"I didn't even hear the shot." ...

[WheelWalker]

"I was thinking, 'I am going to have to shoot him again,'" Rios-Calderon said. "You would think someone would just drop. Then, I was thinking, 'Maybe I just grazed him because there was no time to aim.'"

http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2010/08/faced_with_split_decision_of_life_or_death_a_hillsboro_officer_talks_about_pulling_that_trigger_and.html

[Bold Lib]

1. Yep,no matter how much training cops get they are never really

prepared for the psychological affects of a shooting. I don't think anyone can be.

From the article:
Faced with split decision of life or death, a Hillsboro officer talks about pulling that trigger and what it has meant to him

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. Cops are not all that well trained for shooting someone, other than getting their reports straight

[spin]

2. Shooting another person is something no rational person ...

ever wants to do, as explained in this excellent article.

There are, however, times when it's necessary if you want to survive.

[Caliman73]

4. Wasn't there a book about how 1/4 or 1/3 of soldiers weren't able to fire their weapons in combat?

I know that I would never want to have to kill another human being but as you say, there are times when you have to defend yourself or a loved one. I have been in a couple of fights in my life that I would consider "survival fights". I still get the sick feeling in my stomach if I dwell too long.

[spin]

5. I believe the book was "Men Against Fire" ...

Men Against Fire: How Many Soldiers Actually Fired Their Weapons at the Enemy During the Vietnam War

In a squad of 10 men, on average fewer than three ever fired their weapons in combat. Day in, day out — it did not matter how long they had been soldiers, how many months of combat they had seen, or even that the enemy was about to overrun their position. This was what the highly regarded Brigadier General Samuel Lyman Atwood Marshall, better known as S.L.A. Marshall, or 'Slam,' concluded in a series of military journal articles and in his book, Men Against Fire, about America's World War II soldiers. Marshall had been assigned as a military analyst for the U.S. Army in both the Pacific and Europe. The American, he concluded, comes 'from a civilization in which aggression, connected with the taking of life, is prohibited and unacceptable….The fear of aggression has been expressed to him so strongly and absorbed by him so deeply and pervadingly — practically with his mother's milk — that it is part of the normal man's emotional make-up. This is his great handicap when he enters combat. It stays his trigger finger even though he is hardly conscious that it is a restraint upon him.'

Marshall's claims did not go unchallenged, but despite the disagreements they were widely accepted as truth both within the nation's military and by those writing about the war and its American fighting force. Marshall continued in his role as analyst and self-proclaimed military historian before, during and after the Korean War, authoring many more books and frequently appearing as a guest lecturer at Fort Leavenworth and other installations around the United States. It is not an exaggeration to say that he was more or less a living legend by the mid-1960s. Largely due to his influence, noncommissioned officers and officers sent to Vietnam at the beginning of the American buildup were concerned that their soldiers and Marines would not fire at the enemy.
http://www.historynet.com/men-against-fire-how-many-soldiers-actually-fired-their-weapons-at-the-enemy-during-the-vietnam-war.htm/2

I remember hearing that one reason all soldiers were given weapons with a full auto capacity was so that when they did fire, they would put a lot of rounds downrange. When I was in the Air Force we were trained to fire 2 or 3 round bursts from an M-16. It's tricky, but you can do it. Firing in the full auto mode usually resulted in only hitting butterflies after the third round because of muzzle climb.

For the first time in military history, the common rifleman of the infantry would have a fully automatic weapon. Prior to Vietnam, from WWI (possibly WWII) onward, it was common to have one "fully automatic" man assigned to at least a squad (12 men) or platoon (40 men) level. The "fully automatic" infantryman might be armed with a machingun, or more commonly a BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle). The BAR was invented during WWI, and carried in combat in WWII, Korea, and for a time, Vietnam during the early days. The fully automatic M-14 rifle was used and intended to replace the BAR, but was NOT totally satisfactory. Ultimately the M-16 rifle was used and accepted. This rifle (the M-16) gave full automatic acceptability. Now every infantryman had "rock 'n roll" capability, and the old time tradition of assigning a "fully automatic" man to the squad/platoon was NO LONGER necessary.

After Vietnam, the army found out it was wasting ammunition (3,000 rounds used to produce one enemy casualty) so the NEW fully automatic M-16's were converted to shoot only "short bursts" instead of full "rock 'n roll".
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/The_effects_of_technology_in_the_Vietnam_War

I have read that many of our soldiers today use the semi-auto mode of shooting more than the burst fire mode.

[oneshooter]

6. During the War of Northern Aggression many of the rifles recovered

from the battlefield had 8-12 rounds loaded in them. The soldiers would go through the loading drill, not cap, and then "fire". Then they would reload the rifle, and not cap, and fire again.

Oneshooter
Armed and Livin in Texas

[spin]

7. Interesting ... In WW1 I understand that soldiers hated snipers ...

In this incredibly stupid war, the soldiers would often fire at the other side and miss on purpose. The enemy would return the favor.

So some general would bring in a sniper who would kill some of the enemy soldiers. This would piss them off and they no longer would purposely miss. Things would return to normal and both sides would shoot to kill.


An Australian sniper aims a periscope-equipped rifle at Gallipoli in 1915. The spotter beside him is helping to find targets with his own periscope. Photo by Ernest Brooks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniper#World_War_I

[Recursion]

8. I know Clausewitz wrote about that for the Napoleonic wars

About half of dead soldiers were found with their weapons still loaded and primed.