by Michael Easter

Created on: September 04, 2008

Are young people less courageous than three decades ago? That is a question without a definite scientific answer. How does one measure courage? I believe the implied question here is, "are our young soldiers of today any more courageous than the young men who fought in Vietnam". I was born a short twenty-seven years ago, barely missing the expanse of time discussed here. All I know is stories told by my uncle and grandfather, both of whom served in Vietnam. My own experiences involving the courage of today's young people comes from my time served in the army and fifteen month deployment to Iraq as an Infantry Rifle Team Leader.

As stated above, I don't believe this is a question that can be answered in manner of fact. Any writer discussing this topic would be subject to his own perspective and opinions. I didn't lead soldiers in to the jungles of Vietnam, but I lead them in to the desert and steppes of Iskandaria and on to the streets of Baghdad. As a testament to the courage of today's young person, I hesitate to say that I lead anyone. There were a small handful of situations where I feel I met the courageous standard of my shakiest young soldier, not that I was much older.
In truth, I do not believe there is a difference in the level of courage present in the young men of three decades ago and those of today. Most people equate courage with bravery in the face of battle or overt physical conflict. I would have to disagree. Any person who has ever felt the heat of combat would tell you that courage was a small factor of what they experienced. Courage is something spoken of after the fact. All human beings, when placed in a threatening situation will respond in one of three ways; fight, flee, or freeze. In the military, we train young men to muscle memory to overcome the flee or freeze responses. The mind may scream out, but the body will respond in a programmed manner it is familiar with.
That is not to say that courage is not a factor in combat. It takes courage to raise your hand when you enlist. It takes a large amount of courage to take that first step on to the plane. It takes real courage to continue serving after experiencing the horrors of war. One might argue that, since our entire military is composed of volunteers, rather than a largely conscripted force we saw three decades ago, the soldiers of today are showing more courage. Also, since training was undeniably more intense and soldiers were drilled in a much stricter manner, more of the refusal

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