You'll never get over the fear of dying. Its only human to consider that as a possible outcome of deploying on combat operations.

That said there are things that aid in your survival. You training, those along side you, your equipment and the rest of the support in place to enable operations. I have served for 17 years now, including 3 tours of afghan. My 1st tour was by far the "hottest" one and i was wounded. It seems strange to say, but at the time, your not aware of your mortality. You just do what you have too.

the old saying "the training kicked in" does have some truth to it.

That will be off putting for some and thats fine, there are hundreds of other roles that do not evolve direct combat.

19 September, 2025 07:08