ABSTRACT
I had no illusions, but I volunteered for a line company anyway. There were a number of reasons, of which the paramount was boredom…. I cannot deny that the front still held a fascination for me. The rights or wrongs of the war aside, there was a magnetism about combat. You seemed to live more intensely under fire. Every sense was sharper, the mind worked clearer and faster…. You found yourself on a precarious emotional edge, experiencing a headiness that no drink or drug could match. (Caputo, 1977, p. 218)
