On Killing

After my post on Sua Sponte the other day, a classmate recommended that I look into On Killing by Col Dave Grossman.

She wrote about how this book took a look at Korean War era soldiers and their having to get themselves into the psychological state necessary to fight a war. It would be an interesting subject. 

I'll definitely have to go look into On Killing some time. It sounds intriguing. The Korean War is one of the areas I focus on when I read for fun. The last one I read was by Hamptom Sides' On Desperate Ground (see HERE) which I couldn't put down. 

Regarding her discussion about silhouettes for target practice, I remember the first time I was confronted with a silhouette of a human target. For years I hunted with my grandfather in south texas and the only targets we ever used were paper bullseyes with black round circles, and concentric circles expanding out. Very sterile but utilitarian. 

In the Army, there were human silhouettes and that was a shocker for me. It brought the reality of the job into focus quickly, and over time it became a natural part of our work. It will be interesting to check out On Killing for that reason alone, to compare it to my own life experiences.