Neurotic Heroes

The 34-year-old rifleman was a mass of twitching nerves. By Army medical standards, he was a plain NP (neuropsychiatric) case. But by G.I. standards he was a very brave soldier. He doggedly slogged his way through three months of bloody action. By the time he finally collapsed in an Army hospital, he was ready to tell his sorry story of shyness, nervousness, worry. Why had he been such a good soldier? "I forced myself to carry on. All my life I obeyed. I couldn't bring myself to disobey."

Neurotics, playing their own warped perspectives against battlefield dangers, often make better-than-adequate soldiers. A few of history's notables--Ivan the Terrible, a manic depressive; Julius Caesar, an epileptic; Alexander the Great, sometimes called the "divine lunatic"; and Peter the Great, who killed his own men in fits of temper--were good soldiers in spite of--or perhaps because of--their mental ills. The Army Medical Corps' Major William Needles has decided that nervous handicaps may act as psychological crutches.

Major Needles made a survey of 200 NP cases. They were all seasoned field soldiers with records of serious emotional instability. All had been in a tough, 60-day stretch of fighting before they finally broke down with battle jitters. Hospitalization let some odd cats out of the. psychic bags: P: A private, a rifle company runner, was a Doubting Thomas. He doubted himself, his friends, his own judgment and abilities. Eventually he stopped caring what happened to him, and acted with exceptional bravery because he began to look on death as a pretty comfortable state. P: A shy, 24-year-old tank destroyer corporal was afraid of cars and girls. But he recognized his defects, read popular articles about psychoneurotics and was determined not to be one. Faith in his church, cheery letters from his sisters, and a firm belief in the strength of his armor plate kept him going until headaches and nervousness got him down. P: A sergeant had nightmares; he also had near-hysteria at the sight of blood. He had known about his condition since youth, and took regular slugs of brandy to quiet his nerves. In a cheerful, half-drunk state, he commanded a tank for two months. P: A soldier who had suffered tantrums as a child hardened up when his brother was killed at his side. Desire for revenge replaced fear, and he lasted until six tanks were shot from under him.

Other soldiers investigated by Major Needles fought on in the hope of death, or believed in their own invulnerability, or feared their parents' and comrades' censure. The Major concluded that no screening process can positively separate mental wheat from chaff--and perhaps, from a military view, it's just as well.

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