European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 19, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Combat can be exciting and exhilarating As Well As frightening and sickening. New Housel news service combat. Continued from Page Iii ,. To understand a Sawyer explained Between sorties at King fahd a in saudi Arabia. A Quot there a a certain mystique or swagger to it i have flown into the jaws of the enemy and i have not Only survived i have Defeated Hinr Vleta a see you do that Quot like Many military men Sawyer recognizes that combat holds the potential to become too  you did no to have that discipline you could just enjoy so much seeing ,. Things blow up that you could just go on and  a military discipline is drawn from ancient codes of chivalry and codified by such International Laws As the Geneva conventions they mandate the. 1 humane treatment of prisoners and civilians and a strictly forbid Quot treachery Quot and "trickery.&Quot. But discipline can pose cruel dilemmas. In one of the wars Early Battles a group of a. Marines in Light armoured vehicles mistakenly came under fire from an. American 10. A nearby Crew held the circling fighter bomber in the sights of its anti aircraft missiles caught Between shooting. Down a fellow american and saving their buddies. While they held their fire the 10, attacked again and again killing seven of their fellow marines v. A they had no authorization to shoot Quot explains army capt. David Mallard a . Military a. Spokesman who recounted the incident. Such discipline is All the More startling because it. / overrode  normally a Soldier s prime motivation in combat protecting himself and his buddies. ,.�?� / Quot in Vietnam what i was really fighting for was my unit Quot says Finlayson. Quot i would rather have been killed than let them Down Quot such kinship helps Bridge differences of race gender and class. The three crewmen of the lost boys tank Are White Jones their commander is Black. But they a. All nod in solemn agreement As he says matter of Farlly Quot i love these   a a. This camaraderie also extended to the women in the persian Gulf,.who served in record numbers even though limited by Law to non combat jobs they were widely viewed As sharing fully in the risks of War. A. Three women were among the 28 americans killed when a scud missile hit their Barracks in a. Dhahran saudi Arabia More than 200 Miles from the front. Two women were taken prisoner a. A a including army maj. Rhonda Cornum a flight surgeon whose unarmed helicopter was shot Down while trying to Rescue a downed airman  Law against women in combat is no longer relevant because of the Way wars Are fought Quot Cornum said in a recent speech Quot it s been my experience that it s safer to be Able to shoot Back. So if you want to protect women you ought to Send them out in  1 a a a a -. Along with the risk and exhilaration of combat soldiers share something else they done to talk about much fear in a letter to his Mother from the front army sgt. A Robert Crockett wrote of his comrades a Quot sometimes i want to embrace each one and Tell. Them that Well get through. But not everyone will so i Don to and they Don t we do it with our eyes and in our hearts and through half shaped . But As the lost boys discovered such fears disappear when the shooting starts courage the  face death gets you to the Battlefield what happens next is simply survival Quot says army col. Robert h. Scales or a a a a a a in Vietnam Scales then.24, commanded an artillery Battery whose firebase was overrun twice. Before the enemy was finally repulsed in hand to hand combat. Quot i remember looking around when the smoke cleared  incredible carnage it was a. Horrible. But the killing was done to keep me and my soldiers  a 1 Quot a. / a a a a a american troops in the Gulf often expressed sympathy for the ragged outclassed iraqi army. But once in combat says air Force capt Scott it Kelly a 30-year-old a-,10 Pilot from Greer s c., Quot what you see Down there is just a target a not. Several Guys in a tank. We did t think about it a great Deal that there were Guys  a a a a for others however combat brought a sickening end to Youthful ideas of War. / a a. We  much of our soldiers Quot muses army a a col. Wayne Smith a Southern Baptist chaplain who a served with the lost boys in Kuwait. It a a a Asmith says Nany of his troops Harbor feelings of a guilt about their role in crushing the iraqi army. A. Our feelings Are often very much stronger and deeper than in the civilian world though there Are times we try to shield them from the outside to show we Are Tough  a a a spec. Ron Clark a lanky 22-year-ofd from Norman okla., wondered before the War if he could i i another human being. But in the heat of combat Clark found himself frantically loading shells into a the lost boys tank gun then darting  his Hatch to Spray machine gun bullets at the enemy. Quot Well i proved to myself that i could shoot a . Still he says Quot the  knowing thar -. Iraq said ers were in those vehicles and that they All died. And not knowing if they had families or even wanted to fight y v a maybe they were just waiting for us to pass by so they could . It kind of makes you think. Quot but i la sure have stories to Tell when i get a Home a ,.a s. Page in a the stars and stripes. Wednesday june 19, 1991