ABSTRACT
Henry Reed, ‘Naming of Parts’ (1946) Much of a soldier’s life is spent in training. Sometimes of the mindnumbing son, in which the speed is set so as not to tax the moronic: occasionally it is rushed at the last moment to throw raw troops into battle. Training fulfils a number of functions. At its simplest it teaches men how to use and maintain their weapons, and helps turn civilians into soldiers. Training imparts the codes that soldiers need, and through lessons and punishments, the penalties exacted for failing to follow them. Like apprentices, recruits are taught the symbols of what Stephen Crane called ‘that mysterious fraternity’. They must learn its peculiar language, traditions and hierarchy. Training can be akin to a conversion experience that plays on the novice’s emotions as much as it does on his mind, teaching him to feel as well as act in new ways. Training does far more than create individual soldiers (who anyway on their own are not much use in winning battles). Through drill, living together, sharing similar experiences-sometimes the same women, more often the same bottle-training fuses small units-the building blocks of any army, in which, and for which, most men fight, kill and die.
