Michael Totten:
NORTHERN ISRAEL – War does strange things to the mind. The first time you hear the loud BOOM, BANG, and CRASH of incoming and outgoing artillery, you will jump. You will twitch. You will want to take cover. You will want to hide. You will feel like you could die at any second, like the air around you is drenched with gasoline, like the universe is gearing up to smash you to pieces.
It’s amazing how fast you get used to it, even if you have no military training and grew up in a tranquil conflict-free place in suburban America.
Read the rest here.
He'll start twitching again when he get's *out* of the war zone. At least for a while.
I don't think that having spent much of my life in parts of urban America where small-arms fire is not uncommon would even make much difference in how I'd react.
There is a significant difference between hearing sparodic 9mm fire, and freakin' artillery.
Another benefit of experience is being able to tell the difference between incoming and outgoing fire. Outgoing is actually somewhat cheering (unless you're trying to sleep), it means that someone is catching Hell somewhere else and serves 'em right.
Incoming means it's your turn in the barrel, which isn't nearly as much fun.
