Modern Tactics in the Moral Domain: Smart Weapons and the Production of the Combat Stress Reaction

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Abstract : This monograph discusses offensive indirect fire tactics and their relationship to extreme fear responses. It examines the nature and causes of a specific, immediate, and debilitating fear response called the Combat Stress Reaction (CSR). Observations about how and why CSR occurs are based on U.S., Israeli, and Soviet sponsored psychological research reported in Section I of the monograph. The monograph then examines historical examples of panic under indirect fire. The examples are from the Battle of the Somme in World War 1, 1916, and in World War 11, Guderian's breakthrough at Sedan 1940, the Vistula- Oder Campaign in 1945, and the fall of Berlin in 1945. Anecdotes characterizing individual experiences under fire also contribute to the historical analysis. Analysis of the historical accounts shows that specific features of weapons and specific tactics accompany panic and other fearful responses to indirect fire. The monograph takes the principles derived from the psychological and historical research and proposes tactics, techniques, and design characteristics for smart weapons. It emphasizes increasing the fear-provoking aspects of the delivery without attenuating the intended physical destructiveness of the attack. The analysis proposes specific tactics for the 155mm and Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) Sense and Destroy Armor (SADARM) counterbattery submunition.