No More Heroes: Madness and Psychiatry In War

by Richard A. Gabriel

No More Heroes is an in-depth exploration of madness and psychiatry in war from Richard A. Gabriel.

The author, a former intelligence officer, traces the history of madness in war, reveals information about the behavior of men in combat, and uncovers its implications for the modern battlefield.

Genres: Psychology, War, Nonfiction, Military Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1987

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excerpt:

"Suicide under fire, especially when things look desperate, occurs with startling frequency. It happened among Custer's men at the battle of the Little Big Horn. In one well documented case a group of Indians chased a soldier fleeing on horseback for nearly six miles. At the end of the chase the frightened soldier glanced back at the one remaining Indian warrior still giving chase, drew his pistol, and shot himself in the head. In an even more macabre incident, Indian warriors who took part in the attack against Custer told journalists that as they began to overrun a group of soldiers, who had taken cover behind their dead horses on a hillock, the soldiers began to shoot themselves and even each other! The Indians were so amazed at this self-destructive behavior that they broke off the attack and simply watched as the men killed themselves."

[Kaelen Kinnaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had not thought about the distopian prospect of fear being anesthetized from the battlefied via pharmecutical intervention. It's a disturbing picture of human savagrery unleashed to the fullest extent possible.

As another reviewer noted, the pleas of the author for war to end because modern combat at full throttle would slaughter all of it's participants and drive the remainder into gibbering insanity has not moved the needle, unfortunately. However I still applaud his effort, and believe his argument grows stronger as the years roll along. The Kellog Pact (1928) crossed my mind while reading his concluding chapter, an agreement signed by 62 countries declaring war henceforth illegal.

[Juancho Vizcaino · Rating 3 out of 5]

“ The belief that psychiatric casualties occur only among men who are cowards or innately weak,whose character flaws and personality weaknesses dispose them to breaking down in battle, has led the military for most of this century to adopt a model of psychiatric breakdown, which is grossly incorrect. That model was based on the assumption that some men were more predisposed by their nature to breakdown.”

[Outmind · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25/5

Would have gotten a 5 out of me if it could actually make a difference.