still play or GM this game, How do you play it?