I believe GP and you are talking about two different actors; the individual committing the final act, and the individual rallying others to the cause. The sold

I believe GP and you are talking about two different actors; the individual committing the final act, and the individual rallying others to the cause. The soldier does not have a larger strategy in mind; he kills for simple and extreme reasons. The government however is rarely so naive, and initiates their wars with much larger goals in mind. Even with a dictator, they represent the filtered understanding of many advisors, and balance the many goals of the group (so almost by definition, they cannot sustain a singular goal with singular purpose for long). The individual just needs one reason to do what he does, which might be as simple as “his boss told him to”.