- Title: The Truth About Killing
- Date: 15th March 2004
- Summary: How easy is it to kill in battle? We've all seen war footage and Hollywood's dramatisations of battle showing men killing,but what is it really like when you can see the whites of the enemies' eyes? Most young men are pretty sure that if it came down to it they could kill for queen and country. But when journalist Grub Smith heard about shocking research that seems to turn accepted thinking on its head he decided to investigate. Shortly after World War II,US General S.L.A. Marshall published the results of extensive interviews with front-line American infantry soldiers. The research sent shockwaves through the military establishment: Marshall concluded that only 15% to 20% of individual riflemen actually fired their weapons at the enemy - and only 2% shot to kill. The results provoked fierce controversy,including questions about Marshall's methodology,but seemed to be confirmed by similar studies in other conflicts: front-line troops just weren't firing at the enemy the way they were trained to. But why? To discover why humans won't kill,and what can be done to make them,Grub undergoes infantry training and meets leading military and academic experts. "I grew up watching films like Dambusters and Zulu,thinking - like most young men - that if another war came along I would join up and do my bit: kill the enemy," says Grub. "So when I first heard about Marshall's report it sounded like rubbish." Then again Grub had never even fired a weapon,so he asked someone who had - Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman,a former US Army Ranger,West Point professor and expert on the psychology of killing. For him the problem lies not with a lack of training or poor equipment,but deep within the human mind - the extreme pressure of combat induces such a level of terror that the higher functions of the brain simply cease to work.
- Description:Grub Smith explores the science and psychology of how to turn our peace loving species into rabid killing machines.
- Broadcaster:Channel 4
- Collection: Channel 4
- Genre:Documentary and Factual
- Producer:Tigress Productions Ltd. (London)
- Programme Episode:Episode 2
- Transmission Date:15/03/2004
- Rights:Worldwide
- Decade: 2000s