>you wonder how anyone could go into that They Shall Not Grow Old sheds some visceral light on this — soldiers are very intentionally funneled through a proces

>you wonder how anyone could go into that They Shall Not Grow Old sheds some visceral light on this — soldiers are very intentionally funneled through a process taking them from normal life to the front line in a way that makes the next step the natural, logical thing to do in that situation, and by the time the full gore of the front line fighting is realized, they are partially acclimated to it, and partially pushed from behind into the melee. It’s a calculated psychological trip.