โCivilians balk at recognizing that one of the most traumatic things about combat is having to give it up. War is so obviously evil and wrong that the idea there could be anything good to it almost feels like a profanity. And yet throughout history, men like Mac and Rice and O'Byrne have come home to find themselves desperately missing what should have been the worst experience of their lives. To a combat vet, the civilian world can seem frivolous and dull, with very little at stake and all the wrong people in power. These men come home and quickly find themselves getting berated by a rear-base major whoโs never seen combat or arguing with their girlfriend about some domestic issue they donโt even understand. When men say they miss combat, itโs not that they actually miss getting shot at โ youโd have to be deranged โ itโs that they miss being in a world where everything is important and nothing is taken for granted. They miss being in a world where human relations are entirely governed by whether you can trust the other person with your life. Itโs such a pure, clean standard that men can completely remake themselves in war. You could be anything back home โ shy, ugly, rich, poor, unpopular โ and it wonโt matter because itโs of no consequence in a firefight, and therefore of no consequence, period. The only thing that matters is your level of dedication to the rest of the group, and that is almost impossible to fake. That is why the men say such impossibly vulgar things about each otherโs sisters and mothers. Itโs one more way to prove nothing can break the bond between them; itโs one more way to prove theyโre not alone out there.โ-Ernst Junger
