Not really sure if this belongs in the D & D - so it can be moved as Mods see fit. The question is... you're in the Defence Force - would you sacrifice your own life for the preservation of your units'? You're caught in an ambush and you flood out of your vehicles taking cover and firing on non-exposed combatants. A grenade is lobbed and rolls along towards your side of the vehicle where a few of your squad mates are completely exposed a few feet away. Being the only member to see the grenade - and after screaming for the life of you there's an explosive nearby your unit can't hear over the fire being dished out and received - do you go for the grenade and sheild your mates and take the full force? You - are clearly dead (i try not to come across as blunt and make a mockery of the soldiers who have given their lives in the same situation) but your actions have possibly saved the lives of 3-4 soldiers. How many could honestly say that they would do this? Self preservation is often going through every serving military servicemens mind when they're on deployment but what makes those select few disregard any thought of returning home and seeing their family? Personally, i feel i would do this when i am deployed next year but no doubt being in the actual situation the decision would be a harder one to make. (i have been in a small 'life & death' situation when on a training exercise and live ammunition was used instead of blanks - one of my squad members was hit twice in the leg and slumped on the ground - only for the fire to be still rained down on him. Another member and myself ran out grabbed him by his combat webbing and dragged him to our fighting pit - we were both being fired upon as we did this) A big reason as to why i think i could make this decision would be the fact i do not have a wife/girlfriend at home to worry about. The only thing i stand to lose would be the few good friends i have made over my life - family is not as close as many others. Those squad members in harms way could have more to lose if they were never to return home - they could have a wife and even kids depending on them. Knowing my best mate's wife is pregnant waiting for their baby to be born would ultimately be the deciding factor for whether or not i choose to sacrifice my life. I was just wondering what others thoughts are on the topic?
Everyone wants to say they'd make the sacrifice - especially if the situation dictated we might die anyway...but our survival instinct is a crazy thing. Without having ever tested it myself I could not say for sure. Your story about going out and rescuing your friend during that ammunition mishap is very admirable though, and shows what kind of man you are.
... To be completely honest - it is not and will not be the last time it occurs. I find it amazing how a live round and blank round can be confused by somehow it has managed to happen on a few occasions... This has even occured at one of the training bases for the Infantry (you're still in training and aren't a qualified soldier yet) - so it is the staff that handle everything ammunition wise... Luckily nothing completely serious (although being hit twice is pretty terrible) has happened before people have realised that someone f***** up big time.
Utilitarians like to say they'd make the sacrifice, but until they are actually in that situation, anything can happen. Like poster said above, survival instinct is huge. As for me, my life > anyone else. I would never be able to do it. Not necessarily, you can survive if you put a helmet right over the grenade. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_on_a_grenade
Not necessarily, you can survive if you put a helmet right over the grenade. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_on_a_grenade[/QUOTE] I considered explaining something to this extent - but to be honest i don't think after you've seen the grenade on the ground - you have enough time to stop returning fire, unbuckle your helmet - run over to the grenade and place it over before it detonates.
I just don't know. It's a question that cannot be truly answered unless you are in that situation at that moment. Half of me would probably stay my ground and yell out a "NO!". I'd probably be haunted for the rest of my life, a selfish b*stard plagued with regret. The other half would readily dive in there and use the helmet technique. I may survive, I may not. If I don't, my sacrifice will hopefully not be in vain. Yet, I'd miss my family, my friends, everything. I truly don't know. Course, I'm still a teenager. What do I know about the pains of conflict?
Honestly my unit? No. Sorry. Survival instincts. Scared. Whatever. I dont think I could pull my self to do it. But what about a dif scenario and its family? Change my life > anyone else to my life < my sons life. If you were in a life raft that can only hold so many and the only way your son can get in the life raft was if someone else got out and that someone else was you. I would do it. Not a strong scenario but just for example.
red badge of courage redux and unless it's my family, sorry. No present military conflict is worth my life. I have a family to support.
Here's the thing. Most humans, when they think logically of the situation will ascertain from their thought process, that the sacrifice will be the logical thing to do. However, once those first bullets glaring mere inches about your head, that entire logic and thought process goes out the window and you are left with your survival instincts, and whatever they have drilled into your head during basic training. Most first-timers buckle under fear and start having episodes or just hide in shock. So, I would say, unless you are an experienced veteran with a couple of battles in your record, most humans would have that "frozen in place" feeling.
