European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 19, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Special report combat can be exciting and exhilarating As Well As frightening and sickening. Newhouse news service combat. Continued from Page Iii. To understand Quot Sawyer explained Between sorties at King fahd a in saudi Arabia. Quot there s 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 him. Let s see you do  like Many military men Sawyer ,. Recognizes that combat holds the potential to become too exciting Quot if you did t have that discipline you could just enjoy so much seeing things blow up that you could just go on and  military discipline is drawn from ancient codes of chivalry and codified by  International Laws As the Geneva conventions. They mandate the humane treatment of prisoners and civilians and strictly forbid Quot treachery Quot and  but discipline can pose cruel dilemmas. In one of the War s Early Battles a group of marines in Light armoured vehicles mistakenly came under fire from an american a-1q. 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 hey held their fire the a-10. Attacked again and again killing seven of their fellow marines. A they had no authorization to shoot a explains army capt. David Mallard a . Military spokesman who recounted the incident. Such discipline is All the More startling because it overrode what is 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   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 All nod in solemn agreement As he says matter of factly Quot i love these . 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 a a a a y three women were among the 28 americans killed when a scud missile hit their Barracks in Dhahran saudi Arabia More than 200 Miles from the front. Two women were taken prisoner including army maj. Rhonda Cornum a flight surgeon whose unarmed helicopter was shot Down while trying to Rescue a downed airman. Quot the Law against women in combat is no longer relevant because of the Way wars Are fought Quot y. 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 . / Quot along with the risk and exhilaration of combat soldiers share something else they Don t talk about much  in a letter to his Mother from the front army sgt. Robert Crockett wrote of his comrades Quot sometimes i want to embrace each one and Teil them that Well get through. But not everyone will so i done to and they done to. We do it with our eyes and. In our hearts and through half shaped  but As the lost boys discovered  fears a a. Disappear when the shooting starts. Quot courage the ability to face death gets you to the Battlefield. What happens next is simply survival Quot says army col. Robert a Scales or. 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 horrible. But the killing was done to keep me and my soldiers  a. American troops in the Gulf often expressed a sympathy for the ragged outclassed iraqi army. But once in combat says air Force capt. Scott 1 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  for others however combat brought a sickening end to Youthful  War. A we ask so much of our soldiers Quot muses army col. Wayne Smith a Southern Baptist chaplain who served with the lost boys in Kuwait. Smith says Many of his troops Harbor feelings of guilt about their role in crushing the iraqi army. Pur 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 . Ron Clark a lanky 22-year-old from Norman okla., wondered before the War if he could kill another human being. But in the heat of combat Clark found himself frantically loading shells into a the lost boys tank gun then darting out of his Hatch to Spray machine gun bullets at the Jerremy. Well proved to myself that i could shoot 1 . A still he says Quot the worst thing was knowing that iraqi soldiers were in those vehicles and that they All died. And not knowing if they had families or even wanted to fight. Quot maybe they were just waiting for us to pass by so they could go Home. It kind of makes you think. Quot but i la sure have stories to Tell when i out  wednesday june 19, 1991