Quote Originally Posted by Brother Oni View Post
I think it depends on the time period: I know during WW1 and WW2, it took a fair bit of training to overcome the aversion to killing.

In modern times, it's been found that new recruits have noticeably less aversion to kill. There are a number of theories on why this is, but they're all very hot button topics.
You have the same issue with guns though, a soldier needs to be willing stick his head up and make a loud "here I am" noise long before he needs to worry about his willingness to kill. There were a number of studies during WWII which found a significant number of soldiers never actually fired their weapons in combat, but in an era when suppressive fire is a thing I don't think the "resistance to killing" conclusion really fits with occam's razor.

Sometimes battlefield statistics just don't tell you as much as you think they do. There's the famous case from WWI when the British army began to issue helmets for the first time and the number of reported head injuries suddenly shot through the roof.