If any question why we died tell them because our fathers lied.

—Rudyard Kipling (learning that his son died on the Western Front)

They were frustrated by what they expected to do and could not do and horrified by what they were sure they would never do and then began to do. They grew to respect and even admire the enemy, but they went on killing him – and took satisfaction from it. They loved and longed for their families but grew to resent and to distrust and to want to punish many at home. They became more and more reliant on their comrades – and then watched them die. They yearned for the end of the war, never realizing that it would truly end for them only years later, when they surrendered the war they had fought to the war civilian society insisted they had fought.

—Gerald Linderman

Battle takes a toll on the mind and body. Physical recovery after battle is straightforward and the requirements are relatively easy to understand—heal the wounded, get rest, and reconstitute the equipment. Mental recovery, however, is more complex. What happens inside the warrior’s head and heart after combat is as varied as the human brain. People start re-writing what happened inside their head as soon as the smoke clears—if not before. Leaders have a role to play in helping their warriors bounce back from intense combat, especially after the unit suffers losses. Coming to grips with the reality that the warrior has killed is part of coping. Some warriors never come to grips with such realities, and some continue to have physical reactions to unpleasant memories (post-traumatic stress). Grossman estimates that psychological casualties far outnumber physical casualties. Leaders need to know how to foster psychological coping while policy-makers need to understand the costs of ordering men and women to kill and be killed for a political objective